Thursday, November 05, 2015

The Skinny: Montreal 4, Isles 1

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick
 
Game 14
Montreal 4, Isles 1
David Desharnais broke a 1-1 tie at 6:22 of the third and Brendan Gallagher added an insurance tally 93 seconds later as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Islanders, 4-1, before a sellout crowd of 21,288 at Bell Center.  The Isles are 1-2-2 in their last five games after a 6-2-1 start.

The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
18:50 MTL PPG - Dale Weise (8) Tip-in - ASST: Jeff Petry (5), P.K. Subban (12)   1 - 0 MTL         
 
2ND PERIOD
03:35 NYI Kyle Okposo (4) Wrist shot - ASST: Johnny Boychuk (5), Jaroslav Halak (1)1 - 1 Tie    
 
3RD PERIOD
06:22 MTL David Desharnais (4) Wrist - ASST: Tomas Fleischmann (7), Nathan Beaulieu (3) 2 - 1 MTL      
07:55 MTL Brendan Gallagher (6) Tip-in - ASST: Max Pacioretty (5), Tomas Plekanec (8) 3 - 1 MTL           
17:57 MTL EN - Tomas Plekanec (6) Backhand- ASST: Br. Gallagher (6), Max Pacioretty (6) 4 - 1 MTL

The Skinny:
 
John Tavares returned to the lineup after missing three games with the flu.  Tavares played 19:46, more than any other Islander forward.… The Isles have scored only 8 goals over their last five games (1-2-2)… Dale Weise's first period goal was the first 5-on-4 goal the Isles have allowed this season and only the 2nd power play allowed by the club this season…Weise continued his hot start with his 8th goal (and 5th in the last four games); he scored a career-high 10 goals last season…The Isles allowed three goals in a period for the first time this season (and the third was an empty-net goal)…Montreal, holders of the best record in the NHL, are 11-1-0 when scoring first…Montreal has 25 points in 15 games for only the second time in their history (11-1-3 in 1943-44)…The Canadiens have sold out 463 consecutive home games, dating back to 2004.

First Time in a Long Time
The Isles had only 18 shots, fewest in a regular season game since they had 16 in Los Angeles on December 7, 2013 (3-0 loss).   It matched their fewest shots in a game vs. Montreal since 2/27/1995 (17). [The Isles did have 11 shots in their game 7 loss to Washington last spring.]
 
The Shots:
Isles                 5-8-5=18
Montreal            8-7-9=24
 
Home and Road
The Islanders are 7-4-3 overall; 5-2-2 at home and 2-2-1 on the road.

Montreal is 12-2-1 overall; 6-0-1 at home and 6-2-0 on the road.  After a 9-0-0 start, Montreal is 3-2-1 in their last six.

By Division
The Isles are 2-0-2 in Division games and are 5-4-1 in games against other divisions. They are 0-3-0 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
Jaroslav Halak made 20 saves.  He is 4-2-1 this season.  Halak is 4-2-0 in his career against Montreal, who originally drafted Halak in 2003.
Mike Condon made 17 saves to improve to 5-0-1 in his rookie season.  He is 1-0-0 in his career against the Isles.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-3 on the power play, while Montreal was 1-2.  The Isles began the day with the best penalty killing in the NHL; they have now killed 41 of 46 this season.  Kyle Okposo's goal came just two seconds after the expiration of the first Islander power play.
The Isles are 4-1-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 3-3-1 when they do not.  The Isles are 2-2-1 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 1-3-3 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 3-1-3 in games decided by a single goal including 2-1-0 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 5-1-1 when they score first and are 2-3-2 when they allow the opening goal.   

Second to The One
Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 172-152-49 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 373
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181
 
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 172
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74

They Tweeted It
@ArponBasu (of NHL.com) #Isles room understandably having trouble digesting bad bounce that cost them tonight, but admit they needed to generate more offensively.
@BrentRicM Last year's #Isles had 18 points in 14 games. This year's iteration has 17 in the same amount of games
@PhilBeckons Relax everybody. They'll be fine.  #Isles

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 0-1-2 on 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: Nick Leddy & Travis Hamonic (22:02); Montreal: Andrei Markov (23:03).
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (4-1-1), Johnny Boychuk (3-2-0), Calvin deHaan (0-0-1), Nick Leddy (0-0-1), Tied (0-1-0)
John Tavares led Isles forwards with 19:46 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (3-2-2), 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 26, Montreal 24 (52%)
John Tavares won 8 of 13 for the Isles; Tomas Fleischmann won 10 of 19 for Montreal.
The Isles won 20 of 42 draws at even strength but won 3 of 5 on the power play and 3 of 3 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters
Isles 42, Montreal 31.  Cal Clutterbuck led the Isles with 9 hits for the 2nd straight game.  The Isles have been credited with 103 hits in the last two games.

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

Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 10 blocked shots; Cal Clutterbuck, Marek Zidlicky and Calvin deHaan led the team with two each.

For the Corsi Crowd
All situations:  Isles 42, Montreal 45
Even-Strength: Isles 30, Montreal 37. The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks). 
Nick Leddy and John Tavares led the Isles with +4 even-strength Corsi ratings; Tavares also had a team-leading 60% of Corsi For events. Tomas Plekanec led Montreal with a +9 rating.

Ironmen
·         Nikolay Kulemin -164 (68 for Toronto and 96 for the Isles)
·         Brock Nelson  -149 (all for Isles)

Missing Men
Eric Boulton and Thomas Hickey are on injured reserve; Steve Bernier, Taylor Beck and Jean-Francois Berube were scratched.
The Isles have lost 29 games this season due to injury/illness.

All-time Islander Leader Board:
John Tavares has:
·         180 goals (12th 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 (13th all-time and 31 behind Billy Harris)
·         443 games played (33rd among Islander skaters all-time, and 8 behind Scott Lachance)

Kyle Okposo has:
·         121 goals (19th all-time and 1 behind Duane Sutter)
·         194 assists (17th all-time and 8 behind Frans Nielsen)
·         315 points (18th all-time, 16 behind Ziggy Palffy and 18 behind Tomas Jonsson)
·         464 games played (30th among Islander skaters all-time, 6 behind Mariusz Czerkawski, 12 behind Gerry Hart and 15 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 9 behind Kyle Okposo)
·         539 games played (18th among Islander skaters all-time, 4 behind Lorne Henning, 89 behind Duane Sutter and 11 behind Ken Morrow.)

 Josh Bailey has:
·         140 assists (tied-29th all-time with Steve Thomas and 5 behind Travis Green)
·         224 points (tied-33rd all-time with Matt Moulson and 5 behind Trent Hunter and Benoit Hogue)
·         490 games played (26th among Islander skaters, 3 behind Ed Westfall and 19 behind Mick Vukota and Rich Pilon)

Season Series Stats
Montreal leads the season series 1 game to 0 and 2 points to 0.  The teams will complete the season series with a home-and-home series later this month (November 20th in Brooklyn, November 22nd in Montreal).
The Isles have lost four straight to Montreal and are 1-6-1 in their last eight games against Les Habitants. 

On The Farm
The Sound Tigers are 8-4-0-0 after a 4-2 loss to Hershey on Wednesday.  Bracken Kearns and Alan Quine scored for Bridgeport, who outshot the Bears by a 41-20 margin.
Bridgeport continues their homestand, hosting Springfield on Saturday (7:00) and Hartford on Sunday (5:00).

Up Next
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 8th –BOSTON AT ISLANDERS 5:00PM
[MSG+ (Pre-game at 4:30), 91.5 WNYE-FM. 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Boston Bruins will become the first opponent to make a second regular season visit to Barclays Center as the teams play at 5pm on Sunday.
The Isles will be catching Boston on the back-end of a back-to-back as Boston will play in Montreal on Saturday night before heading to Brooklyn.
The Isles are 1-6-0 in their last seven home games against the Bruins, including a 5-3 loss on October 23rd.  The season series will conclude in Boston on March 12th.
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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