"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 73
Isles 3, New Jersey 0
Jaroslav Halak made 26 saves for his 5th shutout of the season and the Isles got a goal and an assist from both Ryan Strome and Travis Hamonic as they broke a four game losing streak by defeating the Devils 3-0 before a sellout crowd of 16,592 at Prudential Center in Newark.
The Isles swept the season series from the Devils for the first time since 1983-84 as they maintained their two point lead over Pittsburgh in the battle for second place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
07:37 NYI Ryan Strome (15) ASST: Nikolay Kulemin (14) 1 - 0 NYI
2ND PERIOD
NONE
3RD PERIOD
12:19 NYI Travis Hamonic (5) ASST: Ryan Strome (30), Brock Nelson (22) 2 - 0 NYI
19:22 NYI EN - Kyle Okposo (15) ASST: John Tavares (40), Travis Hamonic (24) 3 - 0 NYI
The Skinny
John Tavares' assist on the empty net goal once again gave him a temporary share of the NHL scoring lead; Sidney Crosby passed him later in the evening. … The Isles are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games…Nick Leddy returned to the lineup after missing four games…Jaroslav Halak recorded his 35th career shutout; he has had at least five shutouts in five of the last six seasons. Halak also extended his club record with his 35th win of the season…Travis Hamonic tied a career high with his 5th goal of the season…Ryan Strome had his first multi-point game since February 16th, when he scored twice against the Rangers…John Tavares recorded his 40th assist; he is the first Islander with three 40-assist seasons since Ziggy Palffy (1996-98)…Nikolay Kulemin has three points in four games (1-2-3)…Strome's goal was only the 33rd first period goal allowed by New Jersey this season – by far, the fewest in the NHL.
The Big 3
The Isles are 36-15-4 in the 55 games that they have had Nick Leddy, Johnny Boychuk and Travis Hamonic all in the lineup. They are 8-10-0 in the 18 games that one or two have been missing.
Most Times Scoring the First Goal of a Game as a Rookie (last 25 seasons)
1. Alex Ovechkin – 12 (2005-06)
2. Teemu Selanne – 10 (1992-93)
3. Anders Lee - 9 (2014-15)
Mike Hoffman -9 (2014-15)
Most Shutouts in a Season by an Islander
7 – Chico Resch (1975-76)
5- Jaroslav Halak (2014-15), Rick DiPietro (2006-07 and 2003-04), Tommy Salo (1998-99 and 1996-97), and Ron Hextall (1993-94),
It's Magic
The Isles magic number for clinching a playoff spot was reduced to 13. Any combination of points won by the Islanders and/or lost by Boston will clinch a playoff spot for the Isles. The Bruins actually currently hold the second wild card but Ottawa can finish with one more point (105) than Boston (104).
Tired vs. Rested
This was the 24th time this season that the Isles, their opponent, or both had played the night before. The Isles are 15-3-0 against an opponent playing on back-to-back nights but are 1-5-0 when the Isles are playing on the back-end of back-to-backs against a rested opponent.
· 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 8-2-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not. This also will happen on, March 24th vs. Minnesota and April 4th vs Buffalo
· The Isles are 1-5-0 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not. This will not happen again this season.
Metropolitan Division Standings (Top 4)
· NY Rangers 45-18-7=97 points / 70 games (41 ROW) Beat Carolina 3-2 (SO)
· ISLES 44-25-4=92 points / 73 games (37 ROW) Beat New Jersey 3-0
· Pittsburgh 40-22-10=90 points / 72 games (37 ROW) Beat Arizona 3-1
· Washington 39-24-10=88 points / 73 games (35 ROW) Lost to Winnipeg 3-0
Upcoming Schedule:
· NY Rangers: Sunday vs. Anaheim, Tuesday vs. Los Angeles, Thursday at Ottawa
· ISLES:, Tuesday vs. Minnesota, Thursday vs. Los Angeles
· Pittsburgh: Tuesday vs. St. Louis, Thursday at Carolina
· Washington: Thursday vs. New Jersey
Year of the Fan:
The Isles have sold-out 21 of their 35 home dates this season. The 21 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 26 times this season.
What a Season:
The Isles are 44-25-4 thru 73 games, representing their most wins since 1983-84 (50).
The Isles have won more than 44 games only six times in their history:
· 1981-82 54
· 1978-79 51
· 1983-84 50
· 1980-81 48
· 1977-78 48
· 1976-77 47
· 2014-15 44
Home Sweet Home
The Isles are 23-12-0 on Coliseum ice, representing their most home win since 2010 (when they finished 23-14-4).
The Isles have lost four straight at the Coliseum, all in regulation, for the first time since February 3-11, 2013. (The Isles also had a 4-game "home" streak last season, but that included the Yankee Stadium game.)
Road Warriors
The Isles are 21-13-4 on the road and have earned at least a point in 8 of their last 9 (5-1-3).
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, 6-1-0, 4-2-3, and 0-4-0 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.
· 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 13-8-9=30
New Jersey 9-11-6=26
The Isles have outshot 38 of their last 44 opponents and 55 of their 73 opponents this season.
On the season, the Isles have outshot their opponents 2,466 - 2,041 for a +425 shot differential.
Biggest Differential, Season
· +425 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 2,770 shots this year.
Home and Road
The Islanders are 44-25-4 overall; 23-12-0 at home and 21-13-4 on the road. The Isles have at least 21 wins both at home and on the road for the first time since the 2001-02 season, when they won 21 at home and 21 on the road.
New Jersey is 31-30-11 overall, 18-11-8 at home and 13-19-3 on the road. The Devils fall to 10-4-2 in their last 16 games.
By Division
The Isles are 20-5-1 in Division games and are 24-20-3 in games against other divisions. They are 10-10-2 vs. the Atlantic Division, 6-6-1 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 20-5-1 against the Met Division, and are 13-3-1 in their last 17 division matchups. They are 11-3-0 at home (outscoring opponents 54-36) and 9-2-1 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 April 2nd in Columbus. Four of the Isles' last five games are against division foes.
In the Nets
Jaroslav Halak made 26 saves and improves to 35-15-1 on the season with his 5th shutout of the season. He is 7-4-1 with two shutouts in his career against New Jersey.
Cory Schneider made 27 saves but falls to 26-26-7 on the season. He is 1-2-1 in his career against the Isles.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-1 on the power play, while New Jersey was also 0-1. However, Travis Hamonic's goal came 4 seconds after the Islander power play expired.
The power play is 4-25 (16.0%) in the last 8 games. The Isles have not scored 2 PP goals in a game since January 4th.
The penalty kill has killed 45 of 49 (91.9%) in the last 19 games; the Isles allowed two goals to Vancouver on February 22nd and two goals to Carolina on February 28th but blanked their other 17 opponents. The Isles have killed all 22 opponent power plays this month (8 games); in their last 9 road games, the Isles have killed all 19 opponent power plays.
It's the first time since the 2003-04 season that the Isles have gone 9 games without allowing a power play goal; the franchise record is 10 games, and was set in the 1977-78 season.
The Isles are 24-10-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 20-15-3 when they do not. The Isles are 15-16-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 29-9-4 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 37-7-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 7-18-2 when they do not.
One Goal Games
The Isles are 25-7-4 in games decided by a single goal including 12-7-0 in regulation. They are 6-1 in games decided in overtime and are 7-3 in shootouts. Six games have been decided by two goals in which the second goal was an empty-netter. The Isles are 3-3 in those games.
The 25 wins are a new franchise record – in 2007-08, 23 of Isles' 35 wins were by 1 goal.
First Goal (and Second Goal)
The Isles are 27-14-3 when they score first and are 17-11-1 when they allow the opening goal. However, the Isles are 13-0-1 when they allow the opening goal but score the second goal. The Isles have rebounded from 2-0 deficits to win four times this season (New Jersey on December 15th (SO), Pittsburgh on January 16th, Philadelphia on February 5th and Toronto on March 9th)
Second to The One
Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 162-145-43 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 350
3. Mike Milbury 191
4. Terry Simpson 187
5. Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1. Al Arbour 740
2. Jack Capuano 162
3. Terry Simpson 81
4. Peter Laviolette 77
5. Ted Nolan 74
They Said It
Ryan Strome: "I think we wanted to get a lead against a team like this, especially a team that can shut it down. We played a solid game and needed to get off this losing skid. We knew it would be a greasy game and we battled pretty hard."
John Tavares: "We came out with a little more intensity and desperation and played a solid game."
They Tweeted It
@DaveZLINY Since Feb. 17 (15 gm stretch), #Isles' PK is 2nd best in shot against/60 and 5th in scoring chances against/60 per @war_on_ice.
@MikeyMike81 Point is we got off the schnide and got back on track. Just need to keep it up and keep on keeping on. They can do this. #isles
@szisles How about a Jaro hot streak in April and May like November and December? #isles (June would be okay, too!)
@ImDonBecker Man, Devils fans ∗really∗ hate the #YesYesYes chant... #Isles
@JonJordan Good win for the #Isles. All about getting on a roll now, though, and finishing the season strong.
The Coach
"I thought we played better against the Rangers [a 2-1 loss], part of the game against the Canadiens [a 3-1 loss], to be honest. We had some breakdowns on the forecheck in the second and our goaltender came up big." (h/t Arthur Staple, Newsday)
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 9-4-1 in the front-end and 8-6-0 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 seven sets, are 0-1-1 in one set, and have been swept once.
The remaining back-to-back sets are March 28-29 (Anaheim and Detroit) and April 10-11 (at Pittsburgh, vs Columbus).
Leading Ice Men
Thomas Hickey led all Isles with 23:23 of ice-time; Adam Larsson led New Jersey in ice-time with 21:32.
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (13-5-1), Travis Hamonic (20-7-2), Lubomir Visnovsky (2-1-0) John Tavares (2-6-1), Thomas Hickey (4-0-0), 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).
Josh Bailey led Isles forwards with 20:48. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (26-23-4), 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 (1-2-0).
In the Circle
The Islanders won 24 of 48 draws (50%). John Tavares won 9 of 16 for the Isles; Patrik Elias won 5 of 9 for New Jersey. The Isles won only 21 of 36 draws in the first two periods but only 3 of 12 in the third period. The Isles lost both draws on the power play and lost the only draw on the penalty kill.
Heavy Hitters
The Isles out-hit Chicago 38-18. Cal Clutterbuck led the Isles with 8 hits.
Matt Martin, who had 5 hits, leads the NHL with 355 hits while Cal Clutterbuck is 2nd with 306. 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) and needs just 2 hits to have the three highest totals and 20 hits to set a new NHL record:
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
4. Matt Martin, NYI 355 in 2014-15
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 12 blocked shots; three players each had 2.
For the Corsi Crowd
The Devils finished with a total Corsi advantage of 49-47. The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks).
Travis Hamonic led the Isles with a +7 even-strength Corsi rating; Anders Lee was on-ice for a team-leading 60% of Corsi For events. Jon Merrill and Steve Bernier led New Jersey with a +7 rating.
Head of the Class
Islander Captain John Tavares has 388 career points; he is 82 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 26 times this season and the Isles are 15-10-1 in those games. Prior to this season the Isles were 40-89-22 in the 151 games in which Tavares was scoreless. (Thanks hockey-reference.com)
All-time Winners
The Islanders improve to 25 games over all-time NHL .500 (1449-1424-454 in 3,327 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
Nikolay Kulemin and Brock Nelson are the Islanders' reigning ironmen. Kulemin has played 141 consecutive games (68 for Toronto and 73 for the Isles) while Nelson has played 126 consecutive Islander games. John Tavares is the only other Islander to have played every game this season.
Missing Men
Mikhail Grabovski is on injured reserve. Lubomir Visnovsky missed the game with an injury; Nick Leddy returned to the line-up, replacing Calvin deHaan. Michael Grabner, Colin McDonald and Eric Boulton were also scratched. With Halak back in the lineup, Kevin Poulin was returned to Bridgeport.
The Isles have lost 260 games this season due to injury/illness.
All-time Islander Leader Board:
John Tavares has:
· 169 goals (12th all-time and 15 behind Billy Harris)
· 219 assists (15th all-time, 30 behind Tomas Jonsson and 40 behind Billy Harris)
· 388 points (13th all-time and 55 behind Billy Harris)
· 423 games played (35th among Islander skaters all-time, 2 behind Greg Gilbert and 3 behind Jason Blake)
Kyle Okposo has:
· 114 goals (24th all-time, 2 behind Ray Ferraro and 4 behind Steve Thomas, Matt Moulson and Mark Parrish)
· 185 assists (18th all-time, 8 behind Pierre Turgeon and 11 behind Frans Nielsen)
· 299 points (18th all-time, 32 behind Ziggy Palffy and 34 behind Tomas Jonsson)
· 441 games played (32nd among Islander skaters all-time, 9 behind Scott Lachance and 18 behind Trent Hunter)
Frans Nielsen has:
· 97 goals (29th all-time, 2 behind Trent Hunter and 4 behind Anders Kallur)
· 197 assists (16th all-time and 22 behind John Tavares)
· 294 points (20th all-time, 1 behind Mariusz Czerkawski and 5 behind Kyle Okposo)
· 519 games played (21st among Islander skaters all-time, 11 behind Pat LaFontaine and 13 behind Tomas Jonsson)
Josh Bailey has:
· 133 assists (32nd all-time, 5 behind Greg Gilbert, 6 behind Mark Streit, and 7 behind Steve Thomas)
· 214 points (tied-34th all-time with Mark Parrish)
· 467 games played (29th among Islander skaters , 3 behind Mariusz Czerkawski and 10 behind Gerry Hart)
Michael Grabner has:
· 89 goals (36th all-time, 3 behind Travis Green and 4 behind Garry Howatt & Greg Gilbert)
Season Series Stats
The teams sweep the season series 4 games to 0 (and 8 points to 2).
Going back to last season, the Isles have won the last six games vs. the Devils, representing their longest win streak vs. New Jersey since a similar streak from April, 2007 to January, 2008.
The Isles have also won six straight games at the Prudential Center, marking their longest winning streak in New Jersey since they defeated the Devils in the first seven meetings following the Devils' moved from Colorado.
It Happened at the Coliseum … on MARCH 21st
13 years ago tonight (2002) – Chris Osgood made 36 saves, including 28 in the final two periods as the Isles built a 3-1 lead and then held on for a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
Brad Isbister had the only goal of the first period, in which the Isles outshot the Canucks 18-8. Mats Naslund's 31st goal of the season evened the score for Vancouver with 5:10 remaining in the second period, but Alexei Yashin's 31st 2:10 later regained the lead for the Isles.
Mariusz Czerkawski scored the eventual winning goal at 8:56 of the third, but Vancouver wasn't done. Todd Bertuzzi cut the lead to one goal at 10:43, and 38 seconds later Mats Naslund had the chance to tie the game with a penalty shot.
Osgood stopped the penalty shot, the only one that he faced as an Islander, and the Isles held on for the win, raising their record to 33-25-7-4.
Also on this date: (2004) – Rick DiPietro made 29 saves as the Isles blanked Tampa Bay 3-0. Mark Parrish, Michael Peca and Adrian Aucoin scored the Islander goals.
This was the first of consecutive shutouts for Rick DiPietro.
All-time, the Isles have played eight March 21st games at the Coliseum and finish with a 4-4-0 record on this date at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale.
On The Farm
The Sound Tigers are 23-33-6-1, including 2-14-1-0 in their last 17, following a 3-2 loss to Providence on Saturday. Bridgeport hosts Binghamton on Sunday (3pm).
Up Next
TUESDAY, MARCH 24th - MINNESOTA AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Pre-game at 6:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
[MSG+ (Pre-game at 6:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Isles return home to begin a 4 game in six day homestand on Tuesday against the Minnesota Wild.
The Wild have been one of the hottest teams in the NHL over the last two months; the Isles get a bit of a break from the schedule as the Wild will be in Toronto on Monday night before heading to Long Island.
The Wild erased a 3-0 Islander lead for a 5-4 win over the Isles in December in the only other meeting this season between the teams.
Minnesota defeated the Isles 6-0 last March at the Coliseum, ending a 4-game Islander win streak vs. the Wild.
AND FINALLY…
Thanks so much to all those who have participated in our shirt sale based on the It Happened at the Coliseum theme. We have now raised over $10,000 for Make-A-Wish® Metro NY. If you would like to order, please visit bit.ly/IHATC.
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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