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The Skinny: Los Angeles 3, Isles 1

"The Skinny"  By Eric Hornick Game 30 Los Angeles 3, Isles 1 Adrian Kempe and Kevin Fiala scored to give Los Angeles a 2-0 lead an...

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

The Skinny: Isles 3, Nashville 1

"The Skinny"

 By Eric Hornick
 
Game 19
Isles 3, Nashville 1

Kevin Poulin made 32 saves in his second consecutive start and John Tavares and Frans Nielsen each had two points as the Islanders broke a 4-game losing streak with a 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators before 12,108 at the Nassau Coliseum.

The Scoring:
1st Period
15:30 NYI PPG - John Tavares (8) Wrist shot - ASST: Frans Nielsen (11) 1 - 0 NYI          
17:23 NYI Pierre-Marc Bouchard (4) Wrist shot - ASST: Frans Nielsen (12)            2 - 0 NYI          
 
2nd Period
07:07 NYI Kyle Okposo (6) Slapshot - ASST: John Tavares (14), Brock Nelson (4) 3 - 0 NYI         
 
3rd Period
14:30 NSH Patric Hornqvist (5) Wrist shot - ASST: David Legwand (11), Shea Weber (4)   3 - 1 NYI

The Skinny:  
With Kyle Okposo's goal in the second period, the Isles now have three players with at least 20 points. Steven Stamkos and Sidney Crosby share the NHL lead with 23 points; John Tavares now has 22 while Frans Nielsen has 21… Nielsen and Tavares each extended point streaks to three games; Tavares also has a three-game point streak.  Nielsen also had his 4th multi-assist game of the season…Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored for the second consecutive game. He last had goals in consecutive games last April 13-15 for Minnesota…Brock Nelson, elevated to the top line in the absence of Thomas Vanek, now has six points in 13 games … The Isles have scored 26 of their 52 goals in the second period, but have been outscored 17-11 in the third period…Kevin Poulin started, and completed, consecutive NHL games for the first time in his career.  It was the first time since the end of the 2011-12 season that anyone other than Evgeni Nabokov played consecutive games in goal for the Isles…Patric Hornqvist's goal enabled Nashville to avoid being shutout for a third consecutive game; the Preds' scoreless streak ended at 174:48, which was 90 seconds shy of their club record.

20-20-20 Club
Tavares (22), Nielsen (21) and Okposo (20) make the Isles the only NHL team with three players with at least 20 points.  Tavares and Nielsen have combined for 43 points, tied with Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf (22) and Corey Perry (21) for the NHL lead among teammates.

The Injury:
The Isles played a bit of the third period without John Tavares, who was shaken up when he hit the boards.  Tavares returned for the final 5 ½ minutes of play. 

The Shots:
Isles          16-9-8=33
Predators  10-11-12=33

Home and Road
The Islanders are 7-9-3 overall, 4-3-3 at home and 3-6-0 on the road.  The win snaps a four game losing streak, all on the road; the Isles have won consecutive home games for the first time this season.
It's the latest in a season that the Isles have been over .500 at home since they were 15-14-5 on March 4, 2012.
The Predators are 8-8-2 overall; they are 4-2-1 at home and 4-6-1 on the road.   The Preds are 2-3-1 on their franchise-matching-record seven game road trip that concludes in Pittsburgh on Friday.

In the Nets
Kevin Poulin made 32 saves to improve to 2-4-0 on the season.  Poulin has allowed only 7 goals (4 at even-strength) in his last four starts (2-2-0, 1.75 goals against average, 93.9 save percentage)
Marek Mazanec made 30 saves for the Predators in his first NHL start.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-5 while the Preds were 0-2.  The Islanders have scored three power play goals in their last two games.
The Isles are 4-2-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 3-7-0 when they do not.  The Isles are 1-7-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 6-2-1 when they do not. 
Over the last nine games, the Isles power play is 3-31 (9.8%) while the penalty kill is 12-32 (62.5%).

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 7-1-2 when they score at least three goals and are 0-8-1 when they do not. 

Helps to Score First
The Isles are 5-1-3 when they score first and are 2-8-0 when they allow the opening goal.

Second to The One
Jack Capuano is now 2nd on the all-time Islander list in both games coached (214) and wins (91).

Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 91
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74
 
Most games coached (Islanders):
1.     Al Arbour 1,500
2.     Jack Capuano 214
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181

They Said It
Frans Nielsen: "I'm getting the bounces this year.  Hopefully, I can keep it going and help the team"

They Tweeted It
@BruceBeck4NY: The pass of the night - goes to @91Tavares - what an unselfish play! Highlights of the #Isles star @NBCNewYork 4 at 11!

The Coach
"Total team effort tonight…the top line was good tonight… Kevin had a good game tonight; we'll see who goes vs. LA"

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 3-2-0 in the front-end and 1-3-1 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.
They have earned 4 points once, 3 points once, 2 points once, and no points on two occasions.
The Isles do not play back-to-back again until November 22 (in Pittsburgh) and November 23 (in Philadelphia).

Head of the Class
John Tavares has 271 career points; he is 59 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks.  No other player from that draft is anywhere close.  Tavares also has more goals and more assists than any other player from that draft.

Leading Ice Men
Andrew MacDonald played 29:24 to lead the Isles for the 15th time this season. Shea Weber led Nashville with 26:49. 
The Isles are 6-7-2 when MacDonald leads them in ice-time and 1-2-1 when Hamonic leads them. MacDonald is now averaging 26:49 per game, which is the highest average of any player in the Eastern Conference and 3rd in the NHL behind Minnesota's Ryan Suter and Calgary's Denis Wideman.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 22 of 60 draws. Frans Nielsen won 8 of 14 to lead the Isles but the other Isles lost a combined 14 of 46; Paul Gaustad won 13 of 16 for Nashville.
The Isles are 28th in the NHL in faceoff percentage, winning 45.1% while Nashville is tied-1st at 55.2%.

Heavy Hitters
The Isles were out-hit 20-15.  Matt Martin led the Isles with five hits, extending his NHL-leading total to 85. Martin also fouqht Rich Clune; it was Matt's third fight of the season.
The Isles have been involved in five fights this season: Martin (3), Boulton (2).

Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 16 blocked shots; Andrew MacDonald extended his league-leading total to 71 with four blocks. 
Nashville was credited with 27 blocked shots, including six by Seth Jones.

All–time Winners
The Islanders improve to seven games over all-time NHL .500 (1378-1371-442 in 3,191 games).  The Isles have finished every season since 1977-78 above all-time NHL .500.

Ironmen
John Tavares is the reigning Islanders' ironman. Tavares has now played in 226 consecutive games, which is the second-longest streak for an Islander in the Post Cup era.
Frans Nielsen (149) and Kyle Okposo (132) also have streaks of at least 100 consecutive games.

Longest Consecutive Game Streaks, Post Cup Era 
·         Matt Moulson 10/3/2009- 4/4/2013  284
·         John Tavares 10/16/10 – CURRENT  226
·         Richard Park 10/5/2006 – 2/18/2009 221
·         Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220
·         Bryan Trottier 3/7/1981- 1/12/1984 219
·         Mariusz Czerkawski 12/23/1999 – 4/14/2002 215

Missing Men
Lubomir Visnovsky and Brian Strait are on injured reserve. Thomas Vanek missed his second game with an upper body injury. Cal Clutterbuck replaced Eric Boulton in the lineup while Radek Martinek was scratched. The Isles have lost 35 games this season due to injury.

Nobody Beat the Viz
The Isles were 19-12-4 last season and are 3-3-2 this season with Lubomir Visnovsky in the lineup.  They were 5-5-3 last season and 4-6-1 this season without him in the lineup.
Career Wins, Active Goalies
 
Career Wins
19. Gump Worsley 335
20. Nikolai Khabibulin 333
 
Career Shutouts, Active Goalies
 
4. Tomas Vokoun 51
 
Career Shutouts
 
18 Clint Benedict       57
19 Evgeni Nabokov 55
20 Bernie Parent       54
20 Ed Giacomin        54
 
Captain Passing a Captain
 
John Tavares' goal was his 120th as an Islander, breaking a tie with Alexei Yashin for 18th place on the all-time Isles list.
 
Career Goals as an Islander
16
Jason Blake
127
 
17
Duane Sutter
121
 
18
John Tavares
120
 
19
Alexei Yashin
119
 



 
Career Assists as an Islander
 
23
David Volek
153
24
John Tavares
151
25
Mariusz Czerkawski
150
26
Frans Nielsen
148
27
Travis Green
145

 






Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
25
Gerry Hart
476
26
Radek Martinek
473
27
Mariusz Czerkawski
470
 
 
 
37
Travis Green
388
38
Frans Nielsen
386
39
Anders Kallur
383
40
Randy Wood
381
41
Dave Scatchard
347
41
Josh Bailey
347
43
Alexei Yashin
346
44
Mark Parrish
345
45
Kyle Okposo
338
46
Marty McInnis
337
 
 
 
54
Brad Dalgarno
321
55
Ray Ferraro
316
55
Steve Webb
316
55
Richard Park
316
58
Gerald Diduck
314
59
John Tavares
310
60
Mikko Makela
307
 
 
 
 
 







Career Points as an Islander
20
Ed Westfall
286
21
John Tavares
271
22
Jason Blake
258
22
Steve Thomas
258



32
Mikko Makela
219
33
Frans Nielsen
217
34
Mark Parrish
214
35
Garry Howatt
213
35
Jean Potvin
213
37
Anders Kallur
211
38
Kyle Okposo
205
39
Marty McInnis
198






Season Series Stats
The teams split the season series one game each (and two points each) with each team winning at home.

The Islanders are 4-3-1 all-time in regular season home games against Nashville; however, this was their first regulation win since Election Night 2000.  Brad Isbister had the winning goal in a 2-1 victory for Coach Butch Goring.

It's also the first time that the Isles have beaten Nashville in regulation since April 11, 2002, when current General Manager Garth Snow earned a 5-2 win in the Islander net.

Happy Anniversary
33 years ago tonight: November 12, 1980.  Steve Tambellini scored the game-winning goal with 3:36 to play and Bob Bourne scored a shorthanded, empty net goal and added two assists as the Islanders defeated Toronto 4-2. It was one of seven shorthanded goals for Bourne on the season, which set an Isles club record (since equaled by Frans Nielsen).
Overall the Islanders are now 6-9-2 on this date.

On The Farm
Bridgeport completed a three-game in three day stretch with a 5-2 loss in Albany on Monday.  Long Island native Keith Kinkaid earned the win for Albany; Andrey Pedan and Johan Sundstrom scored for the Sound Tigers. Bridgeport is 4-6-1-1 on the season and is now off until Friday when they visit Springfield.

Up Next
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14th —LOS ANGELES AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 6:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN-FM]
 
The homestand continues on Thursday as the Islanders entertain the Los Angeles Kings. The 2012 Stanley Cup champions may be without goaltender Jonathan Quick, who had to leave their Tuesday shootout loss to Buffalo during the overtime session with a lower body injury.
The Isles have won the last two Coliseum games over Los Angeles, including a 2-1 win in February 2012 on a Mark Streit overtime goal.

And Finally…
Congratulations to Isles Director of Communications Kimber Auerbach on the birth of his daughter.

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

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