"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 30
Los Angeles 3, Isles 0
Anze Kopitar broke a scoreless tie midway through the second period with his eighth goal of the season as the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Islanders 3-0 before a sellout crowd of 18,118 at Staples Center. The loss extends the Islanders' winless streak to nine straight games (0-7-2) and is their ninth straight loss on the road.
The Scoring:
1st Period
None
2nd Period
12:08 LAK Anze Kopitar (8) Snap shot - ASST: Alec Martinez (2) 1 - 0 LAK
3rd Period
10:37 LAK Dustin Brown (6) Wrap-around - ASST: Jarret Stoll (5), Justin Williams (11) 2 - 0 LAK
18:56 LAK EN - Tyler Toffoli (7) Wrist shot - ASST: Michael Richards (17), Drew Doughty (10) 3 - 0 LAK
The Skinny:
The Isles are 2-12-2 in their last 16 games and have been shutout three times in that stretch… Andrew MacDonald and Kyle Okposo each had three game point streaks stopped…Isles have been outscored 35-17 in the third period, including 28-8 in the last 20 games … The Isles have been outscored 36-14 during their nine-game winless streak, which is their longest winless streak since they had a 14-game streak from October 23-November 24, 2010 (0-11-3)…Martin Jones (23 years, 11 months) is youngest goalie to shutout the Isles since Anders Lindback (22 years, 7 months) in 2010; Jones is also the first goalie born in the 1990s to blank the Isles…The Kings are 10-1-4 in their last 15 games…It was Los Angeles' 66th consecutive home sellout in the regular season, tying the franchise record…John Tavares has been held pointless in consecutive games for the first time this season.
The Shots:
Isles 7- 4-5=16
Kings 6-10-8=24
The 16 shots matches a season-low and is their fewest in a shutout loss since they had 12 vs. Carolina on April 7, 1999.
Home and Road
The Islanders are 8-17-5 overall, 5-6-5 at home and 3-11-0 on the road. The Isles drop to 9 games under NHL-.500 for the first time since the end of the 2010-11 season (30-39-13). The Isles have lost nine straight games on the road for the first time since December 20, 1998 – January 16, 1999 and matches their longest road losing streak since the Inaugural 1972-73 season.
The Kings are 19-7-4 overall; they are 10-4-2 at home and 9-3-2 on the road. The Kings have won three straight.
In the Nets
Kevin Poulin made 21 saves but falls to 3-11-0 on the season.
Martin Jones, in his 2nd NHL start, made 16 saves to record the shutout. Jones now has a shutout and a perfect 9-round shootout win to his credit.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-4 while the Kings were 0-5. The Kings are now 0-last 30 on the power play.
The Isles are 5-4-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 3-13-2 when they do not. The Isles are 2-12-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 6-5-2 when they do not.
Over the last 20 games, the Isles power play is 6-68 (8.8%) while the penalty kill is 24-66 (63.6%). During the nine-game winless streak, the power play is 2-27 (and has allowed two shorthanded goals) while the penalty kill is 9-30 (70.0%).
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 8-2-2 when they score at least three goals and are 0-15-3 when they do not.
Helps to Score First
The Isles are 6-2-4 when they score first and are 2-15-1 when they allow the opening goal. The Isles have allowed the first goal in nine of the last ten games.
Second to The One
Jack Capuano is now 2nd on the all-time Islander list in both games coached (225) and wins (92).
Most games coached (Islanders):
1. Al Arbour 1,500
2. Jack Capuano 225
3. Mike Milbury 191
4. Terry Simpson 187
5. Scott Gordon 181
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
They Said It
Kyle Okposo: "We played well for 30 minutes, and just shoot ourselves in the foot…. In the end, this is not acceptable."
They Tweeted It
@lakingsinsider Casey Cizikas has been really good in both games against LA.
The Coach
"The bottom line is their best players were their best players….Our power play (was) too fancy, too cute…not going to get it done."
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 3-4-0 in the front-end and 1-4-2 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.
On the seven sets of back-to-backs, they have earned 4 points once, 3 points once, 2 points once, 1 point once and no points on three occasions.
The next back-to-back set will be on Monday and Tuesday in Anaheim and San Jose.
Head of the Class
John Tavares has 281 career points; he is 68 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 24:34 to lead the Isles for the 22nd time this season. Drew Doughty led LA with 27:41 of ice-time.
The Isles are 7-11-4 when MacDonald leads them in ice-time and 1-6-1 when Hamonic leads them.
In the Circle
The Islanders won 20 of 46 draws. Frans Nielsen won 8 of 13 but the other Isles won only 12 of 33. Anze Kopitar won 13 of 19 for Los Angeles.
Heavy Hitters
The Isles were out-hit 37-31. Matt Martin led the Islanders with nine hits, extending his NHL-leading total to 149, which is 38 more than Dustin Brown's second place total of 111.
There were no fights, leaving the season total at nine: Martin (3), Boulton (3), and Carkner (3).
Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 15 blocked shots. Four Isles, including Andrew MacDonald each had two. MacDonald leads the NHL with 100 blocks, which is 15 more than Calgary's Kris Russell, who is second with 85 blocks.
Back to All-Time .500
The Islanders drop to all-time NHL .500 (1379-1379-444 in 3,202 games). The Isles have finished every season since 1977-78 above all-time NHL .500. The Isles last were at NHL .500 after a loss to Pittsburgh last March 25 dropped them to 1360-1360-435.
Ironmen
John Tavares is the reigning Islanders' ironman. Tavares has now played in 237 consecutive games, which is the second-longest streak for an Islander in the Post Cup era.
Frans Nielsen (160) and Kyle Okposo (143) 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 237
· 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 replaced Peter Regin in the lineup; Radek Martinek and Eric Boulton were scratched for the fourth straight game. The Isles have lost 69 games this season due to injury.
Nobody Beats 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 5-14-3 this season without him in the lineup.
Career Goals as an Islander
| 15 | Mariusz Czerkawski | 145 | |||
| 16 | Jason Blake | 127 | |||
| 17 | John Tavares | 123 | |||
| 18 | Duane Sutter | 121 | |||
| | | | |||
| Career Assists as an Islander | |||||
| 22 | Zigmund Palffy | 163 | |||
| 23 | John Tavares | 158 | |||
| 24 | David Volek | 154 | |||
| 25 | Mariusz Czerkawski | 150 | |||
| 26 | Frans Nielsen | 149 | |||
| 27 | Travis Green | 145 | |||
Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
| 24 | Eddie Westfall | 493 | ||||
| 25 | Radek Martinek | 476 | ||||
| 25 | Gerry Hart | 476 | ||||
| 27 | Mariusz Czerkawski | 470 | ||||
| | | | ||||
| 34 | Jean Potvin | 402 | ||||
| 35 | Frans Nielsen | 397 | ||||
| 36 | David Volek | 396 | ||||
| 37 | Bert Marshall | 392 | ||||
| 38 | Travis Green | 388 | ||||
| 39 | Anders Kallur | 383 | ||||
| 40 | Randy Wood | 381 | ||||
| 41 | Josh Bailey | 357 | ||||
| 42 | Kyle Okposo | 349 | ||||
| 43 | Dave Scatchard | 347 | ||||
| | | | ||||
| 52 | Eric Cairns | 327 | ||||
| 53 | Alan Kerr | 326 | ||||
| 54 | John Tavares | 321 | ||||
| 54 | Brad Dalgarno | 321 | ||||
| | | | ||||
Career Points as an Islander
| 20 | Ed Westfall | 286 |
| 21 | John Tavares | 281 |
| 22 | Jason Blake | 258 |
| 22 | Steve Thomas | 258 |
| | | |
| 31 | Matt Moulson | 223 |
| 32 | Mikko Makela | 219 |
| 32 | Frans Nielsen | 219 |
| 34 | Mark Parrish | 214 |
| 35 | Garry Howatt | 213 |
| 35 | Jean Potvin | 213 |
| 37 | Anders Kallur | 211 |
| 38 | Kyle Okposo | 209 |
| 39 | Marty McInnis | 198 |
Season Series Stats
The Kings win the season series two games to none (and four points to zero). After the Isles scored the first two goals of the series, LA scored the final six.
The Isles have lost four straight games in Los Angeles since defeating the Kings 3-2 on February 15, 2003.
Happy Anniversary
17years ago tonight: December 7, 1996. Tommy Salo made 24 saves and Bryan Smolinski scored the winning goal as the Islanders blanked Washington 2-0 at the Coliseum. Hall-of-Famer Clark Gillies had his jersey retired before the game.
Overall, the Isles are 10-8-2 on this date, having won just once in six games since 1996 (a 6-3 win for Garth Snow over Pittsburgh in 2002).
On The Farm
Ryan Strome may be on his way to his second consecutive AHL Player of the Week Award. Strome scored an empty net goal and added three assists to take over the AHL scoring lead as Bridgeport beat Hershey 4-2 on Saturday night. That gave Strome a seven point weekend (2-5-7) and points on eight of Bridgeport's 10 goals during the week. Anders Lee scored twice to take over the team lead in goals (10).
Bridgeport has won four straight games, and is now 9-10-1-3 on the season.
Lee leads Bridgeport with ten goals; Ryan Strome leads both the team, and the AHL in both assists (24) and points (33).
Up Next
MONDAY, DECEMBER 9th — ISLANDERS AT ANAHEIM 10:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 9:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN-FM]
[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 9:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN-FM]
The 5-game in eight day road trip continues on Monday in Anaheim. The Isles have not faced Anaheim in 23 months but will face the Ducks twice in a two-week span.
The home team has won 4 of the last five meetings, with all but one game decided by a single goal. The Isles are 2-2-1 in those five games.
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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