"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 75
Isles 4, Florida 2
Josh Bailey scored a goal and added an assist and Mike Halmo scored his first NHL goal as the Islanders defeated the Florida Panthers 4-2 before a crowd of 11,812 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Matt Martin, who was named the Bob Nystrom Award before the game, scored his 8th goal of the season while Colin MacDonald, the Islanders' Masterton nominee added two assists. The Isles have won 3 straight games at the Coliseum for the first time this season and have a season-high five-game point streak (4-0-1).
The Scoring:
1st Period
01:50 FLA SHG - Quinton Howden (4) Wrist shot - ASST: NONE 1 - 0 FLA
02:35 NYI PPG - Travis Hamonic (3) Slapshot - ASST: Josh Bailey (24) 1 - 1 Tie
2nd Period
11:18 NYI Josh Bailey (7) Tip-in - ASST: Colin McDonald (9), Ryan Strome (9) 2 - 1 NYI
17:36 NYI Matt Martin (8) Wrist shot - ASST: Colin McDonald (10) 3 - 1 NYI
3rd Period
04:21 NYI Mike Halmo (1) Wrist shot - ASST: Casey Cizikas (9) 4 - 1 NYI
19:54 FLA PPG - Brandon Pirri (11) Wrist shot -: Brian Campbell (28), Dmitry Kulikov (11) 4 - 2 NYI
The Skinny:
Mike Halmo became the 340th player in Islander history to score a goal….Josh Bailey, playing in his 399th NHL game, extended his career-best assist total; he now has 24…Playing without John Tavares, the Isles are 8-5-2 since the Olympic break…The Panthers' late power play goal was their first in nine games…The Isles improve to 13-6-6 when leading after two periods (Florida is 14-0-1 when leading after two periods)…Jonathan Racine made his NHL debut for Florida and was penalized on his first shift…. In their last four games, Matt Martin is 3-1-4. Colin McDonald is 2-3-5 and Ryan Strome is 1-3-4….Martin is the second Islander to win the Bobby Nystrom Award three times, and the first to do so in consecutive seasons; Claude Lapointe is the other three-time winner…The Isles improve to 17-9-4 with Strome in the lineup…Florida scored on their first and last shots, but not on their other 20 shots.
The Shots:
Isles 11-17-12=40
Florida 5-8-9=22
It's the 8th time this season that the Isles have recorded at least 40 shots in a game, but the first time since January 20th against Philadelphia.
The Young Get Younger
The Isles dressed ten rookies for the third straight: Kevin Czuczman, Calvin de Haan, Matt Donovan, Mike Halmo, Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, Anders Nilsson, Ryan Strome, Johan Sundstrom, and John Persson.
The average age of the 20 players the Isles dressed tonight was 25.33 years. If you exclude the goaltenders, the average age drops to 24.66 years. Matt Carkner was the only Islander over 30 (he is 33 ½). None of the other Isles have turned 30 (Frans Nielsen will do so later this month).
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Islanders have dressed 11 rookies for only one game in their history, and it was played exactly 41 years ago: April 1, 1973 in Atlanta (the final game of the first season in Islander history).
Home and Road
The Islanders are 30-35-10 overall, 13-18-8 at home (including 0-1-0 at Yankee Stadium) and 17-17-2 on the road. The Isles are 6-2-1 in their last 9 games.
Over the last two seasons, the Isles are 23-29-11 (57 points in 63 games) at home and 31-23-6 (68 points in 60 games) on the road.
Florida is 27-42-8 overall; they are 14-17-5 at home and 13-25-3 on the road. The Panthers, who dropped eight points behind the Isles in the overall standings, will play their final five games at home.
By Division
The Isles are 9-15-3 in Division games and are 21-20-7 in games against other divisions. They are 10-6-4 vs. the Atlantic Division, 7-6-1 vs. Central Division, and 4-8-2 vs. the Pacific Division.
The Isles do not have a winning record against every division opponent. They are 1-3-0 against Carolina, 1-1-1 (with one to play) against Columbus, 2-2-0 (with one to play) against New Jersey, 2-3-0 against New York, 1-3-0 against Philadelphia, 1-2-1 against Pittsburgh., and 1-1-1 against Washington (with one to play).
This was the fifth of 12 consecutive games against Eastern Conference opponents to end the regular season. The Isles have started this stretch 4-0-1.
In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov made 20 saves as he improves to 14-14-7 on the season. Nabokov, who recorded his 349th career victory, is 7-3-1 in his career against Florida.
Scott Clemmensen made 36 saves for Florida; he is 6-7-1 on the season.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-4 on the power play while Florida was 1-3.
The Isles are 17-8-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-27-6 when they do not. The Isles are 13-19-4 when they allow at least one power play goal and 17-16-6 when they do not.
The Isles are 10-87 in the last 23 games on the power play and have allowed 13 power play goals in 55 times short over the last 14 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 14-112 in their last 30 games.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 25-10-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 5-25-7 when they do not.
Comeback Kids
The Isles are 14-9-7 when they score first and are 16-26-3 when they allow the opening goal. The Isles have allowed the first goal in 26 of their last 37 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 (270) and wins (114).
Most games coached (Islanders):
1. Al Arbour 1,500
2. Jack Capuano 270
3. Mike Milbury 191
4. Terry Simpson 187
5. Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1. Al Arbour 740
2. Jack Capuano 114
3. Terry Simpson 81
4. Peter Laviolette 77
5. Ted Nolan 74
They Said It
Ryan Strome: "You always look at your surroundings and you're thankful for where you are and how hard you worked and how much you wanted to be here."
Matt Martin, on Strome "Basically when you're out there with him it's, 'Go get the puck and give it to him and allow him to create offense.' That's what he's so good at."
They Tweeted It
@optimus_crab only game i got to go to all season and you guys killed it. thank you.
@Sean6899 In other news the Islanders just locked up that second round pick with Montreal clinching tonight.
@Cubby621 congrats @mhalmz on your first @NHL goal. @NYIslanders fans are proud #congratulations #isles #mikehalmo #firstgoal
The Coach
"I thought we regrouped after the first period. We got on the body, got pucks to the net and got it done."
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are now 7-8-1 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 previous 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.
This back to back set concludes on Wednesday 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 24:44 of ice-time while Dmitry Kulikov led Florida with 26:30.
The Isles are 15-17-6 when MacDonald leads in ice-time, are 14-13-4 when Hamonic leads, are 1-0-0 when deHaan 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 29 of 58 draws (50%). Casey Cizikas won 8 of 10 for the Isles; Nick Bjugstad won 7 of 10 for Florida.
Heavy Hitters
The Isles out-hit Florida 31-17, which included a 25-12 margin in the second and third periods; Cal Clutterbuck led the Isles with 7 hits while Anders Lee and Matt Martin each added four hits. Martin now has 327 hits on the season and leads the NHL in hits by a wide margin; it is the second time in his career that he has recorded 300 hits. Clutterbuck now has 251 hits this season.
Matt Carkner fought Erik Gudbranson in the first period and Krys Barch in the second period. The Isles have received 32 fighting penalties this season: Martin (10), Boulton (8), Carkner (8), McDonald (2), Hamonic (2), Halmo (1) and Okposo (1).
Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 19 blocked shots, including a team-high four blocks for Travis Hamonic.
All-time Winners
The Islanders go four games over all-time NHL .500 (1401-1397-449 in 3,247 games) with six games remaining in the current regular season. 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.
Ironman
Thomas Hickey is the Islanders' reigning ironman. He has played 76 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 (concussion), Eric Boulton (hand), Brian Strait (broken hand), and Lubomir Visnovsky (upper body injury) are also injured. Kyle Okposo missed his third straight game with a lower body injury. Radek Martinek was scratched.
The Isles have lost 201 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
5. Henrik Lundqvist 50
Career Shutouts
16 Turk Broda 62
17 John Ross Roach 58
17 Evgeni Nabokov 58
19 Clint Benedict 57
| 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 Frans Nielsen 83
38 Michael Grabner 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 165
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 440
31 Jason Blake 426
34 Wayne Merrick 411
35 Jean Potvin 402
36 Josh Bailey 399
37 David Volek 396
38 Bert Marshall 392
39 Kyle Okposo 390
40 Travis Green 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 248
27 Ray Ferraro 238
Season Series Stats
The Panthers win season series, 2 games to 1 (and four points to two).
The Isles are 5-2-0 in their last seven games against Florida.
Happy Anniversary
36 years ago tonight (4-1-78): Mike Bossy becomes the first NHL rookie to score 50 goals in a season, tying a game with the Washington Capitals with a power play goal at 11:12 of the third period. He would then score the winning goal with 5 seconds to play as the Islanders closed in on their first division championship.
Also on this date: 1973 – Bobby Nystrom scored his first NHL goal as the Isles rally to tie Atlanta 4-4 in the final game of their inaugural season.
All-time, the Isles are 8-6-8 on this date.
On The Farm
Bridgeport lost to Springfield this morning in a school day matinee by a 3-1 score. Bridgeport visits Wilkes Barre/Scranton on Friday.
Bridgeport is 1-10-1-1 in their last 13 games and 27-34-2-5 on the season.
Up Next
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2nd –ISLANDERS AT OTTAWA 7:00PM
[MSG-Plus (Isles Pre-game at 6:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN-FM]
[MSG-Plus (Isles Pre-game at 6:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN-FM]
It's been a looooong time since the Islanders faced Ottawa.
The Isles have played 62 games since defeating the Senators 5-4 in a shootout back on November 1st. The Isles had 57 shots on goal, a franchise record for a road game, as they twice erased two-goal Senator leads.
This is the second of three meetings between the squads, who will also face off in the Islanders' home finale on April 8th.
The Islanders have won two out of the last three against Ottawa but each of the last four Isles wins over Ottawa have come in either overtime or the shootout, leaving the Sens 5-0-4 in their last nine games against the Isles.
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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