"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 70
Minnesota 6, Isles 0
Matt Moulson scored two goals and added an assist while Mikko Koivu recorded three assists to become the all-time leading scorer in Minnesota Wild history as the Wild blanked the Islanders 6-0 before a crowd of 14,888 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Isles fall to 2-9-1 in their last 12 home games (including 2-8-1 in their last 11 games at the Coliseum) and have not won consecutive games at the Coliseum since November 2nd-12th.
The Scoring:
1st Period
12:23 MIN Matt Moulson (19) Wrist shot - ASST: Justin Fontaine (7), Mikko Koivu (30) 1 - 0 MIN
15:57 MIN Jared Spurgeon (4) Slapshot - ASST: Dany Heatley (15), Nino Niederreiter (21) 2 - 0 MIN
2nd Period
16:02 MIN Mikael Granlund (7) Snap shot - ASST: Jason Pominville (23), Zach Parise (22) 3 - 0 MIN
3rd Period
04:56 MIN Clayton Stoner (1) Wrist shot - ASST: Mikko Koivu (31) 4 - 0 MIN
07:06 MIN Justin Fontaine (13) Wrist shot - ASST: Matt Moulson (23), Mikko Koivu (32) 5 - 0 MIN
16:34 MIN PPG - Matt Moulson (20) Wrist shot - ASST: Matt Cooke (16), Kyle Brodziak (16) 6 - 0 MIN
The Skinny:
Matt Moulson's two goals gives him at least 20 for the fourth time in his career (each of the last four full seasons); Moulson was honored with a video tribute during the first television timeout… Mikko Koivu now has 438 points, one more than Marian Gaborik recorded for the Wild… Nino Niederreiter also returned to the Coliseum and assisted on Minnesota's second goal…The Isles have been shutout five times this season, including three times at home…Minnesota-native Anders Lee had a career-high eight shots but Lee (3 games) and fellow-Minnesotans Kyle Okposo (4 games) and Brock Nelson (4 games) all had point streaks stopped….Okposo, the NHL's second star last week, has a team-leading 69 points on the season (which is 5th in the NHL) and 99 career goals…This was the Isles' final game against the Western Conference this season; the Isles finished 11-14-3 vs. the West and they are 15-21-6 against the East… Brian Strait suffered a broken left hand in the second period… The Isles are 5-14-5 in their last 24 home games… It is only the third time in franchise history that they have won as few as 10 of their first 36 home games (8-24-4 in 1972-73 and 9-22-4-1 in 1999-2000); their six regulation home wins are a franchise record through 36 home games (7 in 1999-2000 and 8 in 1972-73)…The Isles are once again eight games under NHL-.500 at home, matching their low point of the season. The last time the Isles were at least 9 games under .500 was when they ended the 2000-2001 season with a 12-27-1-1 Coliseum record…The Isles have allowed three goals in a period 24 times this season…The 6-0 defeat was the Isles' most one-sided loss of the season; the Isles have been shutout 6-0 or worse four times in the last three seasons, and all four games have occurred at home. Ilya Bryzgalov has been the opposing goalie in each of the last two games…With the loss, the Isles are assured a sub-NHL. 500 record at the Coliseum for the fourth consecutive season; they have had only one winning season at home in the last seven seasons.
The Shots:
Isles 16-8-12=36
Wild 6-12-5=23
The Isles have been outshot only twice in the last 14 games.
Home and Road
The Islanders are 26-35-9 overall, 10-18-8 at home (including 0-1-0 at Yankee Stadium) and 16-17-1 on the road. The Isles are 5-11-2 in their last 18 games.
Minnesota is 36-23-8 overall; they are 23-7-5 at home and 12-16-3 on the road. The Wild are 16-6-3 in their last 25 games.
By Division
The Isles are 6-15-3 in Division games and are 20-20-6 in games against other divisions. They are 9-6-3 vs. the Atlantic Division, 7-6-1 vs. Central Division, and 4-8-2 vs. the Pacific Division.
The Isles have losing records against every division opponent except Washington (1-1-1 with one to play). They are 0-3-0 against Carolina, 0-1-1 against Columbus, 1-2-0 against New Jersey, 2-3-0 against New York, 1-3-0 against Philadelphia, and 1-2-1 against Pittsburgh.
This was the last of eight consecutive games against non-divisional opponents. The Isles went 3-4-1 in this stretch.
In the Nets
Anders Nilsson made 17 saves but falls to 3-5-2 on the season.
Ilya Bryzgalov made 36 saves for Minnesota as he records his second shutout of the season; Bryzgalov is now 6-8-6 on the season (and 1-0-1 since joining the Wild). It's the third time in his career that Bryzgalov has shut out the Isles; he is 5-1-2 all-time vs. the Isles including a 1-0 shootout loss in one of his three shutouts.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-3 on the power play while Minnesota was 1-3.
The Isles are 15-8-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 11-27-5 when they do not. The Isles are 11-198-4 when they allow at least one power play goal and 15-16-5 when they do not.
The Isles were 8-71 in the last 18 games on the power play and have allowed ten power play goals in 36 times short over the last nine games.
Feast or Famine
The Isles PP went 10-33 in the first 10 games, before going 7-79 in the next 24 games. They rebounded to go 11-32 in the following 11 games but are only 12-96 in their last 25 games.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 23-10-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-25-6 when they do not.
Comeback Kids
The Isles are 11-9-7 when they score first and are 15-26-2 when they allow the opening goal. The Isles have allowed the first goal in 24 of their last 32 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 (265) and wins (110).
Most games coached (Islanders):
1. Al Arbour 1,500
2. Jack Capuano 265
3. Mike Milbury 191
4. Terry Simpson 187
5. Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1. Al Arbour 740
2. Jack Capuano 110
3. Terry Simpson 81
4. Peter Laviolette 77
5. Ted Nolan 74
They Said It
Kyle Okposo: "We just didn't get enough after the first period. We looked like we stopped playing … It's unacceptable."
They Tweeted It
@MMoulson Big 2 points for us...was great to see so many friends and would like to thank the #Isles fans for such a warm reception...thank you
@Russostrib Fifth 6-0 #mnwild win in history, third on the road. Ties team record for largest margin of victory
The Coach
"We played a good first period…but after that we started to play as individuals…We didn't do a lot of good things the second half of the game."
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are now 6-8-1 in the front-end and 6-7-2 on the back end of back-to-backs this season. The Isles have swept three back-to-backs: November 1st/2nd vs. Ottawa and Boston; January 6th/7th vs. Dallas and Toronto and January 20th/21st vs. Philadelphia and the Rangers.
In the 15 sets of back-to-backs, they have earned 4 points three times, 3 points once, 2 points five times, 1 point twice and no points on four occasions.
The Isles' next back-to-back set is on April 1st against Florida and April 2nd at Ottawa. Six of the Isles' final eight games will be played as part of three back-to-back sets.
Leading Ice Men
Travis Hamonic led the Isles with 24:30 of ice-time; Ryan Suter led Minnesota with 23:15. It was Suter's lowest ice-time of the season.
The Isles are 15-17-6 when MacDonald leads in ice-time, are 11-13-3 when Hamonic leads, are 0-1-0 when Okposo leads, are 0-1-0 when Strait leads, are 0-2-0 when Tavares leads and are 0-1-0 when Vanek leads.
In the Circle
The Islanders won 26 of 60 draws (43%). Casey Cizikas won 11 of 15 for the Isles; Mikael Granlund won 9 of 13 for Minnesota.
Heavy Hitters
The Isles out-hit Minnesota 18-10; Cal Clutterbuck led the Isles with four hits. Matt Martin had only 1 hits hit, but it was his 300th hit of the season. Martin leads the NHL in hits by a wide margin. It is the second time in his career that he has recorded 300 hits.
There were no fights. The Isles have received 29 fighting penalties this season: Martin (10), Boulton (8), Carkner (6), McDonald (2), Hamonic (2) and Okposo (1).
Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 18blocked shots. Brian Strait led the way with four blocks, before leaving the game with a broken hand.
The Race to 1,400?
The Islanders fall back to all-time NHL .500 (1397-1397-448 in 3,242 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
Thomas Hickey is the Islanders' reigning ironman. He has played 71 consecutive regular season games, and is the only Islander to have played in every game this season.
Missing Men
John Tavares is on injured reserve. Michael Grabner missed his third straight game with a concussion; Kevin Czuczman made his NHL debut, replacing Matt Carkner in the lineup. Matt Donovan, Eric Boulton and Radek Martinek were also scratched.
The Isles have lost 170 games this season due to injury.
Career Wins, Active Goalies
Career Wins
17. Rogie Vachon 355
19. Gump Worsley 335
20. Nikolai Khabibulin 333
Career Shutouts, Active Goalies
Career Shutouts
17 John Ross Roach 58
18 Clint Benedict 57
18 Evgeni Nabokov 57
20 Bernie Parent 54
20 Ed Giacomin 54
| Career Goals as an Islander |
15 Mariusz Czerkawski 145
16 John Tavares 136
17 Jason Blake 127
27 Trent Hunter 99
28 Kyle Okposo 99
29 Mikko Makela 95
29 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 Michael Grabner 82
37 Frans Nielsen 82
39 Wayne Merrick 81
39 Dave Scatchard 81
| Career Assists as an Islander |
16 Ed Westfall 181
17 John Tavares 179
18 Kenny Jonsson 175
19 Alexei Yashin 171
20 Duane Sutter 171
21 Jean Potvin 167
22 Jeff Norton 166
23 Frans Nielsen 164
24 Zigmund Palffy 163
25 Kyle Okposo 155
26 David Volek 154
| Career Games as an Islander (skaters) |
24 Eddie Westfall 493
25 Radek Martinek 479
26 Gerry Hart 476
29 Scott Lachance 450
30 Frans Nielsen 435
31 Jason Blake 426
34 Wayne Merrick 411
35 Jean Potvin 402
36 David Volek 396
37 Josh Bailey 394
37 Bert Marshall 392
39 Travis Green 388
39 Kyle Okposo 388
41 Anders Kallur 383
42 Randy Wood 381
43 John Tavares 350
44 Dave Scatchard 347
| Career Points as an Islander |
16 Ziggy Palffy 331
17 John Tavares 315
18 Mariusz Czerkawski 295
22 Jason Blake 258
22 Steve Thomas 258
24 Kyle Okposo 254
25 David Volek 249
26 Frans Nielsen 245
27 Ray Ferraro 238
Season Series Stats
The teams split the season series, 1 game to 1 (and 2 points to 2).
The Isles had won the last 4 meetings between the teams since a 3-2 Wild win in St. Paul on November 20, 2009.
It's the first time the Wild have ever shut out the Isles. The last Minnesota goalie to blank the Isles was North Star goalie Jon Casey, who did so on November 5, 1992 in Bloomington, Minnesota. The six goals scored by the Wild match the franchise record against the Isles (6-2 on 3/25/2009).
Happy Anniversary (This One is Hard to Believe)
28 years ago today (March 18, 1986): Brent Sutter had two goals and an assist as the Islanders pounded the rival Rangers 6-2 at the Coliseum.
All-time, the Isles are 3-9-8 on this date and here's the hard-to-believe part. The Isles have not won on this date since that 1986 win, going 0-7-7 in 14 tries.
On The Farm
Bridgeport broke a six game winless streak with a 5-4 win over Adirondack on Sunday, as they improve to 27-29-2-4 on the season. Kevin Poulin earned his first AHL win of the season.
The Sound Tigers head to Hartford on Wednesday before returning home to host St. Johns on Saturday and Portland on Sunday.
Up Next
SUNDAY, MARCH 23th – COLUMBUS AT ISLANDERS 1:00PM
[MSG-Plus (Isles Pre-game at 12:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN-FM]
[MSG-Plus (Isles Pre-game at 12:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN-FM]
The Islanders conclude their four-game homestand as they host the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The Blue Jackets have won both meetings between the teams this season, spoiling the Isles' home opener as they overcame a 2-0 deficit for a 3-2 shootout win and then defeating the Isles by a 5-2 score in Columbus in early November.
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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