"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 47
Isles 4, Rangers 1
Jaroslav Halak made 40 saves and narrowly missed his second straight shutout over the Rangers as the Isles got points from 11 different players and defeated the Rangers 4-1 before yet another sellout crowd of 16,170 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The win carries the Isles back into first place in the Eastern Conference (tied with Detroit, but with a game-in-hand) and one point ahead of Tampa Bay; the Isles also maintain their three point lead over the Penguins.
The Isles have won three straight over the Rangers for the first time since 2007 and have won all three games by three goals. It's the first time since 1979 that the Isles have won three consecutive regular season games against the Rangers by at least three goals, and the first time that they have ever done that in a single regular season against the Rangers.
The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
18:05 NYI Mikhail Grabovski (7) ASST: Josh Bailey (14), Johnny Boychuk (19) 1 - 0 NYI
2ND PERIOD
04:11 NYI Matt Martin (7) ASST: Cal Clutterbuck (6), Casey Cizikas (7) 2 - 0 NYI
3RD PERIOD
06:12 NYI Ryan Strome (9) ASST: Frans Nielsen (17), Calvin de Haan (11) 3 - 0 NYI
16:47 NYI PPG - John Tavares (22) ASST: Travis Hamonic (9), Johnny Boychuk (20) 4 - 0 NYI
19:50 NYR PPG - Carl Hagelin (10) ASST: Jesper Fast (4), Dominic Moore (10) 4 - 1 NYI
The Skinny:
The Isles have won four straight games at home… Goals by Mikhail Grabovski and Matt Martin gave the Isles an NHL-leading eleven players with at least 7 goals.. John Tavares' 22 goals leaves him tied for 7th in the NHL in goals; he has goals in three straight games and points in four straight games… Johnny Boychuk was the only Isles with two points; he now has a career-high 20 assists and a career-high 24 points…The Isles have scored 17 goals in their last three home games…Hagelin's late goal ended the longest Islander shutout streak EVER against the Rangers. Officially, it will be 122:00 (the previous record was 110:35, set in 2009)…Frans Nieslen extended his assist streak to four games and his point streak to five games…Josh Bailey has a point in four straight games (1-6-7); he now has 199 career points.…The Isles spent the All-Star Break in first place in their division for the first time since 1990.
Metropolitan Division Standings (Top 4)
· ISLES 32-14-1=65 points (26 ROW) Beat the Rangers 4-1
· Pittsburgh 27-12-8=62 points (25 ROW) Beat Winnipeg 5-3
· NY Rangers 27-14-4=58 points (25 ROW) Lost to the Isles 4-1
· Washington 24-14-9=57 points (23 ROW) Lost to Columbus 4-3
This Week's Schedule:
· Isles: Vs Boston Thursday, @ Detroit Saturday
· Pittsburgh: @Washington Wednesday, @ New Jersey Friday, Vs Nashville Sunday
· NY Rangers: Vs Montreal Thursday, Vs Carolina Saturday
· Washington: Vs Pittsburgh Wednesday, @Montreal Saturday, Vs St. Louis Sunday
Year of the Fan:
The Isles have sold-out their last six home games, eight of the last nine and 12 of their 21 home dates this season. The twelve sellouts are the most for the Isles since they also had 12 full houses at the Old Barn in 2007-08.
Comparable Records
The Isles are 32-14-1 thru 47 games. The Isles were 18-22-7 through 47 games and 18-23-7 through 48 games last season, when they did not record their 32st win until they defeated Montreal, 2-0 on April 10th (32-37-11)
Most wins in first 47 games:
· 32-14-1 in 2014-15
· 32-6-9 in 1978-79
· 30-15-2 in 1983-84
· 29-11-7 in 1976-77
· 29-10-8 in 1977-78
· 29-10-8 in 1980-81
· 28-13-6 in 1981-82
Most points in first 47 games:
· 73 in 1978-79
· 66 in 1977-78
· 66 in 1980-81
· 65 in 1976-77
· 65 in 2014-15
· 62 in 1983-84
· 60 in 1981-82
Home Sweet Home
The Isles are 17-4-0 on Coliseum ice, tying the club record for most wins through 21 home games (17-0-4 in 1978-79). They have had more than 34 points through 21 home games only once: 17-0-4 for 38 points in 1978-79.
Streakers
The Isles have had a season of streaks, going 4-0-0 to open the season and then (in succession) 0-2-0, 2-0-0, 0-3-0, 13-2-0, 0-3-0, 7-1-1, 0-2-0, and are now 6-1-0 in their last seven games.
Winning Streaks (Season)
2 streaks of at least 5 games -- First time since the 1987-88 season that the Isles have had two winning streaks of at least five games.
5 streaks of at least 4 games -- First time since the 1984-85 season that the Isles have had five winning streaks of at least four games.
7 streaks of at least 3 games -- First time since the 1984-85 season that the Isles have had at least seven winning streaks of at least three games.
The Shots:
Isles 17-11-10=38
Rangers 10-18-13=41
It's the first time that the Isles have been outshot at home since December 6th vs St. Louis. The 41 shots are the most allowed by the Isles at home this season. The Rangers had 43 shots at MSG, vs the Isles on October 14th.
On the season, the Isles have outshot their opponents 1,560-1,284 for a +276 shot differential. The club record for differential for a season is +307 in 1976-77. The Isles have had only two other seasons over +150: (+254 in 1986-87 and +152 in 1975-76).
Isles had 2,537 shots on goal last season, most since a franchise-record 2,616 in 1992-93. Isles are currently on pace for a record-breaking 2,722 shots this year.
Home and Road
The Islanders are 32-14-1 overall; 17-4-0 at home and 15-10-1 on the road.
The Rangers are 27-14-4 overall; 14-6-3 at home and 13-8-1 on the road.
By Division
The Isles are 16-2-0 in Division games and are 16-12-1 in games against other divisions. They are 7-4-1 vs. the Atlantic Division, 4-5-0 vs. Central Division, and 5-3-0 vs. the Pacific Division.
The Isles finished last season 10-16-4 against the Met.
Metropolitan Hockey Club, Inc.
The Isles are 16-2-0 against the Met Division, including nine straight wins. They are 10-0-0 at home (outscoring opponents 39-20) and 6-2-0 on the road. The Isles are 6-0 in overtime/shootouts against division foes, going 4-0 at home and 2-0 on the road.
It's the Isles' longest home winning streak vs. Divisional opponents to start the season since they went a perfect 16-0-0 vs. the Rangers, Flyers, Penguins and Capitals in the 1981-82 season.
In the Nets
Jaroslav Halak made 40 saves to improve to 26-9-0 on the season, including 23-5-0 in his last 28 games. Three of his five losses in that span have been against his former teams (2 to St. Louis and 1 to Montreal) He is 10-4-0 in his career against the Rangers. Halak has won at least 25 games in each of the last five full seasons.
Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves but falls to 24-10-3 this season, including 0-3-0 against the Isles. He is 14-3-0 in his last 17 decisions, but 0-2-0 in that span against the Isles.
26-Win Club
Halak is the 6th goalie in Islander history to win at least 26 games in a season:
Player 26-win seasons
Chico Resch 3
Rick DiPietro 3
Jaroslav Halak 1
Billy Smith 1
Ron Hextall 1
Chris Osgood 1
The club record for wins in a season is 32, shared by Billy Smith, Chris Osgood and Rick DiPietro.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-3 on the power play, while the Rangers were also 1-3.
The power play has connected in four straight games (4-13, 30.8%).
The penalty kill has allowed six goals in 12 times short over the last four games (50%) after killing 27-29 (93.1%) over the prior 12 games.
The Isles are 18-6-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 14-8-1 when they do not. The Isles are 14-10-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 18-4-1 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 26-5-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 6-9-0 when they do not.
One Goal Games
The Isles are 18-3-1 in games decided by a single goal including 7-3-0 in regulation. They are 5-0 in games decided in overtime and are 6-1 in shootouts. Four games have been decided by two goals in which the second goal was an empty-netter. The Isles are 3-1 in those games.
First Goal (and Second Goal)
The Isles are 18-9-1 when they score first and are 14-5-0 when they allow the opening goal. However, the Isles are 12-0-0 when they allow the opening goal but score the second goal. The Isles have rebounded from 2-0 deficits to win twice this season (New Jersey on December 15th (SO) and Pittsburgh on January 16th)
Second to The One
Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 150-134-40 behind the Islander bench. Among the 9 New York teams, only the Giants' Tom Coughlin and the Yankees' Joe Girardi have led their respective teams longer than Capuano.
Most games coached (Islanders):
1. Al Arbour 1,500
2. Jack Capuano 324
3. Mike Milbury 191
4. Terry Simpson 187
5. Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1. Al Arbour 740
2. Jack Capuano 150
3. Terry Simpson 81
4. Peter Laviolette 77
5. Ted Nolan 74
They Said It
Jaroslav Halak on losing the shutout: "Obviously it's disappointing, but we've got to win. It's not like it was a 1-0 game and they got the goal, I would have been [ticked] more. It's two points here at home. Hopefully the next time I'll have more luck at the end."
Ryan Strome: "Obviously it's real fun to get up for these games. I thought we came to play tonight. Three-and-0 against these guys is big; that's a lot of points within our division."
Ranger Captain Ryan McDonagh: "We haven't played well against this team, and it starts with our will to compete, a will to want to make plays and have confidence. We're just trying to catch these guys in the standings. They're playing real well and they're pulling ahead here."
They Tweeted It
@NoahRiddle16 Jt's goal tonight was seriously one ofthe bestthis year. king Henry, no screen, 10ft out, a twitch opens a sliver 5 hole. Smh #isles
@Netminder39 #Isles depth is something I've been longing for a while. Amazing when everyone buys into the philosophy. Fans included.
@KetchB #Isles Boychuk has more points (24) and assists (20) than any of his previous seasons, thru 37 games! @daboych @SaBoych #YesYesYes (1 off matching his goal high, too!)
@NYJETS16 Halaknous monster was HUGE. Grabovski, Martin, Strome, and Tavares all find the net. Defense is playing above par. #Isles #NYIvsNYR
@mougyais Butch Goring: im calling the 4th the the E=MC^2 because Energy=MartinCizikasClutterbuck #isles #NYIsles
The Coach
"I thought (the Rangers) dominated a lot of the play tonight, to be honest with you. I thought we played OK in spurts. I thought the second period, I thought that was a big period for those guys, they grinded us out. Our goalie made some terrific saves to keep us right where we needed to be."
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 7-1-0 in the front-end and 6-2-0 on the back end of back-to-backs this season. The Isles have swept 5 sets of back-to-back this season and are 1-1-0 in three sets.
The next back-to-back set is February 7th in Boston and February 8th in Buffalo.
Leading Ice Men
Travis Hamonic led all Isles with 22:33 of ice-time; Michael DelZotto led Philadelphia in ice-time with 23:18.
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (12-3-0), Travis Hamonic (11-1-1), Lubomir Visnovsky (2-1-0) John Tavares (2-4-0), Thomas Hickey (3-0-0), Nick Leddy (0-2-0), Frans Nielsen (1-0-0), Kyle Okposo (0-1-0) and Calvin deHaan (1-2-0).
John Tavares led the forwards with 17:48 of ice time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (16-12-1), Kyle Okposo (12-1-0), Ryan Strome (1-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-1-0), Frans Nielsen (1-0-0) and Casey Cizikas (1-0-0).
In the Circle
The Islanders won 38 of 62 draws (61%). John Tavares won 12 of 15 for the Isles; Kevin Hayes won 5 of 6 for the Rangers. The Isles won 30 of 44 draws (69%) in the final two periods after winning only 8 of 18 (44%) in the first period. The Isles won 6 of 7 draws on the power play and 6 of 7 draws on the penalty kill.
Heavy Hitters
The Isles out-hit the Rangers 46-36. Cal Clutterbuck led the Isles with eight hits while Matt Martin added seven.
There were no fights. The Isles have been involved in ten fights this season: Martin (7), Hamonic (2), Lee (1), and eight of the ten have been against Metropolitan Division opponents.
Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 25 blocked shots; Johnny Boychuk led the Isles with six.
For the Corsi Crowd
The Rangers finished with a total Corsi advantage of 77-56 (including 58-32 in the final two periods). The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks).
No Islanders had a positive even-strength Corsi rating; Ryan Strome, Frans Nielsen and Anders Lee all were on-ice for a team-leading 50% of Corsi For events. Kevin Klein (+16) led the Rangers.
Head of the Class
Islander Captain John Tavares has 362 career points; he is 72 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 improved to 24 games over all-time NHL .500 (1437-1413-451 in 3,301 games). It's the first time that the Isles have been 24 games over since March 15, 2009.
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 Brock Nelson are the Islanders' reigning ironmen. Leddy has played 299 consecutive regular season NHL games, while Nelson has played 99 100 consecutive regular season Islander games.
Missing Men
Kyle Okposo, Lubomir Visnovsky, Matt Carkner and Eric Boulton are on injured reserve. Mikhail Grabovski replaced Okposo in the lineup (injured); Matt Donovan was scratched.
The Isles have lost 167 games this season due to injury/illness.
All-time Islander Leader Board:
John Tavares has:
· 158 goals (14th all-time, 2 behind Pat Flatley and 10 behind Ziggy Palffy)
· 204 assists (15th all-time and 45 behind Tomas Jonsson)
· 362 points (14th all-time , 8 behind Stefan Persson and 82 behind Billy Harris)
· 396 games played (38th among Islander skaters all-time and 5 behind Jean Potvin)
Kyle Okposo has:
· 113 goals (23rd all-time, 3 behind Ray Ferraro and 5 behind Steve Thomas, Matt Moulson and Mark Parrish)
· 185 assists (18th all-time, 1 behind Frans Nielsen, 8 behind Pierre Turgeon and 19 behind John Tavares)
· 298 points (19th all-time and 35 behind Ziggy Palffy)
· 436 games played (32nd among Islander skaters all-time, 5 behind Josh Bailey and 14 behind Scott Lachance)
Frans Nielsen has:
· 94 goals (32nd all-time, 1 behind Mikko Makela and David Volek and 5 behind Trent Hunter)
· 186 assists (17th all-time, 7 behind Pierre Turgeon and 18 behind John Tavares)
· 280 points (23rd all-time, 6 behind Ed Westfall,10 behind Alexei Yashin and 12 behind Duane Sutter)
· 493 games played (tied-25th among Islander skaters all-time with Ed Westfall and 15 behind Rich Pilon)
Michael Grabner has:
· 86 goals (37th all-time, 1 behind Butch Goring and 6 behind Travis Green)
Josh Bailey has:
· 441 games played (31st among Islander skaters all-time, 9 behind Scott Lachance and 18 behind Trent Hunter)
Season Series Stats
The Islanders lead the season series 3 games to 0 (and 6 points to 0), and have outscored the Rangers 13-4 this season.
The Isles have won three straight against the Rangers for the first time since 2007.
The teams will meet again at the Coliseum on both February 16th and March 10th.
It Happened at the Coliseum … on JANUARY 27th
25 years ago today (1990) – Pat Flatley scored two goals and added three assists, matching his career high with five points, as the Isles blasted Pittsburgh 9-2.
Brad Lauer's goal just 18 seconds into play gave the Isles the lead for good. Pat LaFontaine and Hubie McDonough also scored twice for the Isles, who converted on three power play goals and added a shorthanded tally.
It was the Isles' ninth consecutive home win and broke a two-game losing streak that had followed an 18-3-1 stretch that pushed the Isles to the top of the Patrick Division.
"We lost two games we could have won," goaltender Mark Fitzpatrick told Newsday's Neil Best. "We couldn't afford to lose three in a row. We're obviously right there in the hunt now. We aren't playing just for a playoff spot. We're thinking first place."
Mario Lemieux extended his point streak to 38 games with a pair of assists; Lemieux would eventually extend his streak to 46 games but finished this game -3.
Also on this date: (1976) - Clark Gillies scored the winning goal with just over ten minutes to play as the Isles completed a comeback from a 3-0 first period deficit as they defeated Minnesota 4-3.
All-time, the Isles have played nine January 27th games at the Coliseum and have compiled a 3-4-2 record on this date at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale.
On The Farm
The Sound Tigers are 19-18-5-1 at the AHL All-Star Break. Bridgeport will get back into action on Friday in Hartford.
Up Next
THURSDAY, JANUARY 29th—BOSTON AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 6:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
[MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 6:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Boston Bruins will make their only appearance of the regular season at the Coliseum on Thursday night.
Boston has won six of their last eight games on Long Island, but the Isles beat Boston 3-2 on October 23rd, behind 30 saves from Chad Johnson. Johnson has actually been the winning goalie in the last two Isles/Bruins games, winning at the Coliseum, as a Bruin, on January 27, 2014.
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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