The Skinny: Isles 5, Arizona 2

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick

 

Game 19

Isles 5, Arizona 2

John Tavares and Kyle Okposo each had three points as the Isles exploded for four goals in the third period and defeated the Arizona Coyotes 5-2 before a crowd of 11,841 at Barclays Center.  The Isles have won 3 of their last 4 and improve to 8-2-1 against the West this season (8-1-0 in the last 9).

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD

04:51    NYI       PPG - Frans Nielsen (8) ASST: John Tavares (8), Kyle Okposo (10)         1 - 0 NYI          

 

2ND PERIOD

NONE

 

3RD PERIOD

01:23    NYI       Brock Nelson (6) ASST: Casey Cizikas (4), Kyle Okposo (11)      2 - 0 NYI          

05:38    NYI       John Tavares (8) ASST: Kyle Okposo (12), Brock Nelson (6)       3 - 0 NYI          

11:50    NYI       Steve Bernier (1) ASST: Johnny Boychuk (7), Frans Nielsen (6)    4 - 0 NYI          

15:45    ARI       Martin Hanzal (3) ASST: Anthony Duclair (4), Max Domi (8)          4 - 1 NYI          

17:53    ARI       PPG - Mikkel Boedker (6) ASST: Oliver Ekman-Larsson (10)        4 - 2 NYI          

19:20    NYI       EN - John Tavares (9) ASST: NONE       5 - 2 NYI

 

The Skinny:

 

The Isles had scored only 7 first period goals this season before scoring five over the last four games… The Isles last scored 4 goals in a period on February 24^th, when they scored four goals, also in the third period, and also at home vs. Arizona… Brock Nelson extended his point streak to four games (3-3-6), and scored a goal for the third straight game (matching a career high set in the first three games of the 2014-15 season)…Kyle Okposo recorded three assists, matching his career high, and giving him an even 200 on his career.  He is the 17^th player to record 200 assists as an Islander…Marek Zidlicky appeared in his 800^th NHL game…. The Isles have now outscored their opponents 25-17 in the third period...The Isles have allowed exactly one power play goal in six of the last seven games…Mikhail Grabvoski left the game in the second period and did not return…Martin Hanzal's goal was the first Jaroslav Halak has allowed to Arizona as an Islander.  Counting an appearance with Washington, he had a shutout streak of 153:25 vs. Arizona before the Hanzal tally…Frans Nielsen's first period goal temporarily gave him the team goal scoring lead; John Tavares tied and later passed him…Tavares and Okposo are the first Islander teammates to have at least three points in the same game since February 14^th vs Columbus (Lee-4, Tavares-4, Bailey-3)…Only St. Louis has more wins against the West than the Isles, who will play their next five games against Eastern opponents…34 of Tavares' 183 goals have been game-winners…Shane Doan played in his 1,412^th NHL game, breaking a tie with Harry Howell for 30^th all-time.

Put It in The Books

Steve Bernier is the 350^th player to score a goal for the Islanders.

The Shots:

Isles         9-14-9=32

Arizona   7-7-19=33

 

Home and Road

The Islanders are 10-6-3 overall; 6-3-2 at home and 4-3-1 on the road.  Their 23 points in 19 games is their 2^nd highest total (26 last season) in the last 13 years.

 

Arizona is 9-8-1 overall; 3-4-0 at home and 6-4-1 on the road.  The Coyotes are 0-2-0 on their 4-game road trip.

By Division

The Isles are 2-0-2 in Division games and are 8-6-1 in games against other divisions. They are 0-4-0 vs. the Atlantic Division, 3-1-1 vs. Central Division, and 5-1-0 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

Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves to improve to 5-5-1; his goals against edges upward, but just slightly, to 1.91.  Halak is now 6-2-1 vs. Arizona in his career.

Anders Lindback made 27 saves but falls to 2-3-0 this season; he is 1-4-0 in his career against the Isles.

Power Plays

The Islanders were 1-4 on the power play, while Arizona was 1-3.    

The Isles are 5-2-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 5-4-1 when they do not.  The Isles are 4-4-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 6-2-2 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 9-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-5-3 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 3-3-3 in games decided by a single goal including 2-3-0 in regulation. They are 1-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-1 in shootouts.  The Isles are 2-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal

The Isles are 8-2-1 when they score first and are 2-4-2 when they allow the opening goal.   

Second to The One

Jack Capuano is the 2^nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 175-154-49 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, who will celebrate his 5^th anniversary as the Islander coach on Sunday.

Most games coached (Islanders):

1.     Al Arbour 1,500

2.     Jack Capuano 378

3.     Mike Milbury 191

4.     Terry Simpson 187

5.     Scott Gordon 181

 

Most wins by Islander coaches:

1.     Al Arbour 740

2.     Jack Capuano 175

3.     Terry Simpson 81

4.     Peter Laviolette 77

5.     Ted Nolan 74

They Tweeted It

@Shannon_Hogan Big thanks to Officer McGrath & the rest of the Counter Terrorism Bureau  #NYPD @barclayscenter tonight.  #Isles pic.twitter.com/1Zmehukdrw

@cunningham61 Solid win for the #Isles that's 3 out of 4

@mellemelNY All smiles on the #Isles tonight.Offense back on track, Frans is healthy and bringing it at both ends of the ice #Yesyesyes @barclayscenter

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 0-2-2 on the front-end and 2-2-0 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.  The next back-to-back set will be on November 27^th in Florida and November 28^th in Tampa Bay.

Tired vs. Rested

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

·         The Isles are 2-1-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not.

·         The Isles are 2-1-0 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (23:56); Arizona: Oliver Ekman-Larsson (24:09).

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (5-2-1), Johnny Boychuk (4-2-0), Calvin deHaan (0-0-1), Nick Leddy (1-1-1), Tied (0-1-0)

John Tavares led Isles forwards with 21:29 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (6-4-2), Ryan Strome (2-0-0), Frans Nielsen (1-0-0), Josh Bailey (1-0-0), Kyle Okposo (0-1-1), Tied (0-1-0). 

Face-offs

Isles 19, Arizona 35 (35%). It was the Isles' worst face-off game (both in terms of percentage and differential) of the season.

Mikhail Grabovski won 4 of 7 for the Isles but his teammates won only 15 of 47; Boyd Gordon won 7 of 10 for Arizona.

The Isles lost more draws than they won in each period; they won only 12 of 38 in the last 40 minutes.

The Isles won 19 of 43 draws at even strength, 0 of 7 on the power play and 0 of 4 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters

Isles 36, Arizona 23.  Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck led the Isles with 5 hits each.

Fights

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

Blocked Shots

The Isles were credited with 11 blocked shots; Travis Hamonic and Johnny Boychuk led the team with two each.

For the Corsi Crowd

All situations:  Isles 57, Arizona 50 (including 33-17 in the first period)

Even-Strength: Isles 49, Arizona 40. The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks). 

Nick Leddy and Travis Hamonic led the Isles with +12 even-strength Corsi ratings; Leddy and Josh Bailey each had a team-leading 70% of Corsi For events. Connor Murphy led Arizona with a +8 rating.

Ironmen

·         Nikolay Kulemin -169 (68 for Toronto and 101 for the Isles)

·         Brock Nelson  -154(all for Isles)

Missing Men

Eric Boulton and Thomas Hickey are on injured reserve; Taylor Beck, Adam Pelech and Jean-Francois Berube were scratched.

The Isles have lost 39 games this season due to injury/illness.

All-time Islander Leader Board:

John Tavares has:

·         183 goals (12th all-time, 1 behind Billy Harris and 22 behind John Tonelli)

·         235 assists (15th all-time, 14 behind Tomas Jonsson and 24 behind Billy Harris)

·         418 points (13^th all-time and 25 behind Billy Harris)

·         448 games played (33rd among Islander skaters all-time, and 3 behind Scott Lachance)

Kyle Okposo has:

·         121 goals (19th all-time and 1 behind Duane Sutter)

·         200 assists (17^th all-time and 4 behind Frans Nielsen)

·         321 points (18^th all-time, 10 behind Ziggy Palffy and 12 behind Tomas Jonsson)

·         469 games played (30^th among Islander skaters all-time, 1 behind Mariusz Czerkawski, 7 behind Gerry Hart and 10 behind Radek Martinek)

Frans Nielsen has:

·         107 goals (25th all-time, and 9 behind Ray Ferraro)

·         204 assists (16th all-time and 31 behind John Tavares)

·         311 points (19th all-time and 10 behind Kyle Okposo)

·         544 games played (17^th among Islander skaters all-time, 4 behind Duane Sutter and 6 behind Ken Morrow.)

 Josh Bailey has:

·         142 assists (29^th all-time and 3 behind Travis Green)

·         226 points (33^rd all-time and 3 behind Trent Hunter and Benoit Hogue)

·         494 games played (26^th among Islander skaters and 15 behind Mick Vukota and Rich Pilon)

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series 1 game to 0 and 2 points to 0.  The series will conclude on December 19^th in Glendale, Arizona.

The Isles are 5-0-1 in their last six home games against the Coyotes, dating back to a then-Phoenix Coyote win on Long Island in October of 2002.

The Isles have won three straight over Arizona for the first time since the franchise moved from Winnipeg.

On The Farm

The Sound Tigers are 12-4-0-0 after a 5-0 win in Hershey on Saturday; it's the Sound Tigers' 4^th straight win and three have been by shutout.  Joe Whitney leads the entire NHL in scoring with 20 points.

Bridgeport is off until Friday, when they begin a 3 game in 3 day weekend: Friday at Rochester, Saturday at Utica and Sunday at 5pm at home vs. Springfield.

Up Next

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20th –MONTREAL AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM

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

The Isles host the Canadiens in the front-end of a home-and home series.

The Canadiens score three goals in the third period (the last into an empty net) to defeat the Isles on November 5^th at Bell Centre.

The Isles have lost four straight to Montreal and are 1-6-1 in their last eight games against Les Habitants. 

And Finally…

The Isles paid tribute to those lost in Paris over the weekend: http://video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=35&id=875936

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