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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...

Sunday, November 24, 2013

The Skinny: Philadelphia 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

 By Eric Hornick
 
Game 24
Philadelphia 5, Isles 2

The Philadelphia Flyers broke a scoreless tie with 3 goals in a 3:02 span early in the second period and held off an Islander rally for a 5-2 victory over the Isles before a crowd of 19,829 at the Wells Fargo Center.  The Isles complete the road trip with a 0-3-0 record and suffer their 7th straight road loss, all in regulation.  Matt Read had two goals for Philadelphia, while Jakub Voracek added a pair of assists.  Eric Boulton scored his first goal as an Islander; the Isles are 2-8-0 in their last ten games.

The Scoring:
1st Period                                                                                
NONE                                                                                      
 
2nd Period                                                                               
0:46 PHI Matt Read (7) Slapshot - ASST: Sean Couturier (7), Steve Downie (12)   1 - 0 PHI
1:45 PHI Wayne Simmonds (4) Snap shot - ASST: Vincent Lecavalier (5), Erik Gustafsson (4) 2 - 0 PHI
3:48 PHI PPG - Claude Giroux (3) Slapshot - ASST: Wayne Simmonds (7), Jakub Voracek (8) 3 - 0 PHI
14:04 NYI John Tavares (10) Tip-in - ASST: Thomas Vanek (8), Matt Donovan (4) 3 - 1 PHI
 
3rd Period                                                                                
2:39 NYI Eric Boulton (1) Backhand shot - ASST: Casey Cizikas (3)         3 - 2 PHI
12:21 PHI Brayden Schenn (7) Snap shot - ASST: Jakub Voracek (9), Claude Giroux (12) 4 - 2 PHI
19:11 PHI EN - Matt Read (8) Wrist shot - ASST: NONE   5 - 2 PHI
 
The Skinny:  
Eric Boulton's goal was his first as an Islander, and first since April 7, 2011; he is the 336th player in Islander history to score a goal…Casey Cizikas has a career-best five game point streak (3-2-5) … John Tavares has points in seven of the last eight games.  He now has 122 career goals, breaking a tie with Duane Sutter for 17th place on the all-time Islander goal list... Isles have scored 35 of their 65 goals in the second period, but have been outscored 27-14 in the third period… The Isles have been outscored 20-5 in the third period of the last 14 games…The scoreless first period ended an Islander streak of allowing at least one goal in ten straight periods (and 12 straight road periods)…Matt Read has three goals vs. the Islanders this season, including two empty-net goals; he now has 7 goals in 12 career games against the Isles…. The Flyers had scored just 11 second period goals before scoring three times tonight…Andrew MacDonald was on-ice for all 5 Flyers goals and went -4 for the first time in his career… The Isles are 4-8-0 in November, with three games to play.  The Isles have not had a winning November since 2008 and are 9-22-5 in their last three Novembers (2010, 2011, and 2013).

The Injury:
Thomas Hickey left the game with a lower body injury after blocking a shot in the second period and did not return.  He will be re-evaluated on Sunday.

The Shots:
Isles       10-13-15=38
Flyers     10-12-8=30
 
Home and Road
The Islanders are 8-13-3 overall, 5-4-3 at home and 3-9-0 on the road.  The Isles have been outscored 30-13 in their last seven road games.  The Isles are 5 games under NHL-.500 for the first time since January 16, 2012 (16-21-6) and are 6 games under NHL-.500 on the road for the first time since the end of the 2010-11 season.
The Flyers are 10-10-2 overall; they are 6-7-0 at home and 4-3-2 on the road.  The Flyers, who reached NHL-.500 for the first time this season, are 9-3-1 in their last 13 games, including 6-0-1 in their last 7.

In the Nets
Kevin Poulin made 13 saves before being removed following the third Flyer goal.  He falls to 3-8-0 on the season.  Anders Nilsson, seeing his first NHL action of the season, stopped 12 of 13 shots in relief.
Steve Mason made 36 saves for the Flyers and improves to 7-7-2 on the season. 

Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-3 while the Flyers were 1-3.  The Flyers have now scored a power play goal in six straight games.
The Isles are 5-2-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 3-11-0 when they do not.  The Isles are 2-11-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 6-2-1 when they do not. 
Over the last 14 games, the Isles power play is 4-52 (7.7%) while the penalty kill is 18-45 (60.0%).  The Isles have allowed a power play goal in five straight games (6-13, 53.8%).

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 8-2-2 when they score at least three goals and are 0-11-1 when they do not. 

Helps to Score First
The Isles are 6-2-3 when they score first and are 2-11-0 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 (219) and wins (92).

Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 92
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74
 
Most games coached (Islanders):
1.     Al Arbour 1,500
2.     Jack Capuano 219
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181
 
They Said It
Andrew MacDonald: "They put a few together right away and it was a big shift in momentum…It's mainly lapses and then we show our true colors and come back hard after, but that's not going to be good enough in this league."

They Tweeted It
@islesblogger Set play. Boulton. Wow! #isles

The Coach
It's mental…we have to continue to believe in each other… Right now it's a fragile team, there's no question.

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 3-3-0 in the front-end and 1-4-1 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.
On the six back-to-backs, they have earned 4 points once, 3 points once, 2 points once, and no points on three occasions.
The next back-to-back set will feature a rare set of two home games: Friday vs. Detroit and Saturday vs. Washington.

Head of the Class
John Tavares has 276 career points; he is 63 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 26:59 to lead the Isles for the 18th time this season.  Brayden Coburn played 23:23 to lead the Flyers.
The Isles are 7-9-2 when MacDonald leads them in ice-time and 1-4-1 when Hamonic leads them.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 26 of 61 draws and no Islander won more draws than he lost. Adam Hall won 7 of 10 for Philadelphia.
The Isles were 1-6 on draws on their power play and were 0-5 on draws while shorthanded. However, Eric Boulton's goal came on an even-strength face-off win from Casey Cizikas.
The Isles have won less than 50% of the face-offs in nine straight games.

Heavy Hitters
The Isles out-hit Philadelphia 30-21. Matt Martin led the Isles with nine hits, extending his NHL-leading total to 118.
There were no fights in the game, leaving the season total at eight: Martin (3), Boulton (3), and Carkner (2).

Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 21 blocked shots; Andrew MacDonald extended his league-leading total to 89 with a club-high four blocks. 

All–time Winners
The Islanders fall to four games over all-time NHL .500 (1379-1375-442 in 3,196 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 231 consecutive games, which is the second-longest streak for an Islander in the Post Cup era.
Frans Nielsen (154) and Kyle Okposo (137) 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  231
·         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, Brian Strait and Evgeni Nabokov remain on injured reserve. Brock Nelson and Eric Boulton replaced Peter Regin and Pierre-Marc Bouchard in the lineup; Aaron Ness was also scratched. The Isles have lost 51 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 are 5-10-1 this season without him in the lineup.

Career Goals as an Islander
15
Mariusz Czerkawski
145
 
16
Jason Blake
127
 
17
John Tavares
122
 
18
Duane Sutter
121
 
 
 
 
 
Career Assists as an Islander
 
22
Zigmund Palffy
163
23
David Volek
154
23
John Tavares
154
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
475
27
Mariusz Czerkawski
470
 
 
 
35
David Volek
396
36
Bert Marshall
392
37
Frans Nielsen
391
38
Travis Green
388
39
Anders Kallur
383
40
Randy Wood
381
41
Josh Bailey
352
42
Dave Scatchard
347
43
Alexei Yashin
346
44
Mark Parrish
345
45
Kyle Okposo
343
46
Marty McInnis
337
 
 
 
54
Brad Dalgarno
321
55
Ray Ferraro
316
55
Steve Webb
316
55
Richard Park
316
58
John Tavares
315
59
Gerald Diduck
314
 



 







Career Points as an Islander
20
Ed Westfall
286
21
John Tavares
275
22
Jason Blake
258
22
Steve Thomas
258



32
Mikko Makela
219
33
Frans Nielsen
218
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 Flyers lead the season series two games to none (and four points to zero), winning both games by 5-2 score; the teams will finish their season series with a home-and-home series on January 18th in Philadelphia and January 20th on Long Island.
The Isles are 2-6-0 in their last eight games against the Flyers.

Happy Anniversary
4 years ago tonight: November 23, 2009.   Dwayne Roloson made a club record 58 saves and Josh Bailey potted the winning goal in overtime as the Islanders beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 at the Air Canada Center.
Overall, the Isles are 6-6-6 on this date including a 8-8 tie with Minnesota in 1982 – one of two 8-8 games that the Isles have played in their history.

On The Farm
Kenny Reiter made 37 saves but for the second straight night the Sound Tigers fell in a shootout, losing 2-1 to Worcester.  Bridgeport is now 4-8-1-3 on the season and return home to host St. John's on Sunday.
Mike Halmo leads Bridgeport with seven goals; Ryan Strome leads in both assists (14) and points (18).

Up Next
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27th —WINNIPEG AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+2 (Islanders pre-game at 6:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN-FM]
The Islanders will be off three consecutive days for the first time this season before beginning a 4-game homestand by hosting the Winnipeg Jets. 
The Isles are 5-0-1 in their last six games against Winnipeg.  With the Jets now in the Western Conference, this is the only Coliseum meeting between the teams this season.
This is 15th time in the last 19 years that the Isles have hosted a Thanksgiving Eve game (there was no NHL hockey played in two of the other four years).  The Isles are 0-2-2 in their last four Thanksgiving Eve games but are 6-4-5 all-time at home on Thanksgiving Eve.

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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