The Skinny: Isles 3, Ottawa 1

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick

 

Game 72

Islanders 3, Ottawa 1

The Isles scored three second period goals to break open a scoreless game and rode 22 saves from Jean-Francois Berube as they snapped a four-game winless streak with a 3-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators before a crowd of 13,837 at Barclays Center.

John Tavares, Matt Martin and Brock Nelson scored for the Isles, with the Martin/Nelson goals coming 21 seconds apart. 

With the win, the Isles climb within one point of third place Penguins and move four points ahead of the fifth place Flyers. All three teams have ten games to play.

The Isles magic number for clinching a playoff spot falls to 15.

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD

NONE

 

2ND PERIOD

05:24    NYI      John Tavares (27) ASST: Josh Bailey (17), Calvin de Haan (10)  1 - 0 NYI           

14:28    NYI      Matt Martin (8) ASST: Travis Hamonic (15), Nick Leddy (32)        2 - 0 NYI           

14:49    NYI      Brock Nelson (24) ASST: Shane Prince (10), Anders Lee (21)     3 - 0 NYI           

 

3RD PERIOD

06:21    OTT     Mark Stone (23) ASST: Erik Karlsson (62), Ryan Dzingel (4)       3 - 1 NYI

The Skinny

The Isles scored first for the first time in 7 games (March 9^th in Toronto) although they extended their first period scoreless streak to 131:52…The Isles have led after one period only once (3/6 at Rangers, 4-3) of the last 14 games…Each of the last three Isles games has been scoreless after 20 periods…John Tavares regained the team lead in points (57), breaking a tie with Kyle Okposo… The Isles are 7-1-1 in their last nine home games… Shane Prince's assist was his first as an Islander…Matt Martin matched his career high in goals…It was Martin's 40^th career goal, and nine have been game-winners.  Martin has at least one game-winning goal in each of his six full seasons… The Isles scored three goals in a 9:25 span after scoring only three goals in the prior 10 periods…The Isles improved to 26-2-2 when leading after two periods…The Sens are 3-10-0 on the second-half of back-to-backs…Bobby Ryan played in his 600^th NHL game…Nick Leddy's assist was his 37^th point of the season, tying his career high (also 2011-12 and 2014-15).

 

Movin' On Up

Frans Nielsen played his 597^th game as an Islander, passing Garry Howatt and tying Kenny Jonsson for 12^th place among skaters on the all-time Islander list.

Josh Bailey played in his 547^th assist, tying Duane Sutter for 17^th place on the Isles' all-time list. His assist on Tavares' goal was his 154^th as an Islander, tying David Volek for 26^th place on the Isles all-time list.

Most Points in The Post-Cup Era through 72 games

·        90 in 2014-15

·        87 in 2015-16

·        82 in 1985-86

Home Sweet Home

The Isles are 22-9-4 on home-ice (48 points), matching their most points through 34 games in the last 30 years (48 in 1987-88; 50 in 1984-85). They are once again 13 games over-.500 at home, matching a season high.

The Isles have clinched an above NHL-.500 finish at home.  It is the first time since 2005-06 and 2006-07 that the Isles have recorded successive home seasons above NHL-.500.

Road Warriors

The Isles are 17-15-5 on the road this season.  In the Post-Cup era, the Isles have earned more than 39 points in the first 37 road games only twice (44 in first 37 on road last season and 40 in first 37 in 2001-02).

 

The Shots:

Isles       5-13-5=23

Ottawa   10-8-5=23

 

This was the sixth time this season that the shots finished exactly even (5-1-0). The Isles did not finish with the same number of shots as their opponent in any game last season.

 

Home and Road

The Islanders are 39-24-9 overall; 22-9-4 at home and 17-15-5 on the road. 

Ottawa is 35-32-8 overall; 20-13-5 at home and 14-19-3 on the road.

 

By Division

The Isles are 13-6-4 in Division games and are 26-18-5 in games against other divisions. They are 7-11-3 vs. the Atlantic Division, 9-4-1 vs. the Central Division, and 10-3-1 vs. the Pacific Division. 

 

How The West Was Won

The Isles went 19-7-2 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 and are guaranteed to finish with at least the 2^nd-best record of an Eastern team vs. the West.  (Washington is 15-5-3 and still has five games left against the West)

In the Nets

JF Berube made 22 saves to improve to 2-1-1 on the season; Berube, who has stopped 55 of 57 shots in his last two starts (1-0-1, 0.96 GAA, 96.4 save %) is 2-0-1 in his last three starts. It was his first career appearance against Ottawa.

Andrew Hammond made 20 saves but fall to 5-9-4; Hammond is 1-2-0 in his career against the Isles,

Power Plays

The Islanders were 0-3 on the power play, while Ottawa was 0-1.

The Isles power play is 1-13 over their last eight games (2-4-2).

The Isles are 23-5-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 16-19-5 when they do not.  The Isles are 12-11-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 27-13-6 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 32-3-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 7-21-8 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 17-6-9 in games decided by a single goal including 9-6-0 in regulation. They are 4-4 in games decided in overtime and are 4-5 in shootouts.  The Isles are 6-5 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal

The Isles are 26-5-4 when they score first and are 13-19-5 when they allow the opening goal.   

Second to The One

Jack Capuano, the 2^nd winningest coach in Islander history, is 204-172-55 behind the Islander bench.  Among the 9 New York area teams, only the Yankees' Joe Girardi has led his team longer than Capuano. 

Most games coached (Islanders):

1.      Al Arbour 1,500

2.      Jack Capuano 431

3.      Mike Milbury 191

4.      Terry Simpson 187

5.      Scott Gordon 181

 

Most wins by Islander coaches:

1.      Al Arbour 740

2.      Jack Capuano 204

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. His 204 wins is now tied-69th all-time with Gerry Cheevers and Todd Richards.

They Tweeted It

@Jay_Cinematic Just re-watched closely @JRouby's game tonight...another solid outing! ✊ #isles

@islesdave Nice win @JRouby. A bullpen session might be in order. Need to work on that throwing arm. #Isles

@brklynisles Going to be interesting to see if this win carries over for the #Isles.   Just keep on winning, remember this WINNING feeling

 

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 4-4-4 on the front-end and 7-2-3 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.  The next back-to-back set will on March 25^th in Tampa Bay and March 26^th in Carolina.

 

Tired vs. Rested

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

·        The Isles are 6-3-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not.

·        The Isles are 4-1-3 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (24:50); Ottawa: Erik Karlsson (29:00)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (23-6-6), Johnny Boychuk (5-3-0), Calvin deHaan (2-3-1), Nick Leddy (7-9-2), John Tavares (0-2-0), Tied (0-1-0)

John Tavares led the forwards with 20:13 of ice time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (27-18-8), Ryan Strome (2-0-0), Kyle Okposo (2-3-1), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Frans Nielsen (4-0-0), Josh Bailey (2-0-0), Tied (1-2-0). 

Face-offs

Isles 28 Ottawa 31 (47%)

Brock Nelson won 8 of 12 for the Isles; Mika Zibanejad won 13 of 21 for Ottawa. 

The Isles won 12 of 19 in the second period but only 16 of 40 in the other two periods.

The Isles won 22 of 49 draws at even strength, 4 of 6 on the power play and 2 of 4 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters

Isles 12, Ottawa 18. Matt Martin led the Isles with five hits, extending his NHL-leading total to 342.  It's the 4^th time in his career that he has recorded 300 hits and the 13^th time in NHL history a player has had at least 300 hits, tying Cal Clutterbuck's NHL-record for 300-hit seasons (Hits first recorded in 2005-06).

Most Hits in a Season (since 2005-06):

1          Matt Martin       2014-2015        NYI      382

2          Matt Martin       2011-2012        NYI      374

3          Matt Martin       2013-2014        NYI      359

4          Cal Clutterbuck 2008-2009        MIN      356

5          Cal Clutterbuck 2014-2015        NYI      343

6          Matt Martin      2015-2016        NYI      342

7          Cal Clutterbuck 2010-2011        MIN      336

8          Cal Clutterbuck 2009-2010        MIN      318

Martin needs 15 hits in the final ten games to hold the top four spots and needs 41 hits in the final ten games to break his own NHL record

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 19 (Martin-10, Lee-2, Bernier, Boychuk, Cizikas, Hamonic, Leddy, Okposo, Strait).

Blocked Shots

The Isles were credited with 13 blocked shots, including four from Calvin deHaan.

Most Blocked Shots by an Islander (since 2005-2006)

1              Brendan Witt                   2006-2007    207

2              Sean Hill                         2006-2007    202

3              Andrew Mac Donald       2013-2014    198

4              Andrew Mac Donald       2011-2012    185

5              Calvin de Haan               2015-2016    172

6              Tom Poti                          2006-2007    170

For the Corsi Crowd

All situations:  Isles 48, Ottawa 39.  5-on-5: Isles 39, Ottawa 30.

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

 

Johnny Boychuk led the Isles with a +8 5-on-5 Corsi rating; Kyle Okposo had a club-leading 77% Corsi For percentage. Marc Methot led Ottawa with a +7 5-on-5 Corsi rating.

Ironmen

Five Islanders have played every game this season:

·        Nikolay Kulemin -222 consecutive games (68 for Maple Leafs and 154 for the Isles)

·        Anders Lee - 148 (all for Isles)

·        Nick Leddy – 82 (all for Isles)

·        Matt Martin – 72 (all for Isles)

·        Frans Nielsen – 72 (all for Isles)

Missing Men

Adam Pelech is on injured reserve. Other injured players: Jaroslav Halak, Mikhail Grabovski and Marek Zidlicky. Ryan Pulock replaced Brian Strait in the lineup.  Steve Bernier and Eric Boulton were scratched.

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

….

11. Stefan Persson 622 *** 12. Kenny Jonsson and Frans Nielsen 597 *** 14. Garry Howatt 596 *** 15. John Tonelli 594*** 16. Ken Morrow 550 *** 17. Duane Sutter and Josh Bailey 547 *** 19. Lorne Henning 543 ***20. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 21. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 22. Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 23. Kyle Okposo 519*** 24. Dave Lewis 514 *** 25. Mick Vukota 510 *** 26. Rich Pilon 509 *** 27. John Tavares 501

Goals

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

….

9. Derek King 211 *** 10. John Tonelli 206*** 11. John Tavares 201

…

16. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 17. Kyle Okposo 137 *** 18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Duane Sutter 121 *** 20. Alexei Yashin 119 *** 21. Frans Nielsen, Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson, and Steve Thomas 118

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 257*** 15. Tomas Jonsson 249***16. Frans Nielsen 225 *** 17. Kyle Okposo 223

…

25. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 26. David Volek and Josh Bailey 154

Points

1.      Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052

…

10. Derek King 499 *** 11. Pat Flatley 488 *** 12. John Tavares 458***13. Billy Harris 443 ***

14. Stefan Persson 369 *** 15. Kyle Okposo 360 *** 16. Frans Nielsen 343

…

24 Jason Blake & Steve Thomas 258 *** 26. David Volek 249 *** 27. Josh Bailey 247

Season Series Stats

The Isles win the season series two games to one and five points to two.

This was the Sens' first regulation loss to the Isles in New York since a 5-3 Islander win on February 5, 2011.

 

On The Farm

The Sound Tigers' five-game winning streak ended on Wednesday with a 6-3 loss to Portland. Bridgeport is 36-24-3-3 on the season and are now two points behind Providence for 3^rd place in the Atlantic Division.  Bridgeport visits Hartford Friday in their only game this weekend.

Up Next

FRIDAY, MARCH 25th–ISLANDERS AT TAMPA BAY 7:30PM

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

 

It's been nearly four months since the Isles defeated Tampa Bay 3-2 on Thanksgiving weekend in the only meeting of the teams so far this season.  The Isles, who trailed 2-0 in that game, rallied on goal by Josh Bailey and Cal Clutterbuck in the second period to tie the game; John Tavares scored the winning goal with 3:36 to play.

 

The teams will now meet twice in 11 days to finish the regular season series, including Friday's battle at Amalie Arena.

 

The Isles have won three straight overall from Tampa Bay, and will be looking for their longest winning streak against the Bolts since winning five straight from Tampa in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons.

 

The Lightning are currently tied with Florida for the Atlantic Division lead; Tampa holds the tie-breaker.

 

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 http://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