The Skinny: Buffalo 2, Isles 1

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick

 

Game 12

Buffalo 2, Isles 1

Matt Moulson and Sam Reinhart scored third period goals as the Buffalo Sabres rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Islanders in a rare penalty-free game, before a crowd of 11,278 at Barclays Center.  The Isles, who played without Captain John Tavares for the 2^nd straight game, saw their four game point streak (2-0-2) snapped, while their winless streak extended to three games (0-1-2).

The Scoring:

 

1ST PERIOD

NONE

2ND PERIOD

13:42    NYI       Calvin de Haan (1) ASST: Cal Clutterbuck (1)      1 - 0 NYI          

3RD PERIOD

06:20    BUF      Matt Moulson (4) ASST: Zemgus Girgensons (1), Brian Gionta (3)            1 - 1 Tie           

13:44    BUF      Sam Reinhart (2) ASST: David Legwand (2), Jamie McGinn (3)     2 - 1 BUF

The Skinny:

 

Calvin deHaan scored his first goal in 45 games, dating back to last December 29^th.  It was his 5^th goal in 129 career games…Frans Nielsen's goal streak ended at three games, while his point streak ended at four games…The Isles allowed only 39 shots in two games this weekend…Matt Moulson, playing on his 32^nd birthday, scored his 4^th goal in five games against the Islanders.  It was his first career birthday goal …The Sabres improve to 2-6-0 when trailing after two periods while the Isles fall to 4-1-1 (0-1-1 in the last two) when leading after two periods…The Isles have scored only 5 goals over their last three games (0-1-2).

 

Special Teams Had the Night Off

For the 4^th time in Islander history, neither team was penalized.  Ironically, two of the four have been against the Sabres, 42 years apart (2/4/73).

 

The Isles' penalty killers are 26-26 over the last nine games and have now killed 92.3% of opponents' opportunities… The Isles had scored power play goals in 5 straight games (5/12, 42%) for the first time since October 15-25, 2013… The five consecutive games of scoring on the power play and not allowing a power play goal matched the club record, most recently done in February 1993.

The Shots:

Isles        10-13-7=30

Buffalo      6-6-10=22

 

Home and Road

The Islanders are 6-3-3 overall; 4-2-2 at home and 2-1-1 on the road.

 Buffalo is 5-7-0 overall; 3-4-0 at home and 2-3-0 on the road. 

By Division

The Isles are 1-0-2 in Division games and are 5-3-1 in games against other divisions. They are 0-2-0 vs. the Atlantic Division, 3-1-1 vs. Central Division, and 2-0-0 vs. the Pacific Division. 

The Isles finished last season 21-6-3 against the Met and 26-22-4 against other Divisions. 

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 20 saves but falls to 3-1-2 this season.  Greiss had earned a point in each of his first five games as an Islander.  He is 0-2-0 in his career against Buffalo.

Linus Ullmark made 29 saves in his third NHL start, as he improves to 2-1-0. 

Power Plays

Neither team had a power play.

The Isles are 4-1-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-2-1 when they do not.  The Isles are 1-1-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 5-2-2 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 6-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-2-3 when they do not.  The Isles were 40-8-4 when they scored at least three goals (including SO winners) last season.

One Goal Games

The Isles are 2-1-3 in games decided by a single goal including 1-1-0 in regulation. They are 1-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-1 in shootouts.  The Isles are 1-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal

The Isles are 4-1-1 when they score first and are 2-2-2 when they allow the opening goal.   

Second to The One

Jack Capuano is the 2^nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 171-151-49 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 371

3.     Mike Milbury 191

4.     Terry Simpson 187

5.     Scott Gordon 181

 

Most wins by Islander coaches:

1.     Al Arbour 740

2.     Jack Capuano 171

3.     Terry Simpson 81

4.     Peter Laviolette 77

5.     Ted Nolan 74

They Tweeted It

@KKasimis96 Don't worry, there will be a blue and orange team bringing a trophy to New York this year #Isles

@nickhirshon Ok, @NYIslanders. You now have my undivided attention till April. #isles

@gmen8069 As far as New York sports goes, i beg someone to find a worse day in NY sports history than today. #giants #jets #mets #isles #worldseries

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 0-1-2 in the front-end and 1-2-0 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.  The next back-to-back set will be November 12-13 in Los Angeles and Anaheim.

Tired vs. Rested

·         The Isles are 0-1-0 when both teams played the night before.

·         The Isles are 2-0-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not.

·         The Isles are 1-1-0 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles Johnny Boychuk (23:22); Buffalo: Rasmus Ristolainen (26:04).

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (4-1-1), Johnny Boychuk (2-2-0), Calvin deHaan (0-0-1), Nick Leddy (0-0-1)

Kyle Okposo led Isles forwards with 20:53 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (3-1-2), Ryan Strome (2-0-0), Frans Nielsen (1-0-0), Kyle Okposo (0-1-1), Tied (0-1-0). 

Face-offs

Isles 21, Buffalo 25 (46%)

Mikhail Grabovski won 8 of 13 for the Isles; Ryan O'Reilly won 12 of 19 for Buffalo.

The Isles won less than 50% of the draws in all three periods. The Isles won 0 of 0 on the power play and 0 of 0 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters

Isles 44, Buffalo 30.  Cal Clutterbuck and Matt Martin led the Isles with 6 hits.

Fights

There were no fights.  Season total – 2 (Boychuk, Martin).  

Blocked Shots

The Isles were credited with 24 blocked shots; Calvin deHaan led the team with five.

For the Corsi Crowd

All situations:  Isles 58, Buffalo 52.

Even-Strength: Isles 56, Buffalo 52. The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks). 

Travis Hamonic and Frans Nielsen led the Isles with a +10 even-strength Corsi rating; Matt Martin had a team-leading 71% of Corsi For events. Mark Pysyk and Carlo Colaiacovo led Buffalo with a +7 rating.

Ironmen

·         Nikolay Kulemin -162 (68 for Toronto and 94 for the Isles)

·         Brock Nelson  -147(all for Isles)

Missing Men

Eric Boulton and Thomas Hickey are on injured reserve; John Tavares missed the game due to illness.  Taylor Beck was scratched for the second straight game; Jean-Francois Berube was also scratched.

The Isles have lost 24 games this season due to injury/illness.

All-time Islander Leader Board:

John Tavares has:

·         180 goals (12^th all-time, 4 behind Billy Harris and 26 behind John Tonelli)

·         232 assists (15th all-time, 17 behind Tomas Jonsson and 27 behind Billy Harris)

·         412 points (13^th all-time and 31 behind Billy Harris)

·         442 games played (33rd among Islander skaters all-time, and 9 behind Scott Lachance)

Kyle Okposo has:

·         120 goals (19th all-time and 2 behind Duane Sutter)

·         194 assists (17^th all-time and 8 behind Frans Nielsen)

·         314 points (18^th all-time, 17 behind Ziggy Palffy and 19 behind Tomas Jonsson)

·         462 games played (30^th among Islander skaters all-time, 8 behind Mariusz Czerkawski, 14 behind Gerry Hart and 17 behind Radek Martinek)

Frans Nielsen has:

·         104 goals (27th all-time, and 1 behind Ed Westfall)

·         202 assists (16th all-time and 30 behind John Tavares)

·         306 points (19th all-time and 8 behind Kyle Okposo)

·         537 games played (18^th among Islander skaters all-time, 6 behind Lorne Henning, 10 behind Duane Sutter and 13 behind Ken Morrow.)

 Josh Bailey has:

·         140 assists (tied-29^th all-time with Steve Thomas and 5 behind Travis Green)

·         224 points (tied-33^rd all-time with Matt Moulson and 5 behind Trent Hunter and Benoit Hogue)

·         488 games played (26^th among Islander skaters, 5 behind Ed Westfall and 21 behind Mick Vukota and Rich Pilon)

Season Series Stats

The Sabres lead the season series 1 game to 0 and 2 points to 0.  The season series will continue in Buffalo on New Year's Eve before the Sabres return to Brooklyn for the regular season finale on April 9^th.

The Ioss is the Isles' first in regulation in their last nine games about Buffalo (5-1-3).

On The Farm

The Sound Tigers are 8-3-0-0 after a 3-2 OT win over Utica, coached by former Islander Travis Green, on Sunday.  Alan Quine scored his 3rd goal for the overtime winner.

Bridgeport host Hershey at 11am on Wednesday and then host Springfield on Saturday.

Up Next

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3rd – NEW JERSEY AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM

[MSG+ (Pre-game at 6:30), 91.5 WNYE-FM. 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

The Isles will play their fourth game in six days as they entertain the Devils on Brooklyn Pride Night. The Isles will debut their black third jerseys for this game. It will be the back-end of a home and home for New Jersey, but the third game in four days for the Isles.

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