"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 56
Rangers 2, Isles 1
Daniel Carcillo scored the only goal of the third period and it turned out to be the winner as the Rangers defeated the Islanders 2-1 in the Stadium Series before a crowd of 50,027 at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. The loss, technically in a home game for the Islanders stretches their winless streak to four games (0-3-1).
The Scoring:
1st Period
NONE
2nd Period
18:33 NYI Brock Nelson (10) Snap shot - ASST: Matt Donovan (6), Cal Clutterbuck (4) 1 - 0 NYI
19:13 NYR Benoit Pouliot (9) Wrist shot - ASST: Derick Brassard (21), Mats Zuccarello (23) 1 - 1 Tie
3rd Period
04:36 NYR Daniel Carcillo (3) Wrist shot - ASST: Dominic Moore (7), Brian Boyle (9) 2 - 1 NYR
The Skinny:
The two second period goals were scored 40 seconds apart. It's the first time since December 20th (at MSG) that the Isles have allowed a goal in the first minute after scoring a goal… Kyle Okposo's point streak ended at six games …The Isles have been outscored 77-68 in the second period; more goals have been scored in second period of Islander games than any other teams…The game established an Islander franchise record for attendance (50,027); the two Stadium Series games at Yankee Stadium drew a combined attendance of 100,132 and are the two largest crowds for a regular season game in the new Yankee Stadium… The road team (in this case the Rangers) has won all four games between the clubs this season…The Isles are 1-1-1 all-time in "home" games not played at Nassau Coliseum…Brock Nelson is only the 12th rookie this season to record 10 goals; he has 7 goals in the last 13 games and breaks a tie with Michael Grabner for fifth place in club goal-scoring…The road teams are now 9-1-1 in all-time outdoor NHL games.
Eight's Not Enough!
The Isles are 8-6-1 in January, with one game to play. However, the Isles are 0-3-1 in the last four.
It's the first time since 2003 that the Isles have earned 8 wins in January and matches their most January wins since they earned 9 in January 1990. The Isles have earned ten victories in January only once in franchise history, going 10-4-1 in 1980 (April and May were pretty good that year, too!)
The Shots:
Isles 10-15- 6=31
Rangers 6-14-14=34
Home and Road
The Islanders are 21-27-8 overall, 8-12-8 at home (including 0-1-0 at Yankee Stadium) and 13-15-0 on the road. The Isles are 7-5-1 in their last 13, 12-8-1 in their last 21 and are 13-9-3 in their last 25 games overall.
The Rangers are 29-23-3 overall; they are 12-13-3 at home and 17-10-0 on the road. The Rangers have won two straight and are 13-5-1 since losing to the Islanders on December 20th.
By Division
The Isles are 5-13-3 in Division games and are 16-14-5 in games against other divisions. They are 7-5-3 vs. the Atlantic Division, 6-4-1 vs. Central Division, and 3-5-1 vs. the Pacific Division.
In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov made 32 saves but falls to 9-9-5 on the season.
Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves for the Rangers and improves to 19-18-3 on the season. Lundqvist 4-1-0 in his last five starts and 7-2-0 in his last; he improves to 28-12-5 in his career against the Isles.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-4 (including a 3 second advantage at the end of the game) while the Rangers were 0-1. In the season series, the Isles are 2-16 while the Rangers are 5-16.
The Isles are 13-6-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 8-21-4 when they do not. The Isles are 10-15-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 11-12-5 when they do not.
The Islander power play is 0-17 in their last four games. The Isles have killed 25 of 28 (89.5%) over the last 11 games.
Tale of Four Seasons
The Isles PP went 10-33 in the first 10 games, before going 7-79 in the next 24 games. They rebounded to go 10-32 in the following 11 games but are only 4-42 in their 12 games.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 19-7-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-20-5 when they do not.
Comeback Kids
The Isles are 9-8-6 when they score first and are 12-19-2 when they allow the opening goal. The Isles have allowed the first goal in 13 of their last 18 games. The Isles have scored first in 16 of their 28 home games (including the Yankee Stadium game) but are 6-4-6 in those games.
Second to The One
Jack Capuano became the 2nd coach in Islander history to win 100 games in Toronto on January 7th and became the 2nd coach in Islander history to coach 250 games on January 27th against Boston. He is 2nd on the all-time Islander list in both games coached (250) and wins (105).
Most games coached (Islanders):
1. Al Arbour 1,500
2. Jack Capuano 251
3. Mike Milbury 191
4. Terry Simpson 187
5. Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1. Al Arbour 740
2. Jack Capuano 105
3. Terry Simpson 81
4. Peter Laviolette 77
5. Ted Nolan 74
They Said It
John Tavares: "It was cold, but it was fun. …I enjoyed the atmosphere. It was unbelievable. It was a lot of fun…. I think anyone that's ever played in it really says it's quite the
experience."
They Tweeted It
@theActual_Danny That having been said... no regrets about going to the stadium tn. Awesome event that hockey fans across the world should experience. #Isles
@____kaytee Had a ton of fun tonight with my big brother, freezing our butts off for our team #StadiumSeries #isles @miketorok
@janke24 Coolest experience of my life #stadiumseries #isles #yankeestadium
@Steve_Lafleur Also, let's all get at least a little bit excited about Nelson scoring 7 goals in the last 13 games? Love him at centre. #Isles
The Coach
"(I thought) we'll regroup after the second and come back out,' and we got away from our game a little bit. We needed to do a little bit more and we didn't do it."
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 6-6-0 in the front-end and 5-5-2 on the back end of back-to-backs this season. The Isles have swept three back-to-backs: November 1st/2nd vs. Ottawa and Rangers; January 6th/7th vs. Dallas and Toronto and January 20th/21st vs. Philadelphia and the Rangers.
In the twelve sets of back-to-backs, they have earned 4 points three times, 3 points once, 2 points four times, 1 point once and no points on three occasions.
The Islanders do not play back-to-back again until they host New Jersey and Florida on March 1st and 2nd.
Leading Ice Men
Andrew MacDonald led the Isles with 24:15 of ice-time. Ryan McDonough led the Rangers with 26:13 of ice-time.
The Isles are 14-15-6 when MacDonald leads in ice-time, are 7-10-2 when Hamonic leads, are 0-1-0 when Okposo leads and are 0-1-0 when Tavares leads.
In the Circle
The Islanders won 34 of 61 draws. John Tavares won 13 of 20 draws for the Isles; Brian Boyle won 4 of 5 for the Rangers.
Heavy Hitters
The Isles were out-hit 17-16. Josh Bailey led the Isles with three hits; Matt Martin added one. Martin's 264 hits lead the NHL by a wide margin. He had now recorded at least 200 hits in four straight seasons.
There were no fights. The Isles have been involved in 20 fights this season: Martin (7), Boulton (5), Carkner (5), McDonald (2), and Okposo (1).
Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 11 blocked shots. Lubomir Visnovsky led the way with four blocks; Andrew MacDonald added one, as he extended his NHL-leading total to 181.
Three Over All-Time .500
The Islanders fall to three games over all-time NHL .500 (1392-1389-447 in 3,228 games). The Isles have been 1-under all-time .500 after six games this season and have gone 4-0-2 in the following game.
The Isles have finished every season since 1977-78 above all-time NHL .500 and have not been more than 1 game under NHL-.500 since January 11, 1978.
Ironmen
Frans Nielsen is the Islanders' reigning ironman. He has played 186 consecutive games, and is one of four Islanders to have played in every game this season. Other ironman streaks: Andrew Mac Donald (157), Matt Martin (117), and Thomas Hickey (57).
Century Club
Andrew MacDonald has the 4th longest consecutive game streak for a defenseman in Islander history:
1. Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979 262
2. Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220 (*)(**)
3. Gerry Hart 3/1/1975-11/22/1977 198
4. Andrew MacDonald 12/19/11- CURRENT 157
5. Janne Niinimaa 3/13/2004-1/7/2006 136 (**)
6. Ken Morrow 3/1/1980-12/29/1981 134 (*)
7. Mark Streit 10/8/2011-4/26/2013 130
8. Travis Hamonic 2/24/2012-1/12/2014 117
9. Travis Hamonic 11/24/2011– 2/4/2012 113 (*)
10. Jean Potvin 10/23/1975-1/2/1977 110
11. Kenny Jonsson 12/26/1996-2/4/1998 104
(*) Start of NHL career.
(**) Entire career with Islanders
Missing Men
Travis Hamonic was placed on injured reserve on Tuesday. Matt Donovan was recalled from Bridgeport and replaced Matt Carkner in the lineup. Radek Martinek was scratched for the third straight game while Eric Boulton was scratched for the fifth straight game.
The Isles have lost 146 games this season due to injury.
|
Career Goals as an Islander |
15 Mariusz Czerkawski 145
16 John Tavares 135
17 Jason Blake 127
28 Mikko Makela 95
28 Kyle Okposo 95
28 David Volek 95
31 Randy Wood 94
32 Greg Gilbert 93
32 Garry Howatt 93
34 Travis Green 92
35 Butch Goring 87
36 Tomas Jonsson 84
37 Wayne Merrick 81
37 Dave Scatchard 81
39 Michael Grabner 79
39 Marty McInnis 79
41 Miroslav Satan 78
41 Frans Nielsen 78
43 Claude Lapointe 76
| Career Assists as an Islander |
16 Ed Westfall 181
17 John Tavares 178
18 Kenny Jonsson 175
19 Alexei Yashin 171
20 Duane Sutter 171
21 Jean Potvin 167
22 Jeff Norton 166
23 Zigmund Palffy 163
24 Frans Nielsen 161
25 David Volek 154
26 Mariusz Czerkawski 150
27 Kyle Okposo 147
28 Travis Green 145
| Career Games as an Islander (skaters) |
24 Eddie Westfall 493
25 Radek Martinek 479
26 Gerry Hart 476
32 Frans Nielsen 423
33 Dave Langevin 422
34 Wayne Merrick 411
35 Jean Potvin 402
36 David Volek 396
37 Bert Marshall 392
38 Travis Green 388
39 Anders Kallur 383
40 Randy Wood 381
41 Josh Bailey 380
42 Kyle Okposo 374
43 Dave Scatchard 347
44 John Tavares 346
44 Alexei Yashin 346
46 Mark Parrish 345
| Career Points as an Islander |
16 Ziggy Palffy 331
17 John Tavares 313
18 Mariusz Czerkawski 295
24 David Volek 249
25 Kyle Okposo 241
26 Frans Nielsen 239
27 Ray Ferraro 238
Season Series Stats
The season series is even 2 games to 2 (and 4 points to 4). The Isles are 0-2-2 in their last four "home" games against the Rangers.
The teams will meet for the final time in this regular season on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
Happy Anniversary
14 years ago today (1-29-00): Mathieu Biron scores the winning goal in overtime as the Islanders defeat San Jose in the Shark Tank 3-2. It's the second straight win for Roberto Luongo—the only time he won consecutive games as an Islander. (Evgeni Nabokov gave up two early goals in that game and was replaced by Steve Shields for San Jose)
All-time, the Isles are 7-5-4 on this date, even though they have never won at home (0-4-3, including 0-1-0 at Yankee Stadium). The Isles are 7-1-1 on the road on this date.
On The Farm
Bridgeport has won four straight and his improved to 18-22-1-4 on the season.
Anders Lee leads Bridgeport (and is tied for the AHL rookie lead) with 17 goals. Ryan Strome leads the team (and all AHL rookies) in assists (30); he also leads the Sound Tigers in points (40). Strome's 40 points place him 7th in league scoring despite playing at least eight fewer games than anyone ahead of him in AHL scoring.
Bridgeport is off until Friday when they visit Albany.
Up Next
FRIDAY, JANUARY 31th – ISLANDERS AT RANGERS 7:00PM
[MSG+2 (pre-game at 6:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN-FM]
This most unusual home-and-home series between the teams concludes on Friday at Madison Square Garden.
The Islanders have won three straight games in Manhattan and are 3-2-2 in the last seven games overall against the Rangers. Since 2005, the Isles are 14-12-2 at MSG (despite going 0-7-1 immediately before this three-game win streak).
And Finally…
I watched this game from the stands with my wife and boys, something I last did for an Islanders game in 2004. Happy Birthday to "Mrs. Skinny", my wife Diane!
Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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
