Featured Post

The Skinny: Buffalo 7, Isles 1

"The Skinny"  By Eric Hornick Game 35 Buffalo 7, Isles 1 Beck Melenstyn scored 2:07 into the first period and the Sabres outscored...

Sunday, February 14, 2016

The Skinny: Carolina 6, Isles 3

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick
 
Game 54  
Carolina 6, Isles 3
 
The Carolina Hurricanes scored five second period goals, including two tallies in the final 1:23 of the session by Victor Rask, as they defeated the Islanders 6-3 before a crowd of 16,520 at PNC Center.
The loss ended the Isles' three game win streak.

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD
17:22    CAR     Riley Nash (5) ASST: Jay McClement (7) 1 - 0 CAR         
 
2ND PERIOD
04:19    CAR     Noah Hanifin (2) ASST: Jordan Staal (20)            2 - 0 CAR         
09:34    CAR     Kris Versteeg (11) ASST: Phillip Di Giuseppe (6), Jaccob Slavin (10)       3 - 0 CAR         
10:54    CAR     Andrej Nestrasil (9) ASST: Joakim Nordstrom (11), Jordan Staal (21)       4 - 0 CAR         
13:46    NYI       John Tavares (21) ASST: Kyle Okposo (29)        4 - 1 CAR         
15:20    NYI       PPG - Nick Leddy (4) ASST: John Tavares (24), Frans Nielsen (20)          4 - 2 CAR         
18:37    CAR     PPG - Victor Rask (13) ASST: Elias Lindholm (17), Jeff Skinner (13)        5 - 2 CAR         
19:58    CAR     Victor Rask (14) ASST: Phillip Di Giuseppe (7)    6 - 2 CAR         
 
3RD PERIOD
06:49    NYI       Matt Martin (6) ASST: Casey Cizikas (13), Johnny Boychuk (12)   6 - 3 CAR

The Skinny:
The Isles are 11-11-1 in their last 23; they have outscored opponents 52-24 in the 11 wins (11-0-0), but have been outscored 43-15 in the 11 losses (0-11-1)… The Isles have outscored their opponents 60-43 in the third period this season, including 18-5 over the last 12 games… John Tavares is 6-9-14 in his last 9 games …The Isles have scored 6 power play goals in the last five games; it's the second time this season that the Isles have converted in 5 straight games…The Isles  suffered their first loss this season (11-1-0) when Tavares records at least two points… Tavares took over the team lead in both goals (21) and points (45)…The Hurricanes honored their 2006 Stanley Cup championship team…Nick Leddy went -4 for the first time as an Islander…Carolina, who scored 5 goals in a period for the first time this season, is 2-0-2 in their last four games and 4-1-2 in their last seven games…Matt Martin's third period goal was his first since December 29th vs Toronto…The Isles have trailed after the first period in each of their last four road games…Four of the last five Isles games have been decided by at least three goals.
 
First Times in a Long Time
·         Isles allowed 5 goals in a period for the first time since November 5, 2013 in Washington
·         Isles and opponent combined for 7 goals in a period for the first time since March 11, 2014 in Vancouver (8 goals, 7 for the Islanders)
·         Isles allowed 6 goals in a game for the first time since last President's Day (a 6-5 loss to the Rangers)

Most Points in The Post-Cup Era through 54 games
71 in 2014-15
64 in 2015-16
63 in 2001-02
62 in 1985-86
 
Home Sweet Home
 
The Isles are 18-8-3 on home-ice (39 points).  In the past 28 seasons, the Isles have earned more than 39 points in the first 29 home games only twice (42 in first 29 at home last season and 40 in 29 in 2003-04).
Road Warriors
 
This was the sixth game of a 22 game stretch in which the Isles will play 16 games on the road.  The Isles are 3-3-0 in this stretch.

4-Feb-16           @ Capitals (Lost 3-2)
6-Feb-16           @ Red Wings (Lost 5-1)
7-Feb-16           Vs Oilers (Won 8-1)
9-Feb-16           @ Blue Jackets (Won 3-2 (SO))
11-Feb-16         Vs Kings (Won 5-2)
13-Feb-16         @ Hurricanes (Lost 6-3)
15-Feb-16         Vs Red Wings
18-Feb-16         Vs Capitals
19-Feb-16         @ Devils
23-Feb-16         @ Wild
25-Feb-16         @ Flames
28-Feb-16         @ Oilers
1-Mar-16           @ Canucks
3-Mar-16           @ Jets
6-Mar-16           @ Rangers
8-Mar-16           Vs Penguins
9-Mar-16           @ Maple Leafs
12-Mar-16          @ Bruins
14-Mar-16          Vs Panthers
15-Mar-16          @ Penguins
17-Mar-16          @ Predators
19-Mar-16          @ Stars

The Shots:
Isles         7-10-9=26
Carolina   16-12-3=31
 
Home and Road
The Islanders are 29-19-6 overall; 19-8-3 at home and 10-11-3 on the road. 
Carolina is 25-21-10 overall; 13-9-6 at home and 12-12-4 on the road.

Metropolitan Hockey Club, Inc.
The Isles are 10-5-2 in Division games and are 19-14-4 in games against other divisions. They are 4-10-2 vs. the Atlantic Division, 7-2-1 vs. the Central Division, and 8-2-1 vs. the Pacific Division. 
The Isles are 31-11-3 since the start of last season against the Met. 

How The West is Won
The Isles are 15-4-2 against the Western Conference, including 12-0-2 at home. The Isles have the most wins of any Eastern Conference team against the Western Conference (The Rangers, 13-7-1, have the 2nd highest win total).  The Isles have more wins against the West than 5 Western Conference teams.

In the Nets
Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves in the first 2 periods but falls to 13-12-4 on the season and 2-4-1 in his career vs. Carolina.  Thomas Greiss stopped all three shots he saw in the third period.
Cam Ward made 14 saves before leaving due to an injury late in the second period. Ward improves to 16-11-7 on the season and 19-4-3 vs. the Isles.  Eddie Lack made 9 saves in relief.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-2 on the power play, while Carolina was also 1-2.
The Isles are 19-5-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 10-14-3 when they do not.  The Isles are 8-9-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 21-10-5 when they do not. 

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number
The Isles are 25-3-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 4-16-6 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 11-6-6 in games decided by a single goal including 5-6-0 in regulation. They are 2-3 in games decided in overtime and are 4-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 5-4 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal
The Isles are 19-4-2 when they score first and are 10-15-4 when they allow the opening goal.   

Second to The One
Jack Capuano, the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history, is 194-167-52 behind the Islander bench.  Among the 9 New York area teams, only the Yankees' Joe Girardi has led his team longer than Capuano.  With 193 wins, Capuano has now won more games than any Islander other than Al Arbour has coached:

Most games coached (Islanders):
1.     Al Arbour 1,500
2.     Jack Capuano 413
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181
 
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 194
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74

Capuano is the 86th coach in NHL history to coach at least 400 games. He is tied-74th all-time with 194 wins with Bob Gainey, two fewer than Cecil Hart and Fred Creighton.

They Tweeted It
@IslesBlog Happy Birthday to #Isles #Mets pbp man Howie Rose! Let's hear @91Butch sing to him tonight! pic.twitter.com/JZTHRexuwz

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 2-4-3 on the front-end and 6-2-1 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.  The next back-to-back set will be on February 18th vs. Washington and February 19th in New Jersey.

Tired vs. Rested
·         The Isles are 3-1-0 when both teams played the night before.
·         The Isles are 4-3-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not.
·         The Isles are 3-1-1 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Travis Hamonic (22:51); Carolina: John-Michael Liles (23:18)
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (18-4-3), Johnny Boychuk (4-3-0), Calvin deHaan (1-3-1), Nick Leddy (5-7-2), John Tavares (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0)
John Tavares led the Isles forwards with 21:01 of ice-time.   Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (19-15-5), Ryan Strome (2-0-0), Kyle Okposo (1-2-1), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Frans Nielsen (3-0-0), Josh Bailey (2-0-0), Tied (1-1-0). 

Face-offs
Isles 25, Carolina 24 (51%). 
John Tavares won 11 of 17 for the Isles; Jay McClement won 4 of 5 for Carolina. 
The Isles won 15 of 24 draws in the first and third periods but won only 10 of 25 in the second period.
The Isles won 23 of 44 draws at even strength, 1 of 2 on the power play and 1 of 3 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters
Isles 31, Carolina 21.  Matt Martin led the Isles with 5 hits, extending his NHL-leading total to 263.  Martin has recorded at least 250 hits five times; he has five of the nine 250-hit seasons in club history. (Hits first recorded in 2005-06).

Fights
There were no fights.  Season total – 13 (Martin-7, Bernier, Boychuk, Leddy, Lee, Okposo, Strait).

Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 10 blocked shots, including three from Steve Bernier.

For the Corsi Crowd
All situations:  Isles 55, Carolina 50 (including 28-6 Isles in the third period).  5-on-5: Isles 46, Carolina 43.
The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks). 
 
Four Isles, including Anders Lee and Nikolay Kulemin led the team with a +7 5-on-5 Corsi rating; Lee and Kulemin also had a club-leading 65% Corsi For percentage. Jay McClement and Jacob Slavin led Carolina with a +4 5-on-5 Corsi rating.

Ironmen
·         Nikolay Kulemin -204 (68 for Maple Leafs and 136 for the Isles)
·         Brock Nelson  -189 (all for Isles)
·         Anders Lee -130 (all for Isles)

Missing Men
Adam Pelech and Eric Boulton are on injured reserve. Steve Bernier replaced Cal Clutterbuck (ill) in the lineup; it was Bernier's first appearance after being scratched in 18 straight games. Marek Zidlicky and JF Berube were scratched.
The Isles have lost 125 games this season due to injury/illness.

Missing a Piece (or two)
The Isles are 13-15-2 over the last two seasons in games in which they are missing Johnny Boychuk, Travis Hamonic or Nick Leddy, including 5-5-1 this season.  They are 5-4-1, including 2-1-1 this season, when two of the three miss a game.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)
1.     Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900
….
12. Kenny Jonsson 597 *** 13. Garry Howatt 596 *** 14. John Tonelli 594 *** 15. Frans Nielsen 579
20. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 21. Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 22. Josh Bailey 529 *** 23. Dave Lewis 514 *** 24. Mick Vukota 510*** 25. Rich Pilon 509 *** 26. Kyle Okposo 502 *** 27. Ed Westfall 493***28. John Tavares 483

Goals
1.     Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310
….
9. Derek King 211 *** 10. John Tonelli 206*** 11. John Tavares 195
16. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 17. Kyle Okposo 132 *** 18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Duane Sutter 121 *** 20. Alexei Yashin 119 *** 21. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 24. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 25. Frans Nielsen 114
Assists
1.     Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 ***
11. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 12. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 13. Billy Harris 259 *** 14. John Tavares 251 *** 15. Tomas Jonsson 249***16. Frans Nielsen 218 *** 17. Kyle Okposo 217
25. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 26. David Volek 154 *** 27. Josh Bailey 152
Points
1.     Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052
10. Derek King 499 *** 11. Pat Flatley 488 *** 12. John Tavares 446 ***13. Billy Harris 443 ***14. Stefan Persson 369 *** 15. Kyle Okposo 349 *** 
16. Pierre Turgeon 340***17. Tomas Jonsson 333 *** 18. Frans Nielsen 332
24 Jason Blake & Steve Thomas 258 *** 26. David Volek 249 *** 27. Josh Bailey 242

Season Series Stats
The Canes lead the season series 2 games to 0 and 4 points to 1.
The loss snapped an Isles three game winning streak in Carolina; the Isles have never won four straight road games vs. the Whalers/Hurricanes.
The teams will play a home-and-home series in late March to conclude the season series.

On The Farm
Andrew Rowe recorded a hat trick Bridgeport extended their winning streak to eight games with a 7-3 win over Hartford on Saturday night. Bridgeport is 27-19-2-1 on the season; the Sound Tigers host Albany on Sunday with an opportunity to tie the team's all-time win streak record (9).

Up Next
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15th –DETROIT AT ISLANDERS 1:00PM
[MSG+ (Pre-game at 12:30), 91.5 WNYE-FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Isles return home for two games before heading off on a season-long seven game road trip as they face Detroit for the final time this (regular) season in a President's Day matinee.
Detroit defeated the Isles 4-2 in Brooklyn in the final game before the All-Star break; the Isles also suffered a 5-1 loss to the Wings in a matinee in Detroit on February 6th
The Red Wings haven't swept a season series from the Isles since they went 6-0-1-1 vs. the Isles in a 5-season span from 1999-2000 to 2003-2004.

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

No comments: