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The Skinny: Calgary 2, Isles 1 (SO)

"The Skinny"  By Eric Hornick Game 19 Calgary 2, Isles 1 (SO) Dustin Wolf made 25 saves during the game and was perfect in the sho...

Saturday, November 02, 2013

The Skinny: Isles 5, Ottawa 4 (SO)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick
 
Game 13
Isles 5, Ottawa 4 (shootout)

Frans Nielsen tied the game with his eighth goal of the season early in the third period and then scored the only goal in the shootout as the Islanders rallied from 2-0 and 4-2 deficits to defeat the Ottawa Senators 5-4 before a crowd of 15,589 at the Canadian Tire Centre. The Isles improve to 2-3-1 when trailing after two periods; they won only twice last season when trailing after two.

The Scoring:
1st Period                                                                                
18:38  OTT Erik Condra (1) Wrist shot - ASST: Derek Grant (1)     1 - 0 OTT
19:40  OTT Mika Zibanejad (3) Slapshot - ASST: Erik Karlsson (9), Chris Phillips (5)          2 - 0 OTT
 
2nd Period                                                                               
9:07  NYI John Tavares (5) Backhand shot - ASST: Thomas Vanek (6), Kyle Okposo (9)   2 - 1 OTT
9:35  NYI Matt Martin (2) Tip-in - ASST: Matt Carkner (2), Brock Nelson (3)            2 - 2 Tie
12:34 OTT Bobby Ryan (7) Backhand shot - ASST: Patrick Wiercioch (6), Erik Karlsson (10) 3 - 2 OTT
14:47 OTT Clarke MacArthur (1) Wrap-around - ASST: Bobby Ryan (5), Kyle Turris (10)     4 - 2 OTT
18:24 NYI Pierre-Marc Bouchard (2) Wrist shot - ASST: Matt Donovan (2), Kyle Okposo (10)4 - 3 OTT
 
3rd Period                                                                                
3:14 NYI Frans Nielsen (8) Wrist shot - ASST: Thomas Hickey (3), Pierre-Marc Bouchard (4) 4 - 4 Tie
 
OT Period                                                                                
NONE
 
The Shootout:
Jason Spezza (No Goal), Thomas Vanek (No Goal), Milan Michalek (No Goal), Frans Nielsen (Goal), Bobby Ryan (No Goal)
                                                                                               
The Skinny:  
The Isles outshot Ottawa 57-31; it's the second highest shot total in franchise history (60 vs. Carolina on 10/25/08)…Every Islander but Brock Nelson was credited with at least one shot on goal…Nine of the Isles' last ten games, and 11 of 13 games this season have been decided by one goal… Thomas Vanek set-up a John Tavares goal for his first Islander point; it came in Vanek's 600th NHL game.  Tavares' goal was his first in six games…Tavares and Matt Martin's goals came 28 seconds apart; it's the fastest pair of goals for the Isles this season… Kyle Okposo had two assists; he now leads the team with 10 assists and has 14 points in 13 games… Frans Nielsen has five goals in the last six games…The Isles had points from three defensemen for the second straight game. After converting 25 of his first 40 tries, Frans Nielsen had been stopped on eight straight shootout attempts before converting the game deciding goal tonight…Nielsen and St. Louis' TJ Oshie are the only current players to have had at least 20 shootout attempts and convert more than one-half of them…Bobby Ryan's goal was his 300th NHL point…The Isles are now 50-37 all-time in shootouts.

The Shots:
Isles           18-25-10-4=57
Senators     9-9-9-4=31
 
The 57 shots are the most for the Islanders in a road game in their history; Robin Lehner established a Sens' record with 53 saves in a game.  It's the third time this season that Ottawa has allowed at least 50 shots in a game.
 
Home and Road
The Islanders are 5-5-3 overall, 2-3-3 at home and 3-2-0 on the road.  The Isles have trailed at some point in four of their five wins this season, including all three of their road victories.
The Senators are 4-7-2 overall, 1-4-0 at home and 3-3-2 on the road.   

In the Nets
Evgeni Nabakov made 27 saves and improves to 5-3-3 on the season. 
Robin Lehner made 53 saves for the Sens but is 0-2-1 on the season. He is 0-4 in his career in the shootout.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-4 while the Sens were 0-2.  The Isles failed to convert a 1:53 opportunity with a 5-on-3. After scoring a power play goal in five straight games, the Isles have been held without a power play goal in their last three games.
The Isles are 3-1-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-4-0 when they do not.  The Isles are 0-4-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 5-1-1 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 5-1-2 when they score at least three goals and are 0-4-1 when they do not. 

At Least Two
The Isles have scored at least twice in every game this season.  Chicago and St. Louis are the only other teams to have done so.

Second to The One
Jack Capuano is now 2nd on the all-time Islander list in both games coached (208) and wins (89).

Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 89
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74
 
Most games coached (Islanders):
1.     Al Arbour 1,500
2.     Jack Capuano 208
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181

They Said It
John Tavares: "It was a great pass (from Vanek) to recognize I was going to the net and get it by their defender… I just had the easy part, obviously, so it was nice to get rewarded for it and finally put one in and kind of break the seal there. It kind of opened up the floodgates there and we got another one right away. It was a big point in the game for us and we had to battle back from two down twice and it was good character showing for us to be able to do something like that."

They Tweeted It
@mcliebler  Vanek to Tavares makes top play number 3 in SportsCenter's Top 10 plays #Isles

The Coach
I was pleased with the effort…and they got rewarded.

Head of the Class
John Tavares has 263 career points; he is 57 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 28:54 to lead the Isles for the tenth time this season. Chris Phillips led the Sens with 25:26.
The Isles are 4-4-2 when MacDonald leads them in ice-time and 1-1-1 when Hamonic leads them.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 32 of 70 draws.  No Islander won more draws than he lost; Kyle Turris won 12 of 20 to lead the Sens.

Heavy Hitters
The Isles were out-hit 42-34.  Matt Martin had eight hits and Cal Clutterbuck had six hits to lead the Isles.  There were no fights, leaving the season total as three: Boulton (2), Martin (1).

Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 22 blocked shots; Andrew MacDonald led the way with seven and now has an NHL-leading 49 blocked shots.

All–time Winners
The Islanders improve to nine games over all-time NHL .500 (1376-1367-442 in 3,185 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 220 consecutive games.
Frans Nielsen (143) and Kyle Okposo (126) 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
·         Richard Park 10/5/2006 – 2/18/2009 221
·         John Tavares 10/16/10 – CURRENT  220
·         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 remains on injured reserve; Brian Strait missed his fourth game with an upper body injury. Colin MacDonald missed his third game with a hip injury; Eric Boulton was scratched. The Isles have lost 16 games this season due to injury.

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
 
Career Goals as an Islander
17
Duane Sutter
121
 
18
Alexei Yashin
119
 
19
Matt Moulson
118
 
19
Mark Parrish
118
 
19
Steve Thomas
118
 
21
John Tavares
117
 
22
Ray Ferraro
116
 
24
Benoit Hogue
105
 
24
Ed Westfall
105
 
 
 
 
 
Career Assists as an Islander
 
24
Mariusz Czerkawski
150
25
John Tavares
146
26
Travis Green
145
27
Frans Nielsen
144
28
Steve Thomas
140
29
Mark Streit
139

 







Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
25
Gerry Hart
476
26
Radek Martinek
470
26
Mariusz Czerkawski
470
28
Trent Hunter
459
 
39
Randy Wood
381
40
Frans Nielsen
380
41
Dave Scatchard
347
42
Alexei Yashin
346
43
Mark Parrish
345
44
Josh Bailey
342
45
Marty McInnis
337
46
Robert Goring
332
46
Oleg Kvasha
332
46
Kyle Okposo
332
49
Bruno Gervais
331
49
Zigmund Palffy
331
51
Shawn Bates
330
52
Eric Cairns
327
53
Alan Kerr
326
54
Brad Dalgarno
321
55
Ray Ferraro
316
55
Steve Webb
316
55
Richard Park
316
58
Gerald Diduck
314
59
Mikko Makela
307
60
John Tavares
304
60
Gordon Lane
304
60
Matt Moulson
304
63
Arron Asham
300
63
Roman Hamrlik
300
 



 
 



 







Career Points as an Islander
20
Ed Westfall
286
21
John Tavares
262
22
Jason Blake
258
22
Steve Thomas
258



29
Benoit Hogue
229
29
Trent Hunter
229
31
Matt Moulson
223
32
Mikko Makela
219
33
Mark Parrish
214
34
Garry Howatt
213
34
Jean Potvin
213
36
Anders Kallur
211
37
Frans Nielsen
209
38
Kyle Okposo
198
38
Marty McInnis
198
40
Wayne Merrick
197






Season Series Stats
The Isles lead the season series one game to none (and two points to one) with two games to play.  The teams won't play again for five months (April 2nd at Ottawa); two of the Isles' final seven games are against the Senators.
The Isles improve to 5-5-0 in their last ten games against the Sens, but their last four wins against Ottawa have come in overtime/shootouts so the Sens have a 9-game point streak (5-0-4) against the Isles.

Happy Anniversary
36 years ago tonight: November 1, 1977. Bryan Trottier became the first Islander to score four goals in a game as the Isles celebrated Al Arbour's 45th birthday by pounding Atlanta 9-0.  Billy Smith played all but the final eight minutes, when Goran Hogosta appeared in his only game as an Islander as the two combined for the first combined shutout in Islander history

Overall the Islanders are now 10-5-0 on this date, including shutouts for Wade Flaherty in 2000 (over Florida) and Rick DiPietro in 2007 (over Boston).  

On The Farm
Ryan Strome scored two goals and added three assists to tie a Sound Tigers record with five points in a game while Mike Halmo added two goals and two assists as Bridgeport pounded Worcester 7-1 on Friday to snap a 5-game losing streak. Bridgeport improves to 2-5-1-0 on the season and returns home to face Norfolk on Saturday.

Up Next
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2nd —BOSTON AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 6:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN-FM]

The Isles return home for the back-end of the back-to-backs as they entertain the Eastern Conference Champion Boston Bruins on Saturday.
The Bruins won both games at the Coliseum last season and own a three-game win streak on Long Island.  However, the Isles picked up a key victory last April 11th in Boston in the teams' last meeting.

The Isles will be looking to go over NHL-.500 but to do so they will have to win consecutive games for the first time this season.  (The Isles are 0-3-1 in games following a victory, and are also 0-2-1 on the back-end of back-to-backs.)

And Finally…
Happy 81st birthday, Al Arbour!

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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