The Skinny: Isles 8, Edmonton 1

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick

Game 51  

Isles 8, Edmonton 1

It was a Super Sunday for the Islanders as Kyle Okposo recorded his second career hat trick and matched a career high with 4 points as the Isles rebounded from their loss in Detroit with an 8-1 annihilation of the Edmonton Oilers before a crowd of 14,030 at Barclays Center.

The Isles scored 8 goals in a game for the first time since the 9-3 "Fight Night" win over the Penguins on February 11, 2011.  The Isles recorded a victory by 7+ goals for the first time since defeating Chicago 9-2 at the United Center on March 25, 2003 and for the first time at home since defeating Edmonton 8-1 on January 22, 1997.

It's the first time any NHL team has scored eight goals since Los Angeles scored 8, also vs. Edmonton, on April 2, 2015.

The win pushed the Isles back into third place in the Metropolitan Division, three points behind the Rangers.

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD

02:57    NYI       Johnny Boychuk (4) ASST: Nick Leddy (18), Cal Clutterbuck (4)   1 - 0 NYI          

09:12    NYI       John Tavares (19) ASST: Ryan Strome (14), Thomas Hickey (6)   2 - 0 NYI          

11:24    NYI       Nikolay Kulemin (6) ASST: Frans Nielsen (17), Kyle Okposo (26)  3 - 0 NYI          

2ND PERIOD

02:32    NYI       PPG - Kyle Okposo (13) ASST: Nick Leddy (19), John Tavares (20)         4 - 0 NYI          

06:09    NYI       Kyle Okposo (14) ASST: Frans Nielsen (18)        5 - 0 NYI          

06:50    EDM     Connor McDavid (7) ASST: NONE          5 - 1 NYI          

09:36    NYI       Josh Bailey (9) ASST: Anders Lee (15), Nick Leddy (20)  6 - 1 NYI

16:04    NYI       Cal Clutterbuck (11) ASST: Casey Cizikas (11)    7 - 1 NYI          

3RD PERIOD

07:27    NYI       PPG - Kyle Okposo (15) ASST: John Tavares (21), Calvin de Haan (8) 8 - 1 NYI

The Skinny:

The Isles are 9-10-1 in their last 20; they have outscored opponents 45-20 in the 9 wins (9-0-0), but have been outscored 37-12 in the 11 losses (0-10-1)… The Isles have outscored their opponents 57-42 in the third period this season, including 15-4 over the last nine games…The Isles improved to 2-2-2 in afternoon games this season and 6-8-4 over the past three seasons...Nick Leddy matched a career high with 3 points as he recorded his first career 3 assist game; Leddy now has 10 assists in 14 career games against Edmonton…John Tavares is 4-5-9 in his last 6 games…Johnny Boychuk's goal was his first in his last 24 games, since November 10 vs. San Jose…Josh Bailey scored for the 2^nd time in three games…Nikolay Kulemin scored for the first time since December 31^st in Buffalo…It's the first time since February 24, 2015 that the Isles won a game by at least 4 goals (5-1 vs. Arizona) after losing the previous game by at least 4 goals (0-4 to Vancouver)…The Isles have scored at least five goals in each of their last three wins – it's the first time that they had done that (excluding SO winners) since March 27-April 5, 2012…Kyle Okposo regained the team lead in points (41), one ahead of John Tavares (40).  It's the 5^th time Okposo has recorded 40 points in a season and the 7^th time Tavares has done so.  Tavares is the first Islander since Derek King to record 7 40-point seasons.

Kyle Time

Kyle Okposo career hat tricks:

1/16/15 vs. Pittsburgh (4 goals)

2/7/16 vs. Edmonton (3 goals)

Kyle Okposo career 4-point games:

1/16/15 vs. Pittsburgh (4-0-4)

2/7/16 vs. Edmonton (3-1-4)

Okposo scored two power play goals in a game for the first time in his career. The last Islander to score twice on the power play in a game was John Tavares, on January 6, 2014 vs. Dallas.

Lots of + and –

Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk each went +4; it was the second time that the two players went +4 in the same game (1/19/15 vs. Philadelphia).  Former Islander Griffin Reinhart was -4 for Edmonton.

2 Isles Defensemen with +4 rating in same game (Last 3 times)

·         Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk 2/7/16 vs. Edmonton

·         Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk 1/19/15 vs. Philadelphia

·         Roman Hamrlik and Radek Martinek 10/10/01 at Pittsburgh

First Times in a Ridiculously Long Time

Nick Leddy is the first Islander defenseman to record 3 assists and go +4 in the same game since Barry Richter did so on 1/26/99 vs. Boston. No other Islander defenseman has done that in at least the last 29 years.

Kyle Okposo is the first Islander with a hat trick against the Oilers since Pierre Turgeon did so in a 5-5 tie in Edmonton on November 22, 1992.

Lucky 13

Thirteen Islanders had points and 13 Islanders had plus ratings.

How The West is Won

The Isles improved to 14-4-2 against the Western Conference. The Isles have the most wins of any Eastern Conference team against the Western Conference (The Rangers, 13-7-1, have the 2^nd highest win total).  The Isles have more wins against the West than 5 Western Conference teams.

Home Sweet Home

The Isles are 17-8-3 on home-ice (37 points).  In the past 28 seasons, the Isles have earned more than 37 points in the first 28 home games only twice (42 in first 28 at home last season and 39 in 28 in 2003-04).

Road Warriors

This was the third game of a 22 game stretch in which the Isles will play 16 games on the road.  The Isles are 1-2-0 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

11-Feb-16         Vs        Kings

13-Feb-16         @         Hurricanes

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            16-9-6=31

Edmonton   7-10-14=31

Home and Road

The Islanders are 27-18-6 overall; 18-8-3 at home and 9-10-3 on the road. 

Edmonton is 21-28-5 overall; 14-10-1 at home and 7-18-4 on the road.   

Metropolitan Hockey Club, Inc.

The Isles are 9-4-2 in Division games and are 18-14-4 in games against other divisions. They are 4-10-2 vs. the Atlantic Division, 7-2-1 vs. the Central Division, and 7-2-1 vs. the Pacific Division. 

The Isles are 30-10-3 since the start of last season against the Met. 

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 30 saves to improve to 14-6-2 on the season. Greiss has now won his last three games (1/3 vs Dallas, 1/12 vs CBJ and today) as he improves to 3-0-2 all-time vs. Edmonton.  It was his 50^th career NHL win.

Former Islander Anders Nilsson made 7 saves in the first 11:24 before being replaced by former Ranger Cam Talbot.  Talbot allowed 5 goals on 21 shots.  Nilsson falls to 10-12-2 on the season in his first career appearance against the Isles.

Power Plays

The Islanders were 2-4 on the power play, while Edmonton was 0-1. 

The Isles are 17-4-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 10-14-3 when they do not.  The Isles are 8-8-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 19-10-5 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 23-2-0 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 10-6-6 in games decided by a single goal including 5-6-0 in regulation. They are 2-3 in games decided in overtime and are 3-3 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 17-4-2 when they score first and are 10-14-4 when they allow the opening goal.   

Second to The One

Jack Capuano, the 2^nd winningest coach in Islander history, is 192-166-52 behind the Islander bench.  Among the 9 New York area teams, only the Yankees' Joe Girardi has led his team longer than Capuano.  With 192 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 410

3.     Mike Milbury 191

4.     Terry Simpson 187

5.     Scott Gordon 181

Most wins by Islander coaches:

1.     Al Arbour 740

2.     Jack Capuano 192

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 75th all-time with 1912 wins, two fewer than Bob Gainey and four fewer than Cecil Hart and Fred Creighton.

They Tweeted It

@BillyFitzz So you're telling me the #Panthers only scored two more points today than the #Isles scored goals? #SB50

@CerinaLeone That big group hug, with Okposo in the center is the reason why I love this team so much. @NYIslanders #Isles 🔶🔷

@thefredelement #isles happy to give up that hat!

Back-to-Backs

Including today, 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 18^th vs. Washington and February 19^th in New Jersey.

Tired vs. Rested

·         The Isles are 3-1-0 when both teams played the night before.

·         The Isles are 4-2-0 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 (23:20); Edmonton: Brandon Davidson (25:01)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (17-3-3), Johnny Boychuk (4-3-0), Calvin deHaan (1-3-1), Nick Leddy (4-7-2), John Tavares (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0)

John Tavares led the Isles forwards with 19:04 of ice-time.   Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (17-14-5), 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 34, Edmonton 31 (52%). 

Frans Nielsen won 10 of 16 for the Isles; Matt Hendricks won 9 of 14 for Edmonton. 

The Isles won at least 50% of the face-offs in each period.

The Isles won 31 of 55 draws at even strength, 1 of 8 on the power play and 2 of 2 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters

Isles 21, Edmonton 18.  Matt Martin led the Isles with 6 hits, extending his NHL-leading total to 247.  Martin has recorded at least 200 hits in six straight seasons.

Fights

Brian Strait battled Zack Kassian in the second period in his first NHL fight; Matt Martin fought Eric Gryba in the third period.  Season total – 13 (Martin-7, Bernier, Boychuk, Leddy, Lee, Okposo, Strait).

Blocked Shots

The Isles were credited with 8 blocked shots.

For the Corsi Crowd

All situations:  Isles 52, Edmonton 46.  5-on-5: Isles 39, Edmonton 37.

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

Nick Leddy led the Isles with a +9 5-on-5 Corsi rating; Leddy also had a club-leading 67% Corsi For percentage. Mark Fayne led Edmonton with a +7 5-on-5 Corsi rating.

Ironmen

·         Nikolay Kulemin -201 (68 for Maple Leafs and 133 for the Isles)

·         Brock Nelson  -186 (all for Isles)

·         Anders Lee -127 (all for Isles)

Missing Men

Adam Pelech and Eric Boulton are on injured reserve. Brian Strait replaced Marek Zidlicky in the lineup; Steve Bernier and JF Berube were scratched.

The Isles have lost 118 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 576

…

20. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 21. Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 22. Josh Bailey 526 *** 23. Dave Lewis 514 *** 24. Mick Vukota 510*** 25. Rich Pilon 509 *** 26. Kyle Okposo 499 *** 27. Ed Westfall 493***28. John Tavares 480

Goals

1.     Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310

….

9. Derek King 211 *** 10. John Tonelli 206*** 11. John Tavares 193

…

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. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 15. John Tavares 248 *** 16. Frans Nielsen 216 *** 17. Kyle Okposo 214

…

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. Billy Harris 443 *** 13. John Tavares 441 ***

14. Stefan Persson 369 *** 15. Kyle Okposo 346 *** 16. Pierre Turgeon 340

17. Tomas Jonsson 333 *** 18. Ziggy Palffy 331 *** 19. Frans Nielsen 330

…

24 Jason Blake & Steve Thomas 258 *** 26. David Volek 249 *** 27. Josh Bailey 242

Season Series Stats

The Isles lead the season series 1 game to 0 and 2 points to 0.  The teams will meet again on February 28^th in Edmonton.

The Isles have won nine straight at home over Edmonton. The last Oiler win vs. the Isles in New York was on December 14, 1999; Oiler rookie phenom Connor McDavid was a month shy of his third birthday.

On The Farm

Christopher Gibson made 30 saves as Bridgeport extended their winning streak to six games with a 3-2 win over Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Saturday night. Bridgeport is 25-19-2-1 on the season; the Sound Tigers visit Hershey on Wednesday.

Up Next

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9^th –ISLANDERS AT COLUMBUS 2:00PM

[MSG+2 (Pre-game at 6:30), 91.5 WNYE-FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

The Isles will look for their third win of the season at Nationwide Arena as they head to Columbus on Tuesday.  The Isles are 3-0-0 vs. the Jackets this season, outscoring Columbus 12-4.

The Isles had won only twice in 12 previous trips to Columbus before defeating the Jackets in Ohio on both October 20 and December 12.

Kyle Okposo will play in his 500^th NHL/Islander game.

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