"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 65
Stars 3, Isles 2 (OT)
Anders Lee scored the game-tying goal with 1.1 seconds to play to push the Islanders back into 1st place in the Metropolitan Division but Cody Eakin scored at 2:18 of overtime to give the Dallas Stars a 3-2 overtime win over the Isles before a crowd of 17,453 at the American Airlines Center.
The Isles lead the Rangers by 1 point and the Penguins by 4 points in the Metropolitan Division, although both the Blueshirts and Penguins now have three games in hand. The Isles are 5 points ahead of Washington, and the teams are even in games with the Caps.
The Scoring:
1st Period
15:25 NYI Josh Bailey (13) Wrist shot - ASST: Ryan Strome (28), Brock Nelson (20) 1 - 0 NYI
2nd Period
NONE
3rd Period
02:24 DAL Brett Ritchie (4) Snap shot - ASST: Jyrki Jokipakka (9), Cody Eakin (15) 1 - 1 Tie
07:28 DAL Vernon Fiddler (8) Wrist shot - ASST: Ryan Garbutt (14), Antoine Roussel (12) 2 - 1 DAL
19:58 NYI Anders Lee (21) Wrist shot - ASST: NONE 2 - 2 Tie
OT Period
02:18 DAL Cody Eakin (15) Snap shot - ASST: Jamie Benn (38), John Klingberg (24) 3 - 2 DAL
The Skinny
The Isles are 10-7-2 since the All-Star break… The Isles have scored first in 12 of their last 14 games… It's the first time in 20 overtime games, dating back to last March 6th in Edmonton, that the Isles allowed an overtime goal…The Stars ended a six-game losing streak…Lee's tying goal went in off the skate of Jordie Benn; his brother Jamie would assist on the winning goal…Lee is now tied with Filip Forsberg for 2nd in goals among rookies, behind Mike Hoffman (23)…Lee's tying goal was the 80th allowed by the Stars in the 3rd period...Ryan Strome extended his point streak to 4 games with an assist on Bailey's goal and then started the play that led to Lee's unassisted tally…Josh Bailey now has 5 goals in the last 12 games (5-4-9), while Lee, the reigning NHL Rookie of the Month, has points in 10 of the last 13 games (6-8-14)…It's the second time this season that the Isles have scored in the last 2 seconds of regulation; Frans Nielsen scored a last-second empty-net goal, also vs. Dallas, in October…The Isles have scored last minute, 6th attacker goals to force overtime in each of their last two road games.
The Ejection
Matt Martin was assessed a major penalty for kneeing and a game misconduct early in the first period. Dallas' Trevor Daley did not return after that collision.
Tired vs. Rested
· The Isles are 7-1-0 when both teams played the night before. This will also happen on March 29th vs. Detroit and April 11th vs Columbus.
· The Isles are 7-1-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not. This also next happen on March 13th vs Ottawa, March 21st in New Jersey, March 24th vs. Minnesota, April 4th vs Buffalo
· The Isles are 1-3-0 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not. This will also happen on March 10th vs the Rangers, and March 14 vs. Montreal.
Metropolitan Division Standings (Top 4)
· ISLES 41-21-3=85 points / 65 games (34 ROW) Lost 3-2 @ Dallas (OT)
· NY Rangers 39-17-6=84 points / 62 games (36 ROW) Idle
· Pittsburgh 36-17-9=81 points / 62 games (33 ROW) Idle
· Washington 35-20-10=80 points / 65 games (32 ROW) Beat Columbus 5-3
Upcoming Schedule:
· ISLES: Thursday @ Nashville, Saturday @ Florida, Monday @ Toronto, Tuesday vs. NY Rangers
· NY Rangers: Wednesday @ Detroit, Sunday @ Chicago, Tuesday @ Islanders, Wednesday @ Washington
· Pittsburgh: Wednesday @ Colorado, Friday @ Anaheim, Saturday @ Los Angeles, Monday @ San Jose
· Washington: Thursday vs Minnesota, Saturday vs Buffalo, Wednesday vs. NY Rangers
Year of the Fan:
The Isles have sold-out 19 of their 32 home dates this season. The 19 sellouts are the most for the Isles since they also had 21 full houses at the Old Barn in 2001-02. The Isles have drawn at least 15,000 fans 23 times this season.
What a Season:
The Isles are 41-21-3 thru 65 games. Only the 1981-82 team had more wins through 65 games. It's the first time since the 2001-02 season (42-28-8-4) that the Isles have won at least 41 games in a season and only the second time in the Post-Cup era.
Most wins in first 65 games:
· 44-14-7 in 1981-82
· 41-21-3 in 2014-15
· 41-13-11 in 1978-79
· 40-23-2 in 1983-84
· 39-14-12 in 1977-78
· 39-17-9 in 1976-77
· 38-17-10 in 1980-81
Most points in first 65 games:
· 95 in 1981-82
· 93 in 1978-79
· 90 in 1977-78
· 87 in 1976-77
· 86 in 1980-81
· 85 in 2014-15
· 82 in 1983-84
Home Sweet Home
The Isles are 23-9-0 on Coliseum ice; it's only the fifth time in club history that the Isles have won at least 23 of their first 32 home games (26-3-3 in 1981-82, 25-2-5 in 1977-78, 24-3-5 in 1978-79 and 23-9-0 in 1983-84).
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, 1-4-0, and 6-1-0 before going 2-2-2 in their last 6.
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.
· 6 streaks of at least 4 games -- First time in the Post-Cup era that the Isles have had at least six winning streaks of at least four games. The Isles had seven separate winning streaks of at least four games in their 1983-84 defense of the Stanley Cup.
· 8 streaks of at least 3 games -- First time in the Post-Cup era that the Isles have had at least eight winning streaks of at least three games. The Isles had nine separate winning streaks of at least three games in their 1983-84 defense of the Stanley Cup.
The Shots:
Isles 18-9-9-1=37
Dallas 9-13-9-4=35
The Isles have outshot 31 of their last 36 opponents.
On the season, the Isles have outshot their opponents 2,199-1,831 for a +368 shot differential.
Biggest Differential, Season
· +368 THIS SEASON
· +307 in 1976-77
· +254 in 1986-87
· +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 2,774 shots this year.
Home and Road
The Islanders are 41-21-3 overall; 23-9-0 at home and 18-12-3 on the road.
Dallas is 28-26-10 overall; 13-13-8 at home and 15-13-2 on the road.
By Division
The Isles are 19-4-1 in Division games and are 22-17-2 in games against other divisions. They are 9-8-1 vs. the Atlantic Division, 5-5-1 vs. Central Division, and 8-4-0 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 19-4-1 against the Met Division, and are 12-2-1 in their last 15 division matchups. They are 11-2-0 at home (outscoring opponents 53-34) and 8-2-1 on the road. The Isles are 7-1 in overtime/shootouts against division foes, going 4-0 at home and 3-1 on the road.
The Isles' next division game will be on March 10th vs. the Rangers.
In the Nets
Jaroslav Halak made 32 saves; he is 33-13-1 on the season. He is 4-5-1 in his career against Dallas.
Kari Lehtonen made 35 saves and improves to 26-13-10 on the season. He is 6-4-1 in his career against the Isles.
Move over Billy, Ozzy and DiPi
Jaroslav Halak has established a new franchise record with 33 wins in a season.
Player Wins
Jaroslav Halak 33 in 2014-15
Rick DiPietro 32 in 2006-07
Billy Smith 32 in 1981-82
Chris Osgood 32 in 2001-02
Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-3 on the power play, while Dallas was 0-5 The Isles killed 11 minutes of penalties in the first two periods and 11:40 overall.
The power play is 3-32 (9.4%) in the last 12 games. The Isles have not scored 2 PP goals in a game since January 4th.
The penalty kill has killed 28 of 32 (87.5%) in the last 11 games; the Isles allowed two goals to Vancouver on February 22nd and two goals to Carolina on February 28th but blanked their other nine opponents.
The Isles are 22-9-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 19-12-3 when they do not. The Isles are 15-16-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 26-5-3 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 34-7-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 7-14-2 when they do not.
One Goal Games
The Isles are 23-5-3 in games decided by a single goal including 10-5-0 in regulation. They are 5-1 in games decided in overtime and are 7-2 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.
The Isles have tied the club record for 1-goal wins, which was set in 2007-08 when 23 of Isles' 35 wins were by 1 goal.
First Goal (and Second Goal)
The Isles are 25-13-3 when they score first and are 16-8-0 when they allow the opening goal. However, the Isles are 13-0-0 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 159-141-42 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 342
3. Mike Milbury 191
4. Terry Simpson 187
5. Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1. Al Arbour 740
2. Jack Capuano 159
3. Terry Simpson 81
4. Peter Laviolette 77
5. Ted Nolan 74
They Said It
John Tavares: "It's nice that we found a way to battle back…our penalty kill was much better."
Josh Bailey: "Getting a point was big…it's one of those games that could go either way….On the road we'll take the point."
They Tweeted It
@_legohead_ Even though we ended up losing both games, being able to tie games late on is a very good habit to get into #Isles
@FrankieBorrelli tough ending in OT but this team keeps getting points and moving up .. solid start to the road trip. #isles
@MikeyMike81 Solid game thru out. We deserved that point. So Strome made a boo boo. Come on, man. Still in first. Lets take away the positives. #isles
@SammiXXschwartz YOU CANT SPELL ISLANDERS WITHOUT ANDERS!! #isles
@r_gatt Call it unassisted if you must... but that play by Strome to hustle it up ice is definitely part of what led to the goal. #Isles
The Coach
"I thought we had some chances…penalty kill was good tonight… (Lee) found a way to get the puck to the net and it had eyes."
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 8-3-1 in the front-end and 8-4-0 on the back end of back-to-backs this season. The Isles have swept 5 sets of back-to-backs, are 1-1-0 in six sets and are 0-1-1 in one set.
The next back-to-back set is March 9th in Toronto and March 10th vs. the Rangers.
Leading Ice Men
Johnny Boychuk led all Isles with 26:11 of ice-time (including 6:45 shorthanded); Alex Goligoski led Dallas in ice-time with 26:50.
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (13-5-1), Travis Hamonic (18-3-2), Lubomir Visnovsky (2-1-0) John Tavares (2-6-0), Thomas Hickey (3-0-0), Nick Leddy (0-3-0), Frans Nielsen (1-0-0), Kyle Okposo (0-1-0), Brian Strait (1-0-0) and Calvin deHaan (1-2-0).
John Tavares led Isles forwards with 21:37 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (24-20-3), Kyle Okposo (12-1-0), Ryan Strome (1-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-1-0), Anders Lee (1-0-0), Frans Nielsen (1-0-0), Casey Cizikas (1-0-0), and Josh Bailey (0-1-0).
In the Circle
The Islanders won 30 of 69 draws (43%). Frans Nielsen won 8 of 15 for the Isles but his teammates won only 22 of 54; Cody Eakin won 18 of 23 for Dallas. The Isles won 9 of 16 draws in the middle period and all four draws in overtime but won only 17 of 49 in the other 40 minutes. The Isles won only 1 of 7 draws on the power play and 6 of 14 draws on the penalty kill.
Heavy Hitters
The Isles out-hit Dallas 32-27. Johnny Boychuk and Colin McDonald led the Islanders with 6 hits each.
Martin leads the NHL with 318 hits while Cal Clutterbuck is 2nd with 277. It's the third time in his career Martin has recorded at least 300 hits; he has the two highest totals in NHL history (since 2005):
Most hits, season:
1. Matt Martin, NYI 374 in 2011-12
2. Matt Martin, NYI 359 in 2013-14
3. Cal Clutterbuck, Min 356 in 2009-10
There were no fights in the game. The Isles have been involved in 14 fights this season: Martin (9), Hamonic (3), Lee (1), Strome (1) and 11 of the 14 have been against Metropolitan Division opponents.
Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 23 blocked shots; Lubomir Visnovsky led the Isles with 4.
For the Corsi Crowd
Dallas finished with a total Corsi advantage of 85-73 including 30-21 in the middle period. The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks).
Josh Bailey led the Isles with a +13 even-strength Corsi rating; Frans Nielsen was on-ice for a team-leading 68% of Corsi For events. Alex Goligoski led Dallas with a +13 rating.
Head of the Class
Islander Captain John Tavares has 380 career points; he is 79 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.
This Team is Deep!
John Tavares has been held pointless 22 times this season and the Isles are 15-6-1 in those games. Prior to this season the Isles had won only 40 of the 151 games in which Tavares was scoreless.
All-time Winners
The Islanders remain 26 games over all-time NHL .500 (1446-1420-452 in 3,318 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 317 consecutive regular season NHL games, while Nelson has played 118 consecutive regular season Islander games.
Missing Men
Kyle Okposo, Casey Cizikas, Eric Boulton and Mikhail Grabovski are on injured reserve. Newcomer Tyler Kennedy missed the game with an upper body injury. Lubomir Visnovsky replaced Brian Strait in the lineup; Matt Donovan was scratched.
The Isles have lost 240 games this season due to injury/illness.
All-time Islander Leader Board:
John Tavares has:
· 166 goals (13th all-time, 2 behind Ziggy Palffy and 18 behind Billy Harris)
· 214 assists (15th all-time, 35 behind Tomas Jonsson and 45 behind Billy Harris)
· 380 points (13th all-time and 63 behind Billy Harris)
· 415 games played (36th among Islander skaters all-time, 7 behind Dave Langevin, 10 behind Greg Gilbert and 11 behind Jason Blake)
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, 8 behind Pierre Turgeon and 9 behind Frans Nielsen)
· 298 points (18th all-time, 33 behind Ziggy Palffy and 35 behind Tomas Jonsson)
· 436 games played (32nd among Islander skaters all-time, 14 behind Scott Lachance and 23 behind Trent Hunter and Josh Bailey)
Frans Nielsen has:
· 96 goals (29th all-time, 3 behind Trent Hunter and 5 behind Anders Kallur)
· 194 assists (16th all-time and 19 behind John Tavares)
· 290 points (tied-21st all-time with Alexei Yashin, 2 behind Duane Sutter, 5 behind Mariusz Czerkawski and 8 behind Kyle Okposo)
· 511 games played (21st among Islander skaters, and 3 behind Dave Lewis)
Josh Bailey has:
· 130 assists (tied-33rd all-time with Trent Hunter and 1 behind Jason Blake)
· 209 points (39th all-time, 2 behind Anders Kallur and 4 behind Jean Potvin & Garry Howatt)
· 459 games played (tied-29th among Islander skaters with Trent Hunter and 11 behind Mariusz Czerkawski)
Michael Grabner has:
· 89 goals (36th all-time, 3 behind Travis Green and 4 behind Garry Howatt & Greg Gilbert)
Season Series Stats
The teams split the season series 1 game to 1 (the Isles earned 3 points to Dallas' 2).
The Isles are 4-1-2 in their last seven trips to Dallas and are 9-3-4 in their last 16 games overall against the Stars.
It Happened at the Coliseum … on MARCH 3rd
43 years ago tonight (1973) - Bob Cook recorded his only hat trick as an Islander as the Isles walloped the Vancouver Canucks 9-3 for their ninth win of season (9-52-5).
The Isles handed out 3,000 youth hockey sticks to young fans that night. One of the recipients was me – at the first NHL game I ever attended.
Billy Smith recorded the win; Ed Dyck allowed the first seven goals for Vancouver.
I'm not sure that I knew it at the time, but the win prevented the Isles from tying the then-NHL record of 53 losses, set by California in 1970-71. (The Isles would lose their next six games, enroute to a 60-loss campaign.)
Also on this date: (1981) Mike Bossy scored four goals, giving him 61 goals on the season as the Isles played a wild 8-8 tie with Edmonton.
The Isles led 3-0, trailed 4-3, led 6-4 and then trailed 8-6 before goals by Bossy and Anders Kallur tied the game for good.
The Isles had only ten shots on goal in the final 40 minutes but scored five times
Edmonton got a pair of goals from Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri but couldn't find a way to hold off the Stanley Cup Champs.
The teams would meet in the second round of the playoffs about a month and a half later and then in the Cup Final in both 1983 and 1984.
It was the first of two 8-8 ties in Islander history. The November 23, 1981 tie with Minnesota also Happened at the Coliseum.
All-time, the Isles have played ten March 3rd games at the Coliseum and finish with a 5-3-2 record on this date at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale.
On The Farm
The Sound Tigers suffered their second shutout loss in two days on Sunday, failing7 -0 to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Bridgeport has lost nine straight games (tying a franchise record) to fall to 21-28-5-1 on the season. The Sound Tigers travel to Lehigh Valley on Friday and to Worcester on Saturday.
Up Next
THURSDAY, MARCH 5th— ISLANDERS AT NASHVILLE 8:00PM
[MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 7:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
[MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 7:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The road trip continues on Thursday in Nashville against the Predators. The Preds have been outscored 15-7 in losing four straight games but still lead the entire NHL with 89 points.
The Isles defeated Nashville 5-2 on Long Island two weeks ago and will be looking to defeat the Preds twice in one season for the first time in their history.
The Isles are 2-7-0 all-time in Nashville and have lost six straight games there since Garth Snow backstopped the Isles to a 5-2 win on April 11, 2002.
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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