"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 51
Isles 3, Philadelphia 2 (SO)
Cal Clutterbuck scored his first goal in 20 games to tie the game late in the second period and then added the Game Deciding Goal in the shootout as the Isles erased a 2-0 deficit and defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 before a crowd of 19,704 at the Times Union Center.
The Isles, who broke a three-game losing streak, regain first place and are once again one point ahead of Pittsburgh in the Metropolitan Division; the Penguins visit Calgary on Friday. The Rangers and Capitals are just three points behind the Isles.
The Scoring:
1st Period
05:43 PHI Nick Schultz (2) Snap shot - ASST: Vincent Lecavalier (8) 1 - 0 PHI
2nd Period
11:38 PHI Chris VandeVelde (8) Snap - ASST: Vincent Lecavalier (9), Andrew MacDonald (9) 2 - 0 PHI
16:48 NYI Mikhail Grabovski (8) Snap shot - ASST: NONE 2 - 1 PHI
18:47 NYI Cal Clutterbuck (5) Snap shot - ASST: Brock Nelson (17), Thomas Hickey (14) 2 - 2 Tie
3rd Period
NONE
Overtime
NONE
The Shootout:
ROUND New York Islanders Philadelphia Flyers
1 Frans Nielsen (G) Jakub Voracek (NG)
2 Josh Bailey (NG) Claude Giroux (NG)
3 John Tavares (NG) Wayne Simmonds (G)
4 Ryan Strome (NG) Brayden Schenn(NG)
5 Brock Nelson (NG) Vincent Lecavalier (NG)
6 Mikhail Grabovski (NG) Matt Read (NG)
7 Cal Clutterbuck (G) Sean Couturier (NG)
The Isles are 7-1 this season in the shootout and 64-42 all-time. The 64 wins breaks the NHL record that they previously shared with Buffalo and Pittsburgh… The Isles are 14 for 31 in the shootout this season (57%) and have scored an NHL record 147 all-time shootout goals… The Isles are 9-1 in their last 10 shootouts, dating back to the end of last season…Frans Nielsen tied Kyle Okposo for the team lead in shootout goals (5)…Jaroslav Halak improved to 5-0 in the shootout (Anaheim's Fredrik Andersson, who is 6-4, is the only goalie with more wins)…Clutterbuck's goal was his first in four career shootout attempts.
Frans Nielsen is now 38/68 in all-time shootout attempts. His 55.9% success rate is the best among active NHLers with at least 25 attempts (Anaheim's Jakob Silfverberg is 12/21, 57.1%). With his goal, he tied the NHL record for career shootout goals (38) shared by Pavel Datsyuk, Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu. Each of the other three players has either 19 or 20 more shootout attempts than Nielsen.
Nielsen is now 5/8 in the shootout this season. Anaheim's Jakob Silfverberg (7/11) and Colorado's Nathan McKinnon (6/9) are the only players in the NHL with more shootout goals this season.
The Skinny:
The Isles had allowed power play goals in seven straight games prior to tonight… In their last 13 games, the Isles are 7-0-0 vs. Met Division opponents and are 0-6-0 vs. other divisions…The Isles lead the NHL with 16 road wins and also lead the NHL with 17 division wins…The Isles stopped Michael Del Zotto's 6-game point streak…Cal Clutterbuck is the 13th Islander to reach 5 goals this season; his last goal was on December 13th vs. Chicago…The Isles improve to 7-7-0 when trailing after 1 period and are 13-4-0 when tied after two periods…Nick Schultz scored a goal for the Flyers for the second time in three games; prior to that he had gone 125 games without scoring…The shootout loss broke the Flyers' 4-game win streak…Michael Grabner played in his 300th NHL game (280 for the Isles); Calvin deHaan played in his 99th Isles/NHL game while Frans Nielsen played his 498th Isles/NHL game…Mikhail Grabovski scored for the second time in five games since returning from injury; he also had six shots on goal for the first time this season.
The Injuries:
Matt Martin suffered a broken nose in his first period fight, but returned for the 2nd period…Johnny Boychuk left the game after blocking a shot in the second period but returned for the 3rd.
Metropolitan Division Standings (Top 4)
· ISLES 33-17-1=67 points (26 ROW) Beat Philadelphia 4-3 (SO)
· Pittsburgh 29-14-8=66 points (27 ROW) Idle
· NY Rangers 30-15-4=64 points (28 ROW) Idle
· Washington 27-15-10=64 points (26 ROW) Beat Ottawa 2-1
Upcoming Schedule:
· ISLES: Saturday @ Boston, Sunday @ Buffalo, Tuesday vs. Edmonton
· Pittsburgh: Friday @ Calgary, Saturday @Vancouver, Wednesday vs Detroit
· NY Rangers: Saturday at Nashville, Sunday vs Dallas, Tuesday @Toronto
· Washington: Friday vs Anaheim, Sunday vs Philadelphia, Wednesday @San Jose
Year of the Fan:
The Isles have sold-out seven of their last eight home games, nine of the last 11 and 13 of their 23 home dates this season. The 13 sellouts are the most for the Isles since they also had 21 full houses at the Old Barn in 2001-02.
Month for the Fans:
February is the busiest home month in Islander history, as they will play ten home games this month. The Isles have played ten home games three previous times (January 1980, December 1999 and December 2000) but all were in 31-day months.
After this three-game road trip, the Isles will play 9 of the final 11 February games at home.
Comparable Records
The Isles are 33-17-1 thru 51 games. The Isles were 20-24-7 through 51 games and 21-24-7 through 52 games last season, when they did not record their 33rd win until they defeated New Jersey, 2-0 on April 11th (33-37-11).
Most wins in first 51 games:
· 33-17-1 in 2014-15
· 33-8-10 in 1978-79
· 32-11-8 in 1980-81
· 32-11-8 in 1977-78
· 32-13-6 in 1981-82
· 31-18-2 in 1983-84
· 30-14-7 in 1976-77
· 28-13-10 in 1975-76
Most points in first 51 games:
· 76 in 1978-79
· 72 in 1980-81
· 72 in 1977-78
· 70 in 1981-82
· 67 in 1976-77
· 67 in 2014-15
· 66 in 1975-76
· 64 in 1983-84
Home Sweet Home
The Isles are 17-6-0 on Coliseum ice; the club record for most wins through 23 home games is 19 (19-0-4 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, 6-1-0 and were 0-3-0 before winning tonight.
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 11-11-7-1=30
Philadelphia 6-5-5-2=18
The Isles have outshot Philadelphia 117-68 in their three games this season.
On the season, the Isles have outshot their opponents 1,692-1,384 for a +308 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 2,720 shots this year.
Home and Road
The Islanders are 33-17-1 overall; 17-6-0 at home and 16-11-1 on the road.
Philadelphia is 22-22-8 overall; 15-7-4 at home and 7-15-4 on the road.
By Division
The Isles are 17-2-0 in Division games and are 16-15-1 in games against other divisions. They are 7-7-1 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 and 24-21-7 against other Divisions.
Metropolitan Hockey Club, Inc.
The Isles are 17-2-0 against the Met Division, including 10 straight wins. They are 10-0-0 at home (outscoring opponents 39-20) and 7-2-0 on the road. The Isles are 7-0 in overtime/shootouts against division foes, going 4-0 at home and 3-0 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.
The Isles' next division game will be on Valentine's Day vs. Columbus.
In the Nets
Jaroslav Halak made 16 saves to improve to 27-11-0 on the season. He is 7-2-0 in his career against Philadelphia.
Steve Mason made 28 saves; he is now 11-12-7 on the season. He is 4-1-3 in his career against the Isles and is 17-29 in 46 career shootouts.
27-Win Club
Halak is the 6th goalie in Islander history to win at least 27 games in a season:
Player 27-win seasons
Rick DiPietro 2 (30 in 2005-06 and 32 in 2006-07)
Billy Smith 1 (32 in 1981-82)
Chris Osgood 1 (32 in 2001-02)
Chico Resch 1 (28 in 1977-78)
Jaroslav Halak 1 (27 in 2014-15)
Ron Hextall 1 (27 in 1993-94)
The club record for wins in a season is 32, shared by Billy Smith, Chris Osgood and Rick DiPietro.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-1 on the power play, while Philadelphia was also 0-1. It's the first time in eight games that the Isles have not allowed a power play goal.
The power play is 6-23 in the last eight games (26.2%).
The penalty kill has allowed ten goals in 20 times short over the last eight games (50.0%) after killing 27-29 (93.1%) over the prior 12 games.
The Isles are 18-8-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 15-9-1 when they do not. The Isles are 14-13-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 19-4-1 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 27-5-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 6-12-0 when they do not.
One Goal Games
The Isles are 19-3-1 in games decided by a single goal including 7-3-0 in regulation. They are 5-0 in games decided in overtime and are 7-1 in shootouts. Five games have been decided by two goals in which the second goal was an empty-netter. The Isles are 3-2 in those games.
First Goal (and Second Goal)
The Isles are 18-10-1 when they score first and are 15-7-0 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 three times this season (New Jersey on December 15th (SO), Pittsburgh on January 16th, and Philadelphia on February 5th)
Second to The One
Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 151-137-40 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 328
3. Mike Milbury 191
4. Terry Simpson 187
5. Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1. Al Arbour 740
2. Jack Capuano 151
3. Terry Simpson 81
4. Peter Laviolette 77
5. Ted Nolan 74
They Said It
Cal Clutterbuck: "To be completely honest, they had maybe three chances the first two periods. They were good chances and they scored twice, but there was a different feeling on the bench from the last couple games. If you're down 2-0 and you don't feel like you're touching the puck, that's one thing. The fact is we were playing well, and we all knew it…You want to help the team…nice to get the monkey off my back. … I was trying not to lose the puck (in the shootout)…as long as I still had the puck at the top of the circles, I was going to shoot it.
They Tweeted It
@jkreiser77NHL Teams allowing first goal have .329 win percentage. #isles are at .682. Preds/Wings only other teams over .500. Caps last at 091.
@sleds93 Cal Clutterbuck has arguably the best stash in the chel #lipsweater #isles
@Thahn531 HUGE COMEBACK WIN BACK IN 1ST PLACE #isles
@APhoenixRizin Quite possibly biggest win of the yr for my #Isles. This was an EPIC comeback and a huge 2 pts. Some 2 pts are bigger than others
@IslesFan_Ben Johnny Boychuk is amazing. I find myself staring into his eyes. #Isles
@sydneyesiason Rub some dirt on it @mattymarts17
The Coach
It was a solid effort from our goaltender on out, and we got the result we wanted… It was a great shot (Cal) made in the shootout… This is a confident team. Maybe a couple years ago it would have been different right there. But there was no panic.
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 26:23 of ice-time; Michael Del Zotto led Philadelphia in ice-time with 25:02.
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (12-4-0), Travis Hamonic (12-1-1), Lubomir Visnovsky (2-1-0) John Tavares (2-5-0), Thomas Hickey (3-0-0), Nick Leddy (0-3-0), Frans Nielsen (1-0-0), Kyle Okposo (0-1-0) and Calvin deHaan (1-2-0).
John Tavares led Isles forwards with 22:32 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (17-15-1), 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 27 of 58 draws (47%). Frans Nielsen won 10 of 17 for the Isles while John Tavares won 9 of 16; Claude Giroux won 13 of 20 for Philadelphia. The Isles won 12 of 21 draws (57%) in the 1st period but only 15 of 37 draws in the final 45 minutes. The Isles lost both draws on the power play and the only draw on the penalty kill.
Heavy Hitters
The Isles out-hit Philadelphia 48-47. Travis Hamonic led the Islanders with 7 shots. Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck each added six.
Matt Martin fought Ryan White in the first period. The Isles have been involved in 11 fights this season: Martin (8), Hamonic (2), Lee (1), and nine of the 11 have been against Metropolitan Division opponents.
Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 20 blocked shots; Nick Leddy led the Isles with five.
For the Corsi Crowd
The Isles finished with a total Corsi advantage of 64-50 (including 45-26 over the first two periodz). The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks).
Calvin deHaan and Nikolay Kulemin led the Isles with a +11 even-strength Corsi rating; Kulemin was on-ice for a team-leading 74% of Corsi For events. Vincent Lecavalier (+6) led Philadelphia.
Head of the Class
Islander Captain John Tavares has 364 career points; he is 70 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 22 games over all-time NHL .500 (1438-1416-451 in 3,305 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 Brock Nelson are the Islanders' reigning ironmen. Leddy has played 303 consecutive regular season NHL games, while Nelson has played 104 consecutive regular season Islander games.
Missing Men
Kyle Okposo, Matt Carkner and Eric Boulton are on injured reserve. Brian Strait replaced Lubomir Visnovsky in the lineup; Matt Donovan was scratched.
The Isles have lost 180 games this season due to injury/illness.
All-time Islander Leader Board:
John Tavares has:
· 159 goals (14th all-time, 1 behind Pat Flatley and 9 behind Ziggy Palffy)
· 205 assists (15th all-time, 44 behind Tomas Jonsson and 54 behind Billy Harris)
· 364 points (14th all-time, 5 behind Stefan Persson and 79 behind Billy Harris)
· 401 games played (38th among Islander skaters all-time, 1 behind Jean Potvin, 10 behind Wayne Merrick and 21 behind Dave Langevin)
Kyle Okposo has:
· 113 goals (24th all-time, 3 behind Ray Ferraro and 5 behind Steve Thomas, Matt Moulson and Mark Parrish)
· 185 assists (18th all-time, 2 behind Frans Nielsen, 8 behind Pierre Turgeon and 20 behind John Tavares)
· 298 points (18th all-time, 33 behind Ziggy Palffy and 35 behind Tomas Jonsson)
· 436 games played (32nd among Islander skaters all-time, 9 behind Josh Bailey and 14 behind Scott Lachance)
Frans Nielsen has:
· 94 goals (tied-31st all-time with Randy Wood, 1 behind Mikko Makela and David Volek and 5 behind Trent Hunter)
· 187 assists (17th all-time, 6 behind Pierre Turgeon and 18 behind John Tavares)
· 281 points (23rd all-time, 5 behind Ed Westfall, 9 behind Alexei Yashin and 11 behind Duane Sutter)
· 498 games played (24th among Islander skaters all-time, 11 behind Rich Pilon and 12 behind Mick Vukota)
Michael Grabner has:
· 87 goals (tied-36th all-time with Butch Goring and 5 behind Travis Green)
Josh Bailey has:
· 445 games played (31st among Islander skaters all-time, 5 behind Scott Lachance and 14 behind Trent Hunter)
Season Series Stats
The Isles lead the season series 3 games to 0 (and 6 points to 2).
This was only the Isles' fourth win in their last 21 trips to Philly (4-15-2); they have only one regulation win in that stretch.
The teams will meet again in Philadelphia on April 7th.
The Isles have won 5 consecutive shootouts against the Flyers and have won 4 straight vs. Philadelphia for the first time since 2007.
It Happened at the Coliseum … on FEBRUARY 3rd
30 years ago tonight (1985) – Mike Bossy became the first player in NHL history to record eight consecutive 40-goal seasons and Denis Potvin added his 250th career goal as the Isles defeated Philadelphia 7-5.
Bossy also chipped in four assists while John Tonelli added a goal and three helpers. With the game tied 1-1, the Isles rifled three straight goals to take a 4-1 lead after one period. The Flyers erased the lead by outscoring the Isles 4-1 in the first 14:32 of the second period.
Brent Sutter scored the game-winner at 15:51 of the second period and Greg Gilbert added an insurance goal midway through the third period for the final margin of victory.
Bossy's milestone goal came at 8:26 of the second period; at the time it gave the Isles a 5-3 lead and broke a tie with Phil Esposito for most consecutive 40-goal seasons. Bossy would add a 9th consecutive season the following year; only Wayne Gretzky (12) would ever beat Bossy's mark. ''I'm glad for myself only because we've been needing a good individual performance from somebody to lift the whole team.''
Darren Jensen, making his NHL debut for Philadelphia, would take the loss. "We knew it would be a tough game for him", Flyer coach Mike Keenan told Newsday's Pat Calabria. "It was trial by fire."
Al Arbour recorded his 543rd career victory, passing Billy Reay for third place on the all-time list.
Ilkka Sinisalo had a hat trick in defeat for the Flyers; a potential fourth goal was ruled to have been kicked in.
Also on this date: (2011) - Rob Schremp scored twice and Kevin Poulin stopped the final 18 Senators shots as the Isles defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-3.
All-time, the Isles have played eight February 5th games at the Coliseum and finish with a 4-3-1 record on this date at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale.
On The Farm
The Sound Tigers are 19-20-5-1 heading into a 3-game in 3-day weekend. Bridgeport visits Syracuse on Friday before hosting Hartford on Saturday and Wilkes-Barre-Scranton on Sunday.
Up Next
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7th— ISLANDERS AT BOSTON 7:00PM
[MSG+2 (Isles Pre-game at 6:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
[MSG+2 (Isles Pre-game at 6:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Islanders play the middle game of this three-game road trip and the front-end of a back-to-back set on Saturday, as they visit the Bruins at TD Bank Garden in Boston.
Each team owns a road victory this season, with the Isles winning 3-2 in Boston in October and the Bruins prevailing 5-2 at the Coliseum on January 29th.
The Isles have won three straight games in Boston; they have never won four consecutive regular season games in Beantown in their history.
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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