The Skinny: Isles 2, Rangers 1 (SO)

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick

 

Game 26

Isles 2, Rangers 1 (shootout)

John Tavares and Victor Stalberg traded goals in the second period and that was also Jaroslav Halak and Henrik Lundqvist allowed through 65 minutes; Kyle Okposo scored the only goal of the shootout as the Islanders defeated the Rangers 2-1 before a crowd of 15,795 at Barclays Center. The Isles are 4-0-1 in their last 5 games as they move six games over NHL .500 for the first time this season.  It's the Isles' first shootout win since February 5, 2015 in Philadelphia, snapping a franchise-record 7-game shootout losing streak.

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD

NONE

 

2ND PERIOD

12:22    NYI       PPG - John Tavares (12) ASST: Kyle Okposo (15), Johnny Boychuk (8)   1 - 0 NYI          

18:37    NYR     Viktor Stalberg (3) ASST: Marc Staal (8), Dominic Moore (1)        1 - 1 Tie           

 

3RD PERIOD

NONE

 

OT PERIOD

NONE

 

The Shootout

ROUND            ISLANDERS                  RANGERS

1                      Kyle Okposo (G/GDG)   Rick Nash (NG)

2                      Frans Nielsen (NG)        Mats Zuccarello (NG)    

3                      John Tavares (NG)         Dan Boyle (NG)

 

The Isles are 7-1 all-time in shootouts vs. the Rangers…This was the first shootout between the teams since a season-changing come-from-behind win at MSG on February 14, 2013...This was the first shootout in Barclays Center history; the teams also played the first shootout in Madison Square Garden history (10-19-05)…Kyle Okposo is now 11-30 in shootout attempts, 7 of his 11 shootout goals have been game deciding goals, tying Miro Satan for 2^nd place on the all-time Isles game deciding goal list:

 

Most Game Deciding Goals (Isles- all-time)

1.     Frans Nielsen 16 (shares NHL record)

2.     Miro Satan/Kyle Okposo 7

4.     Matt Moulson/Josh Bailey 4

 

The Skinny:

John Tavares' goal was the Isles' second 5-on-3 goal in two games and their third this season…The Isles' 32 points through 26 games is their third-highest point total at this stage of the season in the last 27 years (36 points in 2014-15 and 35 points in 2001-02)…The Isles' power play has now connected four times in the last three games… The teams combined for 104 hits, 52 each… Frans Nielsen's point streak ended at 4 games (1-3-4); he now has a point in 7 of the last 9 games… The Isles failed to score in the 3^rd period for the first time in 9 games, but they have still outscored opponents 15-6 in the last nine third periods, and 34-21 in the third period this season…This was the 4^th of 5 consecutive Islander home games against the Rangers; the Rangers hosted the first two games last season and will host the last two matchups this season…The Isles have earned points in 5 straight games for the first time in just over a year (11-18-14 to 11-26-14, 5 wins) and have won three straight for the first time since a four game win streak early this season (10-12-15 to 10-20-15).

 

Jaro The Leader

 

Jaroslav Halak lowered his goals against average to 1.93, which is the best in the entire NHL among qualifying goalies (1/3^rd of a team's games).

Halak is now 7-0-0 in his last 7 match-ups with Henrik Lundqvist, including 4-0-0 as an Islander.  Halak last lost in a game that Lundqvist started on January 17, 2010 when Halak was still a Canadien.

Halak also recorded his 45^th win as an Islander (45-21-6), breaking a tie with Garth Snow (44-52-13) for 11^th place on the Isles' all-time goalie win list

 

The Shots:

Isles         6-16-12-3=37

Rangers  13-9-6-6=34

 

Home and Road

The Islanders are 14-8-4 overall; 9-4-2 at home and 5-4-2 on the road. 

 

The Rangers are 17-6-3 overall; 11-3-1 at home and 6-3-2 on the road.  

By Division

The Isles are 4-0-2 in Division games and are 10-8-2 in games against other divisions. They are 1-6-1 vs. the Atlantic Division, 4-1-1 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 33 saves to improve to 7-4-2.  Halak lower his goals against average to an NHL-best 1.93.  Halak is 25-25 all-time in shootouts and is 11-6-0 in his career against the Rangers.

Henrik Lundqvist made 36 saves; he is 13-5-3 on the season and 29-15-6 in his career against the Isles.  Lundqvist is 51-38 all-time in shootouts.

Power Plays

The Islanders were 1-2 on the power play (converting on a 5-on-3), while the Rangers were 0-3.

The Isles power play is 4-8 in the last three games after converting only once in the prior 8 games [1-25 (4.0%)]. The Isles have killed all 11 opponent power plays in their last 4 games; it's the first time since October 15- November 1 (9 games) that the Isles killed all opposing power plays in consecutive games.

The Isles are 8-2-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 5-7-2 when they do not.  The Isles are 5-5-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 9-3-3 when they do not. 

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 12-2-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-6-4 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 5-3-4 in games decided by a single goal including 3-3-0 in regulation. They are 1-2 in games decided in overtime and are 1-2 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-2 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal

The Isles are 9-3-1 when they score first and are 5-5-3 when they allow the opening goal.   This was the first time in five games that the Isles had scored first.

Second to The One

Jack Capuano is the 2^nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 179-156-50 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 385

3.     Mike Milbury 191

4.     Terry Simpson 187

5.     Scott Gordon 181

 

Most wins by Islander coaches:

1.     Al Arbour 740

2.     Jack Capuano 179

3.     Terry Simpson 81

4.     Peter Laviolette 77

5.     Ted Nolan 74

They Tweeted It

(Islander Radio analyst) @GregPickerHere We were robbed of it last season, but please give us a best-of-7 between the #Isles and #NYR this spring.

@BridalTravelGuy nice to have 2 #1 goalies. #isles

@hanna__elise The @NYIslanders won tonight and all I can think is how excited my grandpa would be 😌💙

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 0-2-3 on the front-end and 3-2-0 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.  The next back-to-back set will be on Friday vs. St. Louis and Saturday in Ottawa.

Tired vs. Rested

·         The Isles are 1-1-0 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: Travis Hamonic (26:45); Rangers: Ryan McDonough (24:46).

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (8-2-2), 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 21:41 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (8-6-3), Ryan Strome (2-0-0), Kyle Okposo (0-1-1), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Frans Nielsen (1-0-0), Josh Bailey (1-0-0), Tied (0-1-0). 

Face-offs

Isles 25, Rangers 27 (48%).

John Tavares won 11 of 20 for the Isles; Dominic Moore won 7 of 11 for the Rangers.

The Isles won 10 of 18 in the third period and overtime after winning only 15 of 34 in the first two periods.

The Isles won 21 of 42 draws at even strength, 3 of 4 on the power play and 1 of 6 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters

Isles 52, Rangers 52.  Matt Martin led the Isles with 9 hits as the Isles' fourth line combined for 21 hits.

The 52 hits by the Isles was their 3rd highest total this season:

·         63 vs New Jersey 11/3/15

·         55 @ Chicago 10/10/15

·         52 vs New York 12/2/15

(This corrects previous information)

Fights

For the 10^th consecutive Islander-Ranger game, there were no fights. Season total – 7 (Martin-4, Boychuk, Leddy, Okposo).  

Blocked Shots

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

For the Corsi Crowd

All situations:  Isles 70, Rangers 77.  Even-Strength: Isles 56, Rangers 51.

The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks). 

 

Josh Bailey and Anders Lee led the Isles with a +6 even-strength Corsi rating; Bailey also had a team-leading 61% of Corsi For events. Oscar Lindberg led the Rangers with a +10 rating.

Ironmen

·         Nikolay Kulemin -176 (68 for Toronto and 108 for the Isles)

·         Brock Nelson  -161 (all for Isles)

Missing Men

Eric Boulton and Jean-Francois Berube are on injured reserve; Brian Strait and Steve Bernier were scratched.

The Isles have lost 53 games this season due to injury/illness.

All-time Islander Leader Board:

John Tavares has:

·         186 goals (11th all-time, 20 behind John Tonelli and 25 behind Derek King)

·         237 assists (15th all-time, 12 behind Tomas Jonsson and 22 behind Billy Harris)

·         423 points (13^th all-time and 20 behind Billy Harris)

·         455 games played (31st among Islander skaters all-time, 4 behind Trent Hunter and 15 behind Mariusz Czerkawski)

Kyle Okposo has:

·         123 goals (18th all-time and 4 behind Jason Blake)

·         203 assists (17^th all-time and 5 behind Frans Nielsen)

·         326 points (18^th all-time, 5 behind Ziggy Palffy and 7 behind Tomas Jonsson)

·         476 games played (tied-28^th among Islander skaters all-time with Gerry Hart, 3 behind Radek Martinek and 17 behind Ed Westfall)

Frans Nielsen has:

·         108 goals (25th all-time, and 8 behind Ray Ferraro)

·         208 assists (16th all-time and 29 behind John Tavares)

·         316 points (19th all-time, 10 behind Kyle Okposo and 15 behind Ziggy Palffy)

·         551 games played (15^th among Islander skaters all-time and 43 behind John Tonelli)

 Josh Bailey has:

·         144 assists (28^th all-time, 1 behind Travis Green and 6 behind Mariusz Czerkawski)

·         230 points (30^th all-time, 1 behind Greg Gilbert, 2 behind Kenny Jonsson, 7 behind Travis Green and 8 behind Ray Ferraro)

·         501 games played (25^th among Islander skaters, 8 behind Rich Pilon, 9 behind Mick Vukota and 13 behind Dave Lewis)

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series 1 game to 0 and 2 points to 1.  The teams will meet again at Barclays Center on January 14^th before matchups in Manhattan on March 6^th and April 7th.

The Isles snapped a 6-game losing streak in 1-goal games against the Rangers (0-4-2).  All six of those games were Islander home games (5 in Uniondale and 1 at Yankee Stadium).

On The Farm

The Sound Tigers are 14-7-1-0 on the season.

The Sound Tigers are off until Friday, when they visit Springfield in the first of a "3 game in 3 day" weekend.  Bridgeport will host Portland on Saturday and Hartford on Sunday.

Up Next

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4th—ST.LOUIS AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM

[MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 7:00), 91.5 WNYE-FM. 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

 

The Isles broke a 5-game winless streak against St. Louis (0-4-1) with an overtime win on October 24^th in St. Louis and now look to sweep the season series.

 

The Isles haven't won consecutive games from St. Louis since March 20, 2001-February 5, 2002, haven't won two games in a season series from the Blues since 1987-88, and will be looking for their first season series sweep of the Blues since 1984-85 (3-0-0).

 

This is the 4^th (and final) Friday night home game of the season; the Isles are 0-2-1 in their first three Friday home games.

 

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