The Skinny: Montreal 4, Isles 2

"The Skinny"  

 By Eric Hornick

 

Game 21

Montreal 4, Isles 2

Alex Galchenyuk's power play goal broke a 2-2 tie late in the third period as the Montreal Canadiens completed a sweep of the home-and-home series with a 4-2 win over the Isles before a sellout crowd of 21,288 at Bell Center.  All four Canadien goals were scored on special teams as the Isles suffered consecutive regulation losses for the second time this season.

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD

18:41    NYI       John Tavares (10) ASST: Kyle Okposo (14), Travis Hamonic (4)   1 - 0 NYI          

 

2ND PERIOD

09:37    MTL      PPG - David Desharnais (7) ASST: Dale Weise (5), P.K. Subban (17)       1 - 1 Tie           

14:09    MTL      SHG - Tomas Fleischmann (7) ASST: NONE       2 - 1 MTL         

 

3RD PERIOD

11:53    NYI       Anders Lee (4) ASST: Josh Bailey (7), Mikhail Grabovski (6)        2 - 2 Tie           

16:31    MTL      PPG - Alex Galchenyuk (3) ASST: P.K. Subban (18), Andrei Markov (15)  3 - 2 MTL         

19:51    MTL      PPG - EN - Max Pacioretty (11) ASST: Tomas Plekanec (13)       4 - 2 MTL

The Skinny:

 

The Isles had scored only 7 first period goals this season before scoring seven over the last six games… Brock Nelson's point streak and goal-scoring streak ended at 5 games and 4 games respectively. )…Kyle Okposo's assist on Tavares' goal was his team-leading 14^th; he now has assists in five straight games(0-7-7)…Brendan Gallagher lost his 7-game point streak when he left the game injured…Max Pacioretty's empty net goal was his 300^th NHL point…The Isles allowed two PP goals in a game/period for the first time this season and allowed 3 PP goals in a game for the first time since December 6^th vs. St. Louis….It's the first time since March 8, 2008  in Philadelphia that the Isles have allowed at least four goals,  but none at even strength…Anders Lee's third period goal, which came just seconds after an Islander PP expired, was his first in 10 games…The Isles have lost six straight to Montreal over the last two seasons, and have been outscored 25-12; it's their longest losing streak vs. the Habs since they also lost six straight between March 13, 2007 and November 1, 2008…It was the Habs' 468^th consecutive home sellout.

The Injury

Montreal's Brendan Gallagher left the game in the second period after blocking a Johnny Boychuk shot with his left hand.  Gallagher suffered two broken fingers, will undergo surgery Monday and will be out indefinitely.

 

The Shots:

Isles         9-10-4=23

Montreal  10-9-8=27

 

Home and Road

The Islanders are 10-8-3 overall; 6-4-2 at home and 4-4-1 on the road. 

Montreal is 16-4-2 overall; 9-2-1 at home and 7-2-1 on the road.  

By Division

The Isles are 2-0-2 in Division games and are 8-8-1 in games against other divisions. They are 0-6-0 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

Thomas Greiss made 21 saves but suffers his 3rd loss of the season (5-3-2).  Greiss has allowed only six goals + 2 EN goals (in 8 periods) in his three losses.

Carey Price made 23 to improve to 9-2-0 on the season and 11-3-3 in his career against the Isles, including 5-1-0 in his last six games.

Power Plays

The Islanders were 0-5 on the power play and allowed a SH goal, while Montreal was 3-5.  It was the first time since February 10^th vs Edmonton that the Isles allowed at least 2 PP goals and the first time since last December 6^th vs St. Louis that the Isles allowed at least 3 PP goals.

The Isles power play is 1-22 (4.5%) over the last six games after opening the season 9-36 (25%).

The Isles are 5-2-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 5-6-1 when they do not.  The Isles are 4-5-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 6-3-2 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 9-2-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-6-3 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 2-2 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal

The Isles are 8-3-1 when they score first and are 2-5-2 when they allow the opening goal.   

Second to The One

Jack Capuano is the 2^nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 175-156-49 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 380

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

@StuCowan1 This was Brendan Gallagher's 166th consecutive game played for #Habs. If hand is broken, that iron-man streak will end.

@dayna1208 Can't spell #islanders without #anders @leeberr09 😍😍😍 tie baby @NYIslanders

@JoeyNau631 John Tavares and Okposo is such a nasty combo of forwards..

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 2-2-0 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: Johnny Boychuk (26:44); Montreal: Andrei Markov (25:16).

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (5-2-1), Johnny Boychuk (4-3-0), Calvin deHaan (0-0-1), Nick Leddy (1-2-1), Tied (0-1-0)

John Tavares led Isles forwards with 23:07 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (6-6-2), 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 30, Montreal 29 (51%).

John Tavares won 11 of 21 for the Isles; Tomas Plekanec won 11 of 19 for Montreal.

The Isles won 10 of 17 draws in the first period but only 20 of 42 in the final two periods.

The Isles won 22 of 38 draws at even strength, 4 of 10 on the power play and 4 of 11 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters

Isles 37, Montreal 16.  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 17 blocked shots; Calvin deHaan led the team with three.

For the Corsi Crowd

All situations:  Isles 45, Montreal 58.

Even-Strength: Isles 31, Montreal 46 The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks). 

Frans Nielsen led the Isles with a +4 even-strength Corsi rating; Nielsen also had a team-leading 59% of Corsi For events. Lars Eller led Montreal with a +16 rating.

The Isles had only five even-strength attempts in the third period.

Ironmen

·         Nikolay Kulemin -170 (68 for Toronto and 103 for the Isles)

·         Brock Nelson  -156 (all for Isles)

Missing Men

Eric Boulton and Thomas Hickey are on injured reserve; Taylor Beck and Adam Pelech replaced Steve Bernier and Marek Zidlicky in the lineup. Jean-Francois Berube was scratched.

The Isles have lost 43 games this season due to injury/illness.

All-time Islander Leader Board:

John Tavares has:

·         184 goals (tied-11th all-time with Billy Harris and 21 behind John Tonelli)

·         236 assists (15th all-time, 13 behind Tomas Jonsson and 23 behind Billy Harris)

·         420 points (13^th all-time and 23 behind Billy Harris)

·         450 games played (33rd among Islander skaters all-time, and 1 behind Scott Lachance)

Kyle Okposo has:

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

·         202 assists (17^th all-time and 3 behind Frans Nielsen)

·         323 points (18^th all-time, 8 behind Ziggy Palffy and 10 behind Tomas Jonsson)

·         471 games played (29^th among Islander skaters all-time, 5 behind Gerry Hart and 8 behind Radek Martinek)

Frans Nielsen has:

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

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

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

·         546 games played (17^th among Islander skaters all-time, 2 behind Duane Sutter and 4 behind Ken Morrow.)

 Josh Bailey has:

·         144 assists (29^th all-time and 1 behind Travis Green)

·         228 points (33^rd all-time and 1 behind Trent Hunter and Benoit Hogue)

·         496 games played (26^th among Islander skaters and 13 behind Mick Vukota and Rich Pilon)

Season Series Stats

Montreal wins the season series 3 games to 0 and 6 points to 0.  The Habs have swept the season series in each of the last two seasons; the Isles are 1-8-1 in their last 10 games against Montreal.

On The Farm

The Sound Tigers are 13-5-1-0 after a 4-2 win in Utica on Saturday and a 2-0 loss to Springfield on Sunday. Bridgeport is 5-1-1-0 in their last seven games.   

The Sound Tigers will play Thanksgiving Eve in Albany before returning home to host Hartford and Syracuse next Saturday/Sunday.

Up Next

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25th–PHILADELPHIA AT ISLANDERS 7:30PM

[NBCSN (NHL-Live Pre-game at 7:00), 91.5 WNYE-FM. 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

 

The Isles return home for their first meeting of the season with the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday in a nationally-televised game.  This game will be seen exclusively in the NY-Area on NBCSN.

The Isles took 3 out of 4 from the Flyers last year (including a pair of shootout wins), but it is the 5-4 loss in Philadelphia last April 7^th that most Isles fans will remember.  Trailing 4-1 nearing the midway point of the third, the Isles rallied to get the game even on two goals in the final 1:44, but Brayden Schenn scored the winning goal for the Flyers at 19:57.  The lost point cost the Isles home ice in their series with Washington.

The Isles have won three straight home games from Philadelphia and will be looking for their first 4-game home win streak vs. the Flyers since 1998.

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