"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 7
Isles 3, Boston 2
Kyle Okposo and Cal Clutterbuck scored second period goals as part of a dominant session for the Isles, who defeated the Boston Bruins 3-2 before a sellout crowd of 17,565 at TD Garden. The win improves the Isles' record to 5-2-0, including 3-1-0 on the road. The 10 points in seven games matches their second-best record (behind 6-0-0-1 in 2001-02) through seven games in the Post-Cup era.
The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
06:21 NYI Frans Nielsen (1) ASST: Josh Bailey (2), Nikolay Kulemin (3) 1 - 0 NYI
18:21 BOS Milan Lucic (1) ASST: Seth Griffith (1), David Krejci (5) 1 - 1 Tie
2ND PERIOD
01:30 NYI Kyle Okposo (3) ASST: John Tavares (8), Brian Strait (1) 2 - 1 NYI
09:27 NYI Cal Clutterbuck (1) ASST: Matt Martin (1), Nick Leddy (2) 3 - 1 NYI
3RD PERIOD
09:49 BOS Chris Kelly (2) ASST: Carl Soderberg (4), Loui Eriksson (3) 3 - 2 NYI
The Skinny:
Frans Nielsen and Cal Clutterbuck each recorded their first goal of the season, giving the Isles 24 goals on the season from 12 different players... John Tavares' second period assist made him the first player in the NHL to reach 11 points this season … Kyle Okposo has three goals in the last five games… Nieslen's goal was his 259th point, breaking a tie with Jason Blake & Steve Thomas for 23rd place on the all-time club list…Okposo's goal was his 102nd, breaking a tie for 26th place with Anders Kallur…Every Islander except Josh Bailey (who left with an injury) played at least 13 minutes and every Islander had at least one shot on goal… The Isles have had at least 35 shots in four straight games, matching their longest streak since January 1989… The Isles are 3-1-0 on the road; they opened last season 3-12-0 on the road. This matches their third-best road record through four games; they were 4-0-0 in 2001-02 and 3-0-1 in 1981-82… David Krejci and Chris Kelly each extended their point streaks to five games…Patrice Bergeron was held pointless and has 499 career points….The Bruins have sold out 218 consecutive regular season/playoff games.
The Injuries
The Bruins' Zdeno Chara left the game at the 11:48 mark of the first period, shortly after a hit on John Tavares. He did not return.
Josh Bailey left the game early in the second period after being slashed in the hand; he also did not return.
The Shots:
Isles 15-12-11=38
Boston 11-6-15=32
First to 10?
The Isles are all alone in first place in the Metropolitan Division with 10 points (two points ahead of Washington and New Jersey).
Home and Road
The Islanders are 5-2-0 overall, 2-1-0 at home and 3-1-0 on the road.
Boston is 4-5-0 overall; 2-3-0 at home and 2-2-0 on the road.
By Division
The Isles are 3-1-0 in Division games and are 2-1-0 in games against other divisions. They are 1-1-0 vs. the Atlantic Division, 0-0-0 vs. Central Division, and 1-0-0 vs. the Pacific Division.
The Isles won only three of their first 17 division games (3-11-3) last season.
In the Nets
Chad Johnson made 30 saves in his first game against his former mates as he improves to 2-0-0 on the season.
Niklas Svedberg made 35 saves for Boston but falls to 1-2-0 on the season.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-1 on the power play while Boston was also 0-1.
The Isles have now allowed 7 power play goals on 22 times short (68% penalty killing efficiency). After converting on 6 of 14 power play attempts in their four straight wins, the power play is 1 for 14 in the last three games.
The Isles are 4-1-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 1-1-0 when they do not. The Isles are 3-1-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 2-1-0 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 5-0-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-2-0 when they do not.
One Goal Wonders
The Isles are now 3-0-0 in games decided by a single goal including 2-0-0 in regulation. They are 0-0 in games decided in overtime and are 1-0 in shootouts.
First Goal
The Isles are 3-2-0 when they score first and are 2-0-0 when they allow the opening goal.
Second to The One
Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 123-122-39 behind the Islander bench
Most games coached (Islanders):
1. Al Arbour 1,500
2. Jack Capuano 284
3. Mike Milbury 191
4. Terry Simpson 187
5. Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1. Al Arbour 740
2. Jack Capuano 123
3. Terry Simpson 81
4. Peter Laviolette 77
5. Ted Nolan 74
They Said It
Johnny Boychuk: "We held them off in the last five minutes… I hope Z is okay… It was a tough game; you were playing against your friends but I'm happy we got the two points…. I heard the fans the whole time."
Chad Johnson: "It was a good win… I'm happy. You don't want to be in that situation where you're just surviving, but it's nice to hang on and get the two points."
They Tweeted It
@StapeNewsday Josh Bailey has a broken hand. Out indefinitely. #Isles
@Dirge13 Great win against a great team. Glad to see Boychuk & Johnson get the best of their former club. Lets get back at it Saturday #Isles #hummin
@IslandersFamily You cant even argue. This team is amazing. This team is unbelievable. #isles
@NHLBruins Nice montage for Johnny Boychuk on the video board during TV timeout. Fans gave him a standing ovation & he gave them a smile/wave back ^CS
The Coach
"(Johnson was) Probably one of the reasons we won the hockey game. …when we needed Chad to do it, he came up big…For both (Chad & Johnny Boychuk), I'm sure it was pretty special (to win in Boston)…. We had some fatigue set in, but we held up. It's a different mentality than last season, that's for sure."
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 1-0-0 in the front-end and 1-0-0 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.
The next set of back-to-backs is not until November 5th (at Anaheim) and November 6th (at Los Angeles).
Leading Ice Men
Johnny Boychuk led the Isles with 23:18 of ice-time while Dennis Seidenberg led Boston with 24:12.
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (3-1-0), Travis Hamonic (1-1-0) and John Tavares (1-0-0).
Kyle Okposo led the Isles forwards with 20:21 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (2-2-0), Kyle Okposo (1-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), and Casey Cizikas (1-0-0).
In the Circle
The Islanders won 24 of 60 draws (40%). Kyle Okposo won 4 of 8 for the Isles; David Krejci won 15 of 19 for Boston.
Heavy Hitters
The Isles outhit Boston 25-24. Brian Strait led the Isles with six hits. Milan Lucic had six hits for Boston.
There were no fights, leaving the season total at two: Martin (1), Hamonic (1).
Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 19 blocked shots; Brian Strait led the Isles with four.
For the Corsi Crowd
Nikolay Kulemin (+8) led the Isles in even-strength Corsi for the second straight game, which measures shots attempted for and against (including blocks). Josh Bailey had a team-leading 67% of Corsi For events before leaving with his injury.
Head of the Class
Islander Captain John Tavares has 326 career points; he is 59 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks. No other player in that draft is anywhere close. Tavares also has more goals and more assists than any other player in that draft.
All-time Winners
The Islanders improve to nine games over all-time NHL .500 (1410-1401-450 in 3,261 games).
The Isles have not been more than 1 game under NHL-.500 since January 11, 1978 and have finished every season since 1977-78 over all-time NHL .500.
Ironmen
Nick Leddy and Thomas Hickey are the Islanders' reigning ironmen. Leddy has played 259 consecutive regular season games, while Hickey has played 90
consecutive regular season Islander games.
Missing Men
Mikhail Grabovski, Michael Grabner, and Matt Carkner are all out on injured reserve while Travis Hamonic missed the game with an upper body injury. Lubomir Visnovsky replaced Hamonic on the active roster and played in his first game of the season. Eric Boulton and Matt Donovan were scratched for the seventh straight game.
Anders Lee was recalled, and made his season debut. Colin McDonald has been loaned to Bridgeport.
The Isles have lost 27 games this season due to injury.
All-time Islander Leader Board:
John Tavares has:
· 139 goals (16th all-time, 6 behind Mariusz Czerkawski and 8 behind Pierre Turgeon)
· 187 assists (16th all-time, 6 behind Pierre Turgeon and 62 behind Tomas Jonsson)
· 326 points (17th all-time, 5 behind Ziggy Palffy, 7 behind Tomas Jonsson and 14 behind Pierre Turgeon
· 357 games played (43rd among Islander skaters all-time, 24 behind Randy Wood)
Frans Nielsen has:
· 86 goals (36th all-time, 1 behind Butch Goring and 6 behind Travis Green)
· 173 assists (19th all-time, 2 behind Kenny Jonsson and 8 behind Ed Westfall)
· 259 points (23rd all-time and 4 behind Kyle Okposo)
· 454 games played (29th among Islander skaters all-time and 6 behind Trent Hunter)
Kyle Okposo has:
· 102 goals (26th all-time and 3 behind Ed Westfall & Benoit Hogue)
· 161 assists (25th all-time, 2 behind Ziggy Palffy, 5 behind Jeff Norton and 6 behind Jean Potvin)
· 263 points (22nd all-time, 25 behind Ed Westfall)
· 396 games played (tied -38th among Islander skaters all-time with David Volek)
Michael Grabner has:
· 82 goals (38th all-time, 2 behind Tomas Jonsson, 3 behind Frans Nielsen and 5 behind Butch Goring)
Josh Bailey has:
· 413 games played (34th among Islander skaters all-time and 10 behind Dave Langevin)
Season Series Stats
The Isles lead the season series 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 0).
The Isles are 4-1-0 in their last five trips to Boston and are also 4-1-0 in their last five games overall with Boston. It's their best streak against the Bruins since they went 7-0-1 in eight games between 2005 and 2007.
Chad Johnson was the winning goalie for the second straight Isles – Bruins game; he beat the Isles on January 27th at the Coliseum.
It Happened at the Coliseum:
39 years ago tonight (1975): Chico Resch made 30 saves for his 5th career shutout as the Isles blanked the Stanley Cup Champion Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 in the first meeting of the teams since the dramatic 7-game semi-final the previous spring. Bobby Nystrom and JP Parise each had a goal and an assist for the Isles, who improved to 4-1-3 on the season.
"Everything seemed to go just right", said Resch, as the Isles moved into a first place tie with the Flyers. The Isles also handed Philadelphia their first regular season loss since March 8th.
The win also began four years of Coliseum dominance over Philadelphia for the Isles; the Isles would go 9-0-4 in 13 games over those four seasons.
Chico, by the way, will be honored Friday by the Devils before their game with the Dallas Stars at Prudential Center.
Also on this date: (1984) – Brent Sutter had a hat trick as the Isles beat Vancouver 6-5.
All-time, the Isles have played eight October 23rd games at the Coliseum and finish with a 3-2-3 record on this date at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale.
On The Farm
The Sound Tigers are 3-2-0 as they head to St. John's Newfoundland this weekend for a pair of games with the Ice Caps. Harry Zolnierczyk leads the Sound Tigers in scoring with six points.
Up Next
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25th— DALLAS AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 6:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 6:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Dallas Stars will become the second opponent to make their final appearance at the Coliseum on Saturday.
The Isles are 8-3-3 in their last 14 games with Dallas, dating back to a win on a Michael Peca overtime goal early in the 2001-02 season. This includes a sweep of the season series last season, which included a John Tavares hat trick and Ryan Strome's first NHL goal in a 7-3 Coliseum win and a pair of Kyle Okposo goals in a 4-2 win in Dallas six nights later. The Isles rallied from 2-0 deficits for both wins.
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 & on his blog www.nyiskinny.com.
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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