The Skinny: Devils 3, Isles 0

"The Skinny"

 By Eric Hornick

 

Game 8

Devils 3, Isles 0

Steve Bernier scored two goals 70 seconds apart late in the third period and David Clarkson added an empty net goal as the New Jersey Devils blanked the Islanders 3-0 before a crowd of 11,558 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Johan Hedberg made 22 saves for his 2^nd career shutout of the Islanders.

The Scoring:

1st Period

None

 

2nd Period

None

3rd Period

16:06  NJD PPG - S. Bernier (2) Snap - ASST: A. Henrique (1) AND A. Greene (1) 1 - 0 NJD

17:16  NJD  S. Bernier (3) Wrist - ASST: R. Carter (3) AND S. Gionta (3)    2 - 0 NJD

19:38 NJD EN - D. Clarkson (5) Wrist - ASST: A. Greene (2)  3 - 0 NJD

           

The Skinny:  The Devils win ended the Isles two game win streak and three game (2-0-1) point streak as well as the Devils four game losing streak (0-1-3). …Moulson, Tavares, Nielsen and Streit each had point streaks stopped at three games…The Isles are 1-3-3 in games played on Super Bowl Sunday; this was only the third time the Islanders had hosted a game on Super Bowl Sunday (1974 and 1990)…The Isles wore their alternate black jerseys for the first time this season.  The Isles are 3-8-3 all-time wearing their alternate jerseys… It's the 13^th time that the Devils have blanked the Isles; only the Rangers (also 13) have shutout the Islanders as often…The Isles went 0-7 on the power play; it's their most failures without a goal since January 6, 2011 in Edmonton.  The Isles are 0-8-1 in their last nine games when they go 0-7
(or worse) on the power play… The Devils blocked 22 shots, equaling the number that the Isles got on net… Bernier 's 2-goal game is his first as a Devil; he has also scored 2 goals in a game for four other teams.

The Shots:

Isles       10-7-5=22

Devils     7-7-13=27

 

Home and Road

The Islanders are 4-3-1 overall, 1-2-0 at home and 3-1-1 on the road.  The Isles have earned at least a point in five of the last seven games (4-2-1).

New Jersey is 4-1-3 overall, 2-0-1 at home and 2-1-2 on the road. 

In the Nets

Evgeni Nabokov made 24 saves but falls to 4-2-1 on the season.  Nabokov is now 3-7-1 in his career against the Devils.

Johan Hedberg made 22 saves; he is 1-0-1 on the season and has allowed just one goal.  Hedberg, who also blanked the Isles on November 25, 2011 recorded his 2^nd consecutive Coliseum shutout.

Power Plays

The Isles went 0-7 on the power play while New Jersey was 1-3.  The Isles entered the game with the top-rated power play and the top-rated penalty kill in the NHL.

They Said It

Peter DeBoer: "Even at home the other day, we were fine 5-on-5. They ate us alive with their power play. We fixed that today."

They Tweeted It

@StapeNewsday: "Replay confirms -- Strait coasted in, hit Gionta hard and clean. Brutal call."

The Coach

"You're not going to generate any offense if you don't go to those hot areas. We stayed on the perimeter way too much."

Head of the Class

John Tavares has 213 career points; he is 54 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks.  No other player in that draft is anywhere close.  Tavares also has more goals and more assists than any other player in that draft.

Friends, Friends, Friends

Matt Moulson has four goals this season; John Tavares has earned an assist on two of them.  Tavares has now been on-ice for 64 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 42 of them, dating back to a Moulson goal on November 17, 2010 against Tampa. 

107 NHL Goals

Moulson has 107 career goals (101 as an Islander).  While 262 players were selected before the Penguins chose Moulson in the 2003 entry draft, only 17 have more goals.

Road Warrior

All four of Matt Moulson's goals this season have come on the road. Scoring on the road is nothing new for Moulson; 23 of his 36 goals last season also came on the road.  Only Steven Stamkos (24) had more.

Leading Ice Men

Travis Hamonic led the Isles with 27:43.  Bryce Salvador led New Jersey with 24:37.

In the Circle

The Islanders won 31 draws; the Devils won 27.  John Tavares won 13 of 22 for the Isles; Adam Henrique won 10 of 17 for New Jersey.

Heavy Hitters

The Islanders out-hit the Devils 24-19.  Matt Carkner fought Krystofer Barch in the second period.  It was the Islanders' 5^th fight of the season.

All-time Winners

The Islanders fall to three games over all-time NHL .500 (1351-1348-433 in 3,132 games).  The Isles twice last season fell one game below .500. Prior to that, they had not been below NHL .500 since they were 177-178-83 prior to their victory on January 16, 1978.

Ironmen

Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 254 games since joining the team.  Moulson's streak is the longest for an Islander in the Post-Cup era and the 4^th longest in club history.  Billy Harris played in the first 576 games in Islander history; that figure still stands as the club record.

Three other Islanders, Frans Nielsen, John Tavares and Mark Streit, also played in every game last season.  Tavares extended his streak to 167 consecutive games, while Nielsen and Streit have each played in 90.

Longest Consecutive Game Streaks, Islander History 

1. Billy Harris 576 

2. Bob Nystrom 301

3. Denis Potvin 262

4. Matt Moulson 254

 

Missing Men

Radek Martinek and Joe Finley were scratched. Colin MacDonald served the second game of a two-game suspension. Josh Bailey and Jesse Joensuu remain suspended after suffering injuries in Europe. Lubomir Visnovsky has not yet reported.  

List Time

Career Wins, Active Goalies

1. Martin Brodeur 659

2. Roberto Luongo 340

3. Nikolai Khabibulin 328

4. Evgeni Nabokov 316

5. Miikka Kiprusoff 312

 

Career Wins

21. Sean Burke 324

22. Evgeni Nabokov 316

23. Miikka Kiprusoff 312

 

Career Goals as an Islander

22	Benoit Hogue	105
22	Ed Westfall	105
24	Matt Moulson	101
24	Anders Kallur	101
26	Trent Hunter	99
32	Travis Green	92
33	John Tavares	88
34	Butch Goring	87
Career Assists as an Islander – active players
1	John Tavares	125
2	Mark Streit	120
2	Frans Nielsen	120
4	Kyle Okposo	95

Career Games as an Islander (skaters)

48	Shawn Bates	330
49	Eric Cairns	327
49	Frans Nielsen	327
51	Alan Kerr	326
52	Brad Dalgarno	321
59	Arron Asham	300
59	Roman Hamrlik	300
61	Josh Bailey	292
62	Gord Dineen	287
63	Jeff Norton	282
64	Kyle Okposo	279
65	Steve Thomas	275
70	Pierre Turgeon	255
71	Matt Moulson	254
72	John Tavares	251
73	Jude Drouin	250
74	Brad Isbister	247
74	Brendan Witt	247
76	Sean Bergenheim	246
76	Mark Streit	246
78	Miroslav Satan	243

Career Points as an Islander

31	Mark Parrish	214
32	John Tavares	213
32	Jean Potvin	213
32	Garry Howatt	213
35	Anders Kallur	211
36	Marty McInnis	198
40	Lorne Henning	184
41	Matt Moulson	178
42	Frans Nielsen	174
43	Randy Wood	172
44	Claude Lapointe	171
44	JP Parise	171
46	Shawn Bates	170
47	Jude Drouin	169
48	Dave Scatchard	168
49	Miroslav Satan	166
50	Kyle Okposo	164
51	Oleg Kvasha	158
52	Mark Streit	156
53	Alan Kerr	154
54	Roman Hamrlik	153

Season Series Stats

The Devils lead the season series two games to one and five points to two.  The teams will meet again on February 16 at the Coliseum before completing the season series in Newark on April 1.

The Isles have scored only three goals in their last five home games against the Devils and New Jersey has held the Isles to two goals or less in eight straight Coliseum games.

Happy Anniversary

36 years ago today (2-3-77):  Richie Hansen becomes the first Long Islander to play for the Islanders as the Isles defeat the Rangers 6-3.

All-time, the Isles are 8-6-4 on this date.

On The Farm

Brock Nelson had his first professional hat trick and Nino Niederreiter added his 20^th goal of the season as the Sound Tigers defeat Norfolk 4-1 on Saturday. Bridgeport is now 20-19-2-3.  The Sound Tigers are off until next weekend, when they host Portland on Saturday night and Worcester in Sunday afternoon.

Up Next

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5th PITTSBURGH AT ISLANDERS (7:00PM)
[MSG+ (Pre-game show at 6:30PM), WRHU (88.7FM)]

The Islanders conclude the homestand and look to get back to .500 at home as they host the Pittsburgh Penguins.  The Isles dominated the Penguins last week in Pittsburgh but the Penguins rebounded this weekend to sweep a pair of games and re-take first place in the Atlantic.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources.  Follow Eric @ehornick on Twitter.

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick