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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...

Tuesday, November 05, 2013

The Skinny: Washington 6, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

 By Eric Hornick
 
Game 15
Washington 6, Isles 2
 
Washington scored five goals in the second period, including two by Alex Ovechkin on the power play as the Caps erased a 1-0 Islander lead after 20 minutes and defeated the Isles 6-2 before a crowd of 18,506 at Verizon Center.

The Scoring:
1st Period
05:58 NYI    John Tavares (7) Wrist shot - ASST: Frans Nielsen (9), Kyle Okposo (14) 1 - 0 NYI     
 
2nd Period
03:06 WSH John Carlson (2) Snap shot - ASST: NONE   1 - 1 Tie           
04:21 WSH PPG - Alex Ovechkin (11) Snap shot - ASST: Nicklas Backstrom (12) 2 - 1 WSH        
04:38 NYI Kyle Okposo (5) Snap shot - ASST: John Tavares (10), Andrew MacDonald (4) 2 - 2 Tie           
06:50 WSH PPG - Marcus Johansson (1) Wrist - ASST: TBrouwer (1), N Backstrom (13) 3 - 2 WSH           
08:10 WSH Alexander Urbom (1) Slapshot - ASST: Tom Wilson (1), Steve Oleksy (4)        4 - 2 WSH        
17:18 WSH PPG - Alex Ovechkin (12) Snap-ASST: M Johansson (11), N Backstrom (14) 5 - 2 WSH         
 
3rd Period
15:59 WSH PPG - Tom Wilson (1) Tip-in - ASST: Alex Ovechkin (6), Mikhail Grabovski (9) 6 - 2 WSH

The Skinny:  
John Tavares opened the scoring for the second straight game; he has scored in three straight games.  It's the first regulation loss (4-1-3) for the Isles in a game that they have scored first… Kyle Okposo had a goal and an assist; he leads the team in both assists (14) and points (19).  Only Sidney Crosby (23) and Steven Stamkos (20) have more points.  Okposo's five goals were one more than he had all last season (48 games)… The Isles have at least one point from a defenseman in 11 consecutive games…The Isles had outscored their opponents 22-16 in the second period prior to being outscored 5-1 tonight; 23 of the Isles' 45 goals have been scored in the middle period…Washington has now outscored its opponents 26-13 in the second period this season… Washington scored four of their five goals in a span of 5:04, interrupted by an Okposo response just 17 seconds after Alex Ovechkin had given Washington their first lead; it's the first time the Isles have allowed five goals in a period since November 28, 2008 in Boston…Alex Ovechkin had two goals in his first game back after missing two games; he is 21-13-34 in 30 career games against the Isles… Alex Urbom's goal was his first for the Caps (he scored single goals for NJ in both 2010-11 and 2011-12); Tom Wilson's goal was his 1st in the NHL…The Isles allowed four power play goals for the first time since January 19, 2010 (Pittsburgh)… Nicklas Backstrom had three assists; it's his 23rd career game with at least three assists, which is tied for the most in the NHL since 2007-08 (h/t Adam Vignan of NHL.com).

The Shots:
Isles        11-10-15=36
Caps       11-16-12=39
 
The Isles have had 127 shots on goals in their last three games.  It is their most shots in a three-game stretch since they had 133 shots on February 24-28, 1990.

Home and Road
The Islanders are 6-6-3 overall, 3-3-3 at home and 3-3-0 on the road.  The loss ends their first winning streak of the season. The Isles are now 1-4-1 in games following a victory.
The Caps are 8-7-0 overall, 5-3-0 at home and 3-4-0 on the road.   The Caps have won three straight for the second time this season; they also have had a three game losing streak this season.

In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov made 33 saves but falls to 5-4-3 on the season.  It's only Nabokov's 2nd regulation loss in 18 career decisions against the Caps (13-2-3).
Braden Holtby made 34 saves for the Caps and improves to 6-5-0 on the season. He is 3-1-0 against the Isles, having allowed just 7 goals.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-5 while the Caps were 4-7.  After scoring a power play goal in five straight games, the Isles have been held without a power play goal in their last five games.  It's the first time this season that the Isles have allowed at least three power play goals.
The Isles are 3-1-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 3-5-0 when they do not.  The Isles are 1-5-2 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 6-1-2 when they score at least three goals and are 0-5-1 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 (210) and wins (90).

Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 90
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74
 
Most games coached (Islanders):
1.     Al Arbour 1,500
2.     Jack Capuano 210
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181

They Said It
Nabokov: "The defensive consistency is not there…and discipline consistency."

They Tweeted It
@islesfansunite Need a huge bounce-back game in Carolina, I'm talking like 4-0 final #isles

The Coach
"You give up four power play goals, you're not going to win the game.  I don't think we played that bad (in our zone), but the difference was the four power play goals."

Head of the Class
John Tavares has 266 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 26:29 to lead the Isles for the 12th time this season. Karl Alzner led the Caps with 23:05.  Kyle Okposo played 24:10 to lead the Isles forwards; it was his most ice-time since April 11, 2010.
The Isles are 5-5-2 when MacDonald leads them in ice-time and 1-1-1 when Hamonic leads them.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 38 of 74 draws.  John Tavares won 12 of 22 to lead the Isles; Brooks Laich won 5 of 7 for Washington.

Heavy Hitters
The Isles were out-hit 22-21.  Matt Carkner and Matt Martin each had four 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 15 blocked shots; Andrew MacDonald and Thomas Hickey each were credited with three.

All–time Winners
The Islanders fall to nine games over all-time NHL .500 (1377-1368-442 in 3,187 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 222 consecutive games, which is the second-longest streak for an Islander in the
Post Cup era.
Frans Nielsen (145) and Kyle Okposo (128) 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  222
·         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. Colin MacDonald missed his fifth game with a hip injury; Eric Boulton was scratched. The Isles have lost 22 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
 
18
John Tavares
119
 
20
Matt Moulson
118
 
20
Mark Parrish
118
 
20
Steve Thomas
118
 
 
 
 
 
Career Assists as an Islander
 
24
Mariusz Czerkawski
150
25
John Tavares
147
26
Frans Nielsen
145
26
Travis Green
145
28
Steve Thomas
140

 







Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
25
Gerry Hart
476
26
Radek Martinek
472
27
Mariusz Czerkawski
470



37
Travis Green
388
38
Anders Kallur
383
39
Frans Nielsen
382
40
Randy Wood
381
41
Dave Scatchard
347
42
Alexei Yashin
346
43
Mark Parrish
345
44
Josh Bailey
344
45
Marty McInnis
337
46
Kyle Okposo
334
47
Robert Goring
332
47
Oleg Kvasha
332
 
 
 
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
306
61
Gordon Lane
304
61
Matt Moulson
304
 



 







Career Points as an Islander
20
Ed Westfall
286
21
John Tavares
266
22
Jason Blake
258
22
Steve Thomas
258



32
Mikko Makela
219
33
Mark Parrish
214
34
Frans Nielsen
213
34
Garry Howatt
213
34
Jean Potvin
213
37
Anders Kallur
211
38
Kyle Okposo
204
39
Marty McInnis
198
 
 
 



Season Series Stats
The Capitals lead the season series one game to none (and two points to none) with three games to play.  The teams will next play on November 30 at the Coliseum.
This was the Isles' first regulation loss in nine games against Washington (4-1-4) and their first in the Nation's Capital in their last six games (2-1-3).

Happy Anniversary
25 years ago tonight: November 5, 1988.  A year-and-a half after they combined to win the longest overtime game in Islander history, Kelly Hrudey and Pat LaFontaine did it to the Capitals again as LaFontaine's goal 10 seconds into overtime gave Hrudey the 34-save victory in the shortest overtime game in club history. 
Overall the Islanders are now 4-9-3 on this date, but are only 1-6-1 since that 1988 win.

On The Farm
Bridgeport is 3-5-1-0 on the season and are now off until Saturday, when they visit Hershey.

Up Next
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7th —ISLANDERS AT CAROLINA 7:00PM
[MSG+2 (Islanders pre-game at 6:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN-FM]
 
The road trip continues on Thursday in Raleigh when the Isles face the Hurricanes for the second time this season.  Carolina defeated the Isles 4-3 back on October 19th; the Isles have earned just one point in their last four games against the Hurricanes (0-3-1).  The Isles have had recent success in Raleigh, going 2-0-2 in their last four visits.

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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