The Skinny: Penguins 4, Isles 3 (OT) . Pittsburgh wins series 4-2.

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Eastern Conference Quarterfinals

 

Game 6

Pittsburgh 4, Isles 3 (OT) [Penguins win series, 4 games to 2]

 

Brooks Orpik scored 7:49 into overtime as the Pittsburgh Penguins ended the Islanders' season with a 4-3 win before a sellout crowd of 16,170 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.  The Penguins win the series four games to two, and will advance to play the Ottawa Senators in the Conference Semi-Finals.

The Scoring:

1st Period

05:36    NYI       J. Tavares (3) Wrist - ASST: J. Bailey (3) AND M. Carkner (1)       1 - 0 NYI          

07:39    PIT       J. Iginla (2) Wrist - ASST: S. Crosby (6) AND P. Martin (5)           1 - 1 TIE           

19:23    NYI       C. McDonald (2) Wrist - ASST: K. Aucoin (2) AND M. Grabner (3) 2 - 1 NYI          

 

2nd Period

10:59    PIT       P. Dupuis (5) Tip-In - ASST: J. Vitale (1) AND M. Niskanen (1)     2 - 2 TIE           

 

3rd Period

02:21    NYI       M. Grabner (1) Snap - ASST: K. Aucoin (3)         3 - 2 NYI          

14:44    PIT       P. Martin (1) Slap - ASST: E. Malkin (8) 3 - 3 TIE           

 

1st OT Period

07:49    PIT       B. Orpik (1) Slap - ASST: T. Kennedy (1) AND E. Malkin (9)         4 - 3 PIT

 

The Series:

 

·         GAME 1: Pittsburgh 5, Islanders 0

·         GAME 2: Islanders 4, Pittsburgh 3

·         GAME 3: Pittsburgh 5, Islanders 4 (OT)

·         GAME 4: Islanders 6, Pittsburgh 4

·         GAME 5: Pittsburgh 4, Islanders 0

·         GAME 6: Pittsburgh 4, Islanders 3 (OT)

The Skinny

The Penguins won a game they never led, as three times the Islanders grabbed a lead, only to have Pittsburgh rally to tie the game… The Isles have outscored Pittsburgh 7-3 in the third period in the series… Evgeni Malkin, Jarome Iginla, and Pascal Dupuis had points in all six games of the series while Sidney Crosby had a point in each game that he has played… John Tavares scored a goal in each of the three Coliseum games.  His first goal ended Thomas Vokoun's 148:18 (regular season/playoffs) shutout streak against the Isles… The Penguins led after two periods in three of their wins; the score was tied after two periods in the two Islander wins as well as tonight's game…Keith Aucoin recorded his first two assist game as an Islander… The Isles are now 6-4 in game six of series that they trailed 3 games to 2…Orpik's goal was his first in 106 games… The Penguins have now won seven straight road overtime games in the playoffs. Only Montreal (9) and the Islanders (8) have had longer streaks.

Home Ice Woes

For the first 30 years, the Coliseum was "Fort Never Lose" in the playoffs as the Islanders went 77-32 on home ice. However, the Isles are 1-8 in their last nine playoff games at the Coliseum since winning all three of their home games against the Maple Leafs in 2002. 

Overtime Not Our Time

When David Volek OT'd Pittsburgh in 1993, it raised the Isles' playoff OT record to 29-7.  Since then the Isles have lost six straight overtime games, including two in this series.

The Isles had won 14 of the first 16 home overtime games in club playoff history, but have lost four straight at home as part of their six game overtime losing streak.

Over-Time

It's the third time in club history that the Isles have been eliminated by an overtime goal:

·         April 29, 1978 Lanny McDonald, Toronto (4 games to 3)

·         April 16, 2004 Martin St. Louis, Tampa Bay (4 games to 1)

·         May 11, 2013 Brooks Orpik, Pittsburgh (4 games to 2)

Too Many Goals Against

Most goals allowed, Isles, six game series

 

·         25 -- 1980 Flyers (Won 4-2 in Cup Final)

·         25 -- 2013 Penguins (Lost 4-2)

·         23 – 1988 Devils (Lost 4-2)

·         22 – 1993 Capitals (Won 4-2)

The Series:

·         #1 Pittsburgh eliminated #8 Islanders 4-2

·         #7 Ottawa eliminated #2 Montreal 4-1

·         #3 Washington leads #6 NY Rangers 3-2

·         #4 Boston leads #5 Toronto 3-2

·         #1 Chicago eliminated #8 Minnesota 4-1

·         #2 Anaheim - #7 Detroit tied 3-3

·         #6 San Jose eliminated #3 Vancouver 4-0

·         #5 Los Angeles eliminated #4 St. Louis 4-2

The Penguins will face Ottawa in the second round of the playoffs.

The Shots:      

Isles         12-16-7-3=38

Penguins   7-6-6-2=21

 

The Isles outshot Pittsburgh 197-167 in the series.  The 21 Penguins shots were the fewest against the Isles in a playoff game since April 14, 2004 when Tampa had only 20.  The 17 shot differential was the most favorable for the Isles in a playoff game since they outshot Pittsburgh 37-18 in game 5 of the 1993 Patrick Division Finals.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 136-110 in 246 all-time playoff games.  They are 78-40  at home and 58-70 on the road.

The Penguins are 156-133 in 289 all-time playoff games. They are 84-61 at home and 72-72 on the road.

In the Nets

Evgeni Nabokov stopped 17 shots but saw his career playoff record drop to 42-43.  Nabokov, who played his 86th game, has played in more games than any goalie participating in this year's playoffs; among active goalies only Martin Brodeur has played in more games (205).

Tomas Vokoun made 35 saves to improve to 7-6 in his career in the playoffs.

Power Plays

The Islanders were 0-3 while the Penguins were 0-1. For the series the Isles were 2-20 (10%) while Pittsburgh was 7-21 (33.3%). During the five games of the regular season against each other, the Islanders were 2-18 while the Penguins were 3-14.

Playoff Experience

Jack Capuano is only the sixth coach to lead the Islanders into the playoffs and just the fourth to coach as many as six games.

Most playoff wins by Islander coaches:

1.     Al Arbour 123

2.     Terry Simpson 9

3.     Peter Laviolette 4

4.     Jack Capuano 2

5.     Ted Nolan 1

6.     Steve Stirling 1

Most playoff games coached (Islanders):

1.     Al Arbour 209

2.     Terry Simpson 20

3.     Peter Laviolette 12

4.     Jack Capuano 6

5.     Steve Stirling 5

6.     Ted Nolan 5

They Said It

John Tavares: "I really think we played with them. At times, we really dictated the play and we were the better team for good points of this series. We outshot them again today. They capitalized and made the most of their opportunities when they were there more than we did. That's a team that's been through it more."

 

They Tweeted It

@emptynetters  (Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburg Post-Gazette) Islanders fans were impressive. Games 3, 4 and 6 were some of the best hockey experiences of my life. Passionate to no end.

The Coach

I'm sure it's going to sting for a while, but you've got to be proud of the effort.

Leading Ice Men

Lubomir Visnovsky played 26:129 to lead the Isles.  Paul Martin led Pittsburgh with 30:03.

In the Circle

The Islanders won 44 of 73 draws and won 181 of 377 (48%) draws in the series.  John Tavares won 16 of 24 while Kyle Okposo won 6 of 8.

Heavy Hitters

The Islanders out-hit Pittsburgh 31-23.  Matt Martin led the Isles with 11 hits; Matt Cooke and Brooks Orpik had five hits for Pittsburgh.  Martin finished the series with 41 hits, which is the most in the NHL this post-season.  There were no fights, leaving the series total at two.

Giving Up the Body

The Isles were credited with 23 blocked shots, including four for Lubomir Visnovsky.

Missing Men

With Bridgeport's season over, the Isles have 35 players on the roster. 

Brock Nelson made his NHL debut, replacing Jesse Joensuu. Matt Carkner replaced Thomas Hickey in the line-up. Jesse Joensuu, David Ullstrom, Andrew Mac Donald(injured), Marty Reasoner, Eric Boulton, Anders Lee, and Joe Finley were scratched as were "black aces" Ryan Strome, Johan Sundstrom, Calvin DeHaan, Matt Donovan, Aaron Ness, John Persson and Anders Nilsson.

Where Have You Gone Dave Salvian?

Brock Nelson was the first Islander since Trent Hunter (2002) to make his NHL debut in the playoffs.  He ends the season as one of two Islanders (Dave Salvian-1977) to appear in a playoff game but never appear in a regular season game.

All-time Playoff Series

·         1975: Islanders won the series 4 games to 3.

·         1982: Islanders won the series 3 games to 2.

·         1993: Islanders won the series 4 games to 3.

·         2013: Pittsburgh won the series 4 games to 2.

Each of the last three series has ended with an overtime goal, one in game five, one in game six, and one in game 7.

Looking back to 1993

This series marks the 20^th anniversary of the 1993 series between the teams.  With the Isles trailing the series 3 games to 2, the Isles beat Pittsburgh on May 12^th at the Coliseum 7-5 to even the series. The Isles had leads of 1-0, 2-1, and 4-2 but it wasn't until Brian Mullen and Steve Thomas scored early in the third period to break a 4-4 tie that the Isles had a lead that they could hold, as they forced the series back to Pittsburgh.

On Friday, May 14, the teams met in the decisive game 7.  The game was tied 1-1 in the third period when David Volek and Benoit Hogue gave the Isles a 3-1 lead.  Ron Francis cut the Isles' lead to 3-2 at 16:13 and Rick Tocchet forced overtime was a goal at 19:00. At 5:16 in the extra session, Volek beat Tom Barrasso to end the Penguins' Cup reign, and the series. 

Happy Anniversary

31 years ago tonight (5-11-82):  In what turned out to be the final home game of the season, the Islanders beat the Canucks 6-4 at the Coliseum to take a 2-0 lead in the Stanley Cup Final.   The Isles trailed 3-2 heading to the third period but Bob Bourne and Duane Sutter scored 47 seconds apart to give the Isles a 4-3 lead. After Gerry Minor tied the game for Vancouver, Bryan Trottier scored the winning goal on a power play and Bobby Nystrom added a tally for the final margin of victory.  The dynasty would become official five days later in Vancouver.

Also (1975) – With banners imploring them to "Win Another for Mother" the Islanders did just that before a national television audience, coming from behind to defeat the Flyers 2-1 to even their semi-final series at three games each.  Gerry Hart scored the winning goal, unassisted, 3:42 into the third.

All-time, the Isles are 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on this date.

Up Next

SUNDAY JUNE 30th  NHL ENTRY DRAFT

And Finally…

Thanks to you for reading The Skinny after every game!  I appreciate your loyal readership! Have a nice summer, everybody.  It's been a pleasure.

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