"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 13
Isles 2, Kings 1 (Shootout)
For the first time in their history, the Isles have swept consecutive games in Southern California. Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen scored in the shootout to give Chad Johnson his first career shootout win as the Isles defeated the Stanley Cup Champions Los Angeles Kings 2-1 before a sellout crowd of 18,230 at Staples Center. It's the 98th consecutive sellout (128 including playoffs) for Los Angeles. The Isles move three games over NHL-.500 (8-5-0) and are in sole possession of 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
03:49 LAK Dwight King (2) Wrist shot - ASST: Mike Richards (5), Jake Muzzin (1) 1 - 0 LAK
16:32 NYI PPG - Brock Nelson (7) Wrist shot - ASST: John Tavares (9), Ryan Strome (8) 1 - 1 Tie
2ND PERIOD
NONE
3RD PERIOD
NONE
OVERTIME
NONE
The Shootout:
1 Anze Kopitar (NG) Kyle Okposo (G/ Game Deciding Goal)
2 Jeff Carter (NG) Frans Nielsen (G)
Okposo is now 6/19 in shootouts in his career. Four of his six goals have been game deciding goals. Nielsen improves to 34/62 (54.8%). Among active players who have attempts at least 20 shootout attempts, only TJ Oshie (55.1%) has been more successful.
The Skinny:
The Isles have outscored the opposition 15-9 in the first period but have been outscored 33-23 in the 2nd/3rd period …It's the first time in six games that the Isles did not allow at least two goals in any period and the first time all season that the Isles allowed only one goal… Brock Nelson re-took the team lead in goals (7); John Tavares now has the team lead in points (15), one ahead of Nelson and Kyle Okposo….Brock Nelson didn't score his seventh goal last season until January 18th…Justin Williams was scratched for Los Angeles after being injured in Dallas on Tuesday; he had played in 225 consecutive games…It's the first-ever shootout win for the Isles over Los Angeles (1-1 all-time)… The shootout loss ends the Kings' six-game home winning streak.
November to Remember?
The Isles begin November with the final four games of this road trip. The month also includes home-and-home series with Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh and Washington. The Isles are 2-1-0 this November.
Streakers
The Isles won their first four games, lost their next two games, won the two games after that, lost the next three games before winning the last two.
The Shots:
Isles 6-12-5-3=26
Los Angeles 10-5-11-3=29
Home and Road
The Islanders are 8-5-0 overall, 3-2-0 at home and 5-3-0 on the road.
Los Angeles is 7-4-3 overall; 6-1-1 at home and 1-3-2 on the road.
By Division
The Isles are 3-1-0 in Division games and are 5-3-0 in games against other divisions. They are 1-1-0 vs. the Atlantic Division, 1-2-0 vs. Central Division, and 3-1-0 vs. the Pacific Division.
The Isles won only three of their first 17 division games (3-11-3) last season.
Western Run
This was the sixth of eight consecutive games against the Western Conference. The Isles are 3-3-0 in this stretch.
In the Nets
Chad Johnson made 28 saves and improves to 4-1-0 on the season. Johnson is 2-0-0 in his career against Los Angeles and 1-3 all-time in shootouts.
Jonathan Quick made 25 saves for Los Angeles; he is 6-3-3 on the season. Quick is 4-1-2 in his career against the Isles and 37-23 all-time in shootouts.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-5 on the power play while Los Angeles was 0-4.
The Isles had allowed 6 power play goals in 14 times short over the previous five games.
The power play is 5-22 (22.7%) over the last five games.
The Isles are 6-3-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-2-0 when they do not. The Isles are 4-4-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 4-1-0 when they do not.
Three is (Usually) a Magic Number
The Isles are 7-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-4-0 when they do not.
One Goal Games
The Isles are 5-1-0 in games decided by a single goal including 2-1-0 in regulation. They are 1-0 in games decided in overtime and are 2-0 in shootouts. Two games have been decided by two goals in which the second goal was an empty-netter. The Isles are 1-1 in those games.
First Goal
The Isles are 5-4-0 when they score first and are 3-1-0 when they allow the opening goal.
Second to The One
Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 126-125-39 behind the Islander bench.
Most games coached (Islanders):
1. Al Arbour 1,500
2. Jack Capuano 290
3. Mike Milbury 191
4. Terry Simpson 187
5. Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1. Al Arbour 740
2. Jack Capuano 126
3. Terry Simpson 81
4. Peter Laviolette 77
5. Ted Nolan 74
They Said It
Brock Nelson: "We knew they were going to come hard…but we bounced back and got a big power play goal."
Chad Johnson: "It was a great fast paced game…we battled and stuck together…Our identity started to shine through…Awesome effort by us to get four points; it's a good confidence-builder for us."
Kyle Okposo "We're a good hockey club…the penalty kill definitely took a step in the good direction…(Johnson) was very good tonight."
They Tweeted It
@11nicholsenc That was A team isles. Great kills and beautiful plays. #isles
@jeromeminerva "We got a point against a really good team tonight." _ Darryl Sutter after #LAKings' 2-1 shootout loss to #Isles #NHL
@Jooaannaaa I really just love this team. This was easily the best game of the season. Some serious effort. #isles #beLIeve
@KennyConrade At least the #isles made it worth me getting 4 hours of sleep the past 2 nights
The Coach
I'm pleased with the win, coming into this building is always tough—I thought we executed our game plan and our penalty kill was real good tonight… Chad gave us a chance to win the game…The speed of our game was real good.
On why Nielsen wasn't the first shooter in the shootout: "Frans was pretty tired at the end of his shift—he played the last 20 or 25 seconds. Fortunately, Kyle went in and did the job for us."
Back-to-Backs
This concludes the second set of back-to-backs this season. The Isles are 2-0-0 in the front-end and 2-0-0 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.
The next back-to-back set will be next Friday (11/14) in Florida and next Saturday (11/15) in Tampa Bay.
Leading Ice Men
Lubomir Visnovsky led the Isles with 23:40 of ice-time while Drew Doughty led Los Angeles with 30:28.
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (4-1-0), Travis Hamonic (1-1-0), Lubomir Visnovsky (2-1-0) and John Tavares (1-2-0).
John Tavares led the forwards with 22:57 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (5-5-0), Kyle Okposo (1-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), and Casey Cizikas (1-0-0).
In the Circle
The Islanders won 22 of 55 draws (40%). Kyle Okposo won 4 of 6 for the Isles but his teammates won only 18 of the other 49; Jarrett Stoll won 11 of 15 for Los Angeles.
The Isles won 12 of 21 draws in the third period and overtime, after winning only 10 of 34 in the first 40 minutes.
The Isles have won less than 50% of the draws in every road game this season.
Heavy Hitters
The Isles outhit Los Angeles 29-24. Cal Clutterbuck and Calvin deHaan had five hits to lead the Isles. Trevor Lewis had four hits for Los Angeles.
There were no fights, leaving the season total at two: Martin (1), Hamonic (1).
Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 18 blocked shots; Calvin deHaan and Johnny Boychuk led the Isles with three each.
For the Corsi Crowd
Lubomir Visnovsky (+8) led the Isles in even-strength Corsi, which measures shots attempted for and against (including blocks). Visnovsky also had a team-leading 62% of Corsi For events.
Head of the Class
Islander Captain John Tavares has 330 career points; he is 58 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 (1413-1404-450 in 3,267 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 265 consecutive regular season games, while Hickey has played 96 consecutive regular season Islander games.
Missing Men
Josh Bailey, Michael Grabner and Matt Carkner are on injured reserve. Matt Donovan was scratched for the 13th straight game while Brian Strait was scratched for the 3rd straight game. Casey Cizikas returned to the lineup, causing Cory Conacher to sit out for the first time this season.
The Isles have lost 48 games this season due to injury.
All-time Islander Leader Board:
John Tavares has:
· 142 goals (16th all-time, 3 behind Mariusz Czerkawski and 5 behind Pierre Turgeon)
· 188 assists (16th all-time, 5 behind Pierre Turgeon and 61 behind Tomas Jonsson)
· 330 points (17th all-time, 1 behind Ziggy Palffy, 3 behind Tomas Jonsson and 10 behind Pierre Turgeon
· 363 games played (43rd among Islander skaters all-time, 18 behind Randy Wood)
Frans Nielsen has:
· 89 goals (35th all-time, 3 behind Travis Green)
· 173 assists (19th all-time, 2 behind Kenny Jonsson and 8 behind Ed Westfall)
· 262 points (23rd all-time and 6 behind Kyle Okposo)
· 460 games played (28th among Islander skaters all-time, 10 behind Mariusz Czerkawski)
Kyle Okposo has:
· 104 goals (26th all-time and 1 behind Ed Westfall & Benoit Hogue)
· 164 assists (24th all-time, 2 behind Jeff Norton and 3 behind Jean Potvin)
· 268 points (22nd all-time, 20 behind Ed Westfall)
· 403 games played (36th among Islander skaters all-time, 8 behind Wayne Merrick and 10 behind Josh Bailey)
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 9 behind Dave Langevin)
Season Series Stats
The Isles lead the season series 1 game to 0 (and 2 points to 1). The teams will meet again on March 26th at the Coliseum.
The Isles had lost four straight games in Los Angeles. Prior to tonight, their last win at Staples Center was on February 15, 2003 when Garth Snow made 31 saves in a 3-2 Islander matinee victory. Arron Asham scored twice for the Islanders; former Islander Ziggy Palffy had a goal and an assist for the Kings.
It Happened at the Coliseum … on NOVEMBER 6th
21 years ago tonight (1993) – Marty McInnis scored a goal and added an assist, earning the game's #1 star, as the Islanders defeated the Hartford Whalers 6-3.
Chris Pronger scored his first NHL goal for the Whalers.
Ron Hextall made 22 saves for the Isles, who killed six of seven Whaler power plays.
Also on this date: (2007) – In the Isles' first game since the Al Arbour celebration three nights earlier, Miroslav Satan was the hero again, scoring the winning goal mid-way through the third period as the Isles beat the Rangers 3-2.
All-time, the Isles have played twelve November 6th games at the Coliseum and finish with a 8-3-1 record on this date at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale.
On The Farm
The Sound Tigers are 6-3-0-1 after a 3-1 win over Norfolk on Wednesday.
Kevin Poulin has allowed just one goal in each of his last three starts.
The Sound Tigers host Albany on Saturday at 7pm and again on Sunday at 3pm.
Up Next
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8th—ISLANDERS AT ARIZONA 8:00PM
[MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 7:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
[MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 7:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The long road trip concludes on Saturday as the Isles head into the desert to face the newly-renamed Arizona Coyotes.
The teams split a pair of games last season, with the home team winning both games. This has actually been a "homer" series over the past few years; the Isles have just one shootout win (1-4-0) in their last five trips to 'Zona but are 3-0-1 in their last four home games against the 'Yotes.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment