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The Skinny: Isles 6, Toronto 3

"The Skinny"  By Eric Hornick Game 34 Isles 6, Toronto 3 The Isles jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 4:48 and the Maple Leafs ...

Wednesday, December 09, 2015

The Skinny: Isles 4, Philadelphia 3 (SO)

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick
 
Game 29
Isles 4, Philadelphia 3 (SO)
The Islanders are the winningest team in NHL history – in the shootout.  Kyle Okposo scored the only shootout goal as the Isles defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 before a crowd of 18,108 at Wells Fargo Center. It's the Isles' 67th shootout win, breaking a tie with Pittsburgh and Buffalo for the NHL record. The Isles extend their point streak to 8 games (6-0-2) as they move a season-high eight games over NHL .500.

The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
00:55    NYI       Frans Nielsen (10) ASST: Anders Lee (10), Johnny Boychuk (9)   1 - 0 NYI          
09:12    PHI       SHG - Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (3) ASST: Claude Giroux (14)     1 - 1 Tie           
10:43    NYI       PPG - Brock Nelson (9) ASST: Nick Leddy (7), Kyle Okposo (16)            2 - 1 NYI          
2ND PERIOD
01:14    NYI       Frans Nielsen (11) ASST: Josh Bailey (8), Nick Leddy (8) 3 - 1 NYI          
04:09    PHI       Ryan White (2) ASST: R.J. Umberger (5), Scott Laughton (6)       3 - 2 NYI          
3RD PERIOD
02:02    PHI       Claude Giroux (10) ASST: Brayden Schenn (6), Brandon Manning (3)       3 - 3 Tie           
OT PERIOD
NONE
 
The Shootout
ROUND PHILADELPHIA FLYERS NEW YORK ISLANDERS
1          Claude Giroux   (NG)         Frans Nielsen (NG)   
2          Wayne Simmonds (NG)     Kyle Okposo (G/GDG)
3          Evgeny Medvedev (NG)

This was the Isles 6th win in eight all-time shootouts vs. Philadelphia…Kyle Okposo is now 13-32 in shootout attempts; he has scored on his last 4 attempts…Jaroslav Halak has won two straight shootouts, stopping all 6 attempts…Frans Nielsen was stopped, but remains the NHL record holder in shootout goals (all-time), and game deciding (shootout) goals.
 
 Most Game Deciding Goals (Isles- all-time)
1.         Frans Nielsen 17 (NHL record)
2.         Kyle Okposo 8
3.         Miroslav Satan 7
4.         Matt Moulson/Josh Bailey 4
 
Most Shootout Goals (Isles – all-time)
1.         Frans Nielsen 41 (NHL record)
2.         John Tavares/Kyle Okposo/Miro Satan 13
 
The Skinny:
The Isles improve to 10-1-2 when leading after two periods…The Isles' 37 points through 29 games is their third-highest point total at this stage of the season in the last 27 years (38 points in 2014-15 and 37 points in 2001-02); they are one of six NHL teams with at least 37 points… The Isles have scored in 10 of the last 12 3rd periods, outscoring their opponents 17-9 in that span, and 36-24 this season… The Isles have earned points in 8 straight games for the first time in a single season since an 11-game stretch late in the 2012-13 season (4-1-13 to 4-23-13, also 8-0-3) The Isles improve to 12-0-1 in games in which they had a two goal lead at any point…Nick Leddy had his 1st goal of the season taken away after the scorer determined that Brock Nelson had deflected the puck; Leddy finished with two assists…. Philadelphia is 4-1-1 in the last six games…Wayne Simmonds was denied a goal after video review determined he had kicked the puck in; it would have been his 300th NHL point…The Isles improve to 5-0-2 in their division.  Montreal (who hosts Boston on Wednesday) is the only other team to earn a point in all of their division games this season…Isle defenders combined for three assists; it's the 4th time this season that the Isles have gotten at least three points from their defense – all four times have been on the road (at Columbus, at New Jersey, at San Jose)…Frans Nielsen's first goal marked the second time this season that the Isles have scored in the first minute of the game (Tavares :36 in San Jose); the Isles have outscored their opponents 5-1 in the first minute of periods this season…Nielsen's 2nd goal leaves him one goal behind John Tavares for the club lead; he is also one point behind Kyle Okposo/John Tavares for the club point lead…The Isles have earned 100 points in their last 82 games…Brock Nelson extended his consecutive game streak to 164 (the equivalent of two full seasons).

Tying the (Club) Record
The Isles have played four consecutive overtime/shootout games for the second time in their history. The first time was October 18 - October 28, 2001 (3 OT wins and a tie):
18-Oct-01          Vs        Carolina            2          1          Wot
20-Oct-01          Vs        San Jose          2          2          T
26-Oct-01          @         Carolina            3          2          Wot
28-Oct-01          Vs        Dallas               3          2          Wot
 
Breaking the (NHL) Record
The Islanders won their 67th all-time shootout, breaking a tie with Pittsburgh and Buffalo for most all-time:
·         Isles 67-49
·         Pittsburgh 66-40
·         Buffalo 66-43

Comparable Records
The Isles are 16-8-5 thru 29 games.  
Most points in first 29 games:
·         43 in 1978-79
·         41 in 1976-77
·         39 in 1980-81
·         38 in 2014-15
·         38 in 1977-78
·         38 in 1983-84
·         38 in 1987-88
·         37 in 2015-16
·         37 in 2001-02

The Shots:
Isles                 9-5-11-1=26
Philadelphia  15-17-13-1=46
 
The Isles were outshot by at least 20 shots for the first time in exactly 104 weeks (12/10/13 in San Jose); the Isles have won 4 straight games when outshot by 20+ shots (three in shootouts).  It's the most shots the Isles have allowed to the Flyers since Wade Dubielewicz faced 54 in a 4-3 shootout loss (3-29-08 on Long Island) and matches the most the Isles have allowed in Philadelphia since Mark Fitzpatrick faced 47 in a 3-2 loss.

The Isles have played four consecutive OT/SO games, and have been outshot 16-8 in the four extra sessions.

Home and Road
The Islanders are 16-8-5 overall; 10-4-2 at home and 6-4-3 on the road. 
 
Philadelphia is 11-11-6 overall; 5-5-4 at home and 6-6-2 on the road.  

By Division
The Isles are 5-0-2 in Division games and are 11-8-2 in games against other divisions. They are 1-6-2 vs. the Atlantic Division, 5-1-1 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 43 saves, his most as an Islander, and improves to 8-4-3.  Halak is 9-3-0 in his career against Philadelphia and 26-25 all-time in shootouts.
Steve Mason was pulled after allowed 3 goals on 10 shots early in the 2nd period. Michal Neuvirth stopped all 16 shots he faced but is tagged with the SO loss.  He is 6-3-2 on the season, 5-2-1 in his career against the Isles and 10-12 all-time in shootouts. 

Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-1 on the power play (allowing a shorthanded goal), while Philadelphia was 0-2.
The Isles have killed all 18 opponent power plays in their last 7 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 9-2-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 6-7-2 when they do not.  The Isles are 5-5-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 11-3-4 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 13-2-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-6-5 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 7-3-5 in games decided by a single goal including 3-3-0 in regulation. They are 1-3 in games decided in overtime and are 3-2 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 10-3-2 when they score first and are 6-5-3 when they allow the opening goal.   This was only the third time in the last eight games that the Isles scored first (6-0-2).

Second to The One
Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 181-156-51 behind the Islander bench. Among the 9 New York area 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 388
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181
 
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 181
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74

They Tweeted It
@BCISLEMAN Is there precedent for giving someone all three stars? #isles
@LevNation20 Just (Phi)filthy! @bookerT2116  #SilentK #isles
@bigt191 The #isles top line has scored one even strength goal in the last eight games. Isles record during that span? 6-0-2.

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 1-2-3 on the front-end and 3-2-1 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.  The next back-to-back set will be next Saturday in Columbus and next Sunday vs. New Jersey.

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

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Travis Hamonic (27:40); Philadelphia: Michael Del Zotto (23:34).
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (9-2-3), Johnny Boychuk (4-3-0), Calvin deHaan (0-0-1), Nick Leddy (2-2-1), Tied (0-1-0)
John Tavares led Isles forwards with 20:48 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (10-6-4), 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 32, Philadelphia 32 (50%).
Casey Cizikas won 9 of 15 for the Isles; Claude Giroux won 12 of 19 for Philadelphia.
The Isles won 19 of 42 draws in the first 2 periods before winning 13 of 20 in the third period and overtime.
The Isles won 31 of 58 draws at even strength, 1 of 2 on the power play and 0 of 4 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters
Isles 34, Philadelphia 30.  Matt Martin led the Isles with 5 hits.

Fights
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 six.

For the Corsi Crowd
All situations:  Isles 84, Philadelphia 46.  Even-Strength: Isles 71, Philadelphia 43.
The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks). 
 
No Islander had a positive even-strength Corsi rating; Wayne Simmonds led Philadelphia with a +16 rating.

Ironmen
·         Nikolay Kulemin -179 (68 for Toronto and 111 for the Isles)
·         Brock Nelson  -164 (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 59 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 (13th all-time and 20 behind Billy Harris)
·         458 games played (31st among Islander skaters all-time, 1 behind Trent Hunter and 12 behind Mariusz Czerkawski)
Kyle Okposo has:
·         123 goals (18th all-time and 4 behind Jason Blake)
·         204 assists (17th all-time and 4 behind Frans Nielsen)
·         327 points (18th all-time, 4 behind Ziggy Palffy and 6 behind Tomas Jonsson)
·         479 games played (tied-27th among Islander skaters all-time with Radek Martinek and 14 behind Ed Westfall)
Frans Nielsen has:
·         110 goals (25th all-time, and 6 behind Ray Ferraro)
·         208 assists (16th all-time and 29 behind John Tavares)
·         318 points (19th all-time, 9 behind Kyle Okposo and 13 behind Ziggy Palffy)
·         554 games played (15th among Islander skaters all-time and 40 behind John Tonelli)
 Josh Bailey has:
·         145 assists (tied-27th all-time with Travis Green and 5 behind Mariusz Czerkawski)
·         232 points (tied-28th all-time with Kenny Jonsson, 5 behind Travis Green and 6 behind Ray Ferraro)
·         504 games played (25th among Islander skaters, 5 behind Rich Pilon, 6 behind Mick Vukota and 10 behind Dave Lewis)

Season Series Stats
The Isles lead the season series 2 games to 0 and 4 points to 1. 
The Isles have won 6 of their last 7 vs. Philadelphia for the first time since winning 7 of 8 in the 1992-93 season.

On The Farm
The Sound Tigers are 15-9-1-0 on the season after defeating Hartford 4-2 on Sunday.  Joe Whitney recorded his 2nd hat trick of the season (both against Hartford) while Whitney, Sebastian Collberg and Bracken Kearns all went +4.  Christopher Gibson made 32 saves to earn the win.  Whitney now has 26 points on the season, which is tied for 2nd in the AHL.
The Sound Tigers are off until Friday when they begin another 3-game in 3-day weekend, in Portland.

Up Next
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12th—ISLANDERS AT COLUMBUS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 6:30), 91.5 WNYE-FM. 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
 
After three off-days, the Isles will conclude their three-game road trip in Columbus against John Tortorella's Blue Jackets.
 
The Isles blanked Columbus 4-0 on October 20th to drop Columbus to 0-8-0; coach Todd Richards was replaced the next day.
 
This is the first game of a stretch in which the Isles will play 6 games in 10 days that will get the team to the Christmas break.
 
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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