"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 71
Brandon Manning's first NHL goal broke a 1-1 tie midway through the second period and that turned out to be the winning goal as the Philadelphia Flyers closed within three points of the Isles with a 4-1 victory before a crowd of 14,329 at Barclays Center.
The Isles have lost three consecutive games in regulation for first time in 3 months [December 15th – December 19th (0-3-0) and are winless in four games for the first time in over a year (March 10- March 17 2015, 0-4-0).
The Isles magic number for clinching a playoff spot remains 19. The Isles remain three points behind Pittsburgh and are now just three points ahead of Philadelphia.
The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
NONE
2ND PERIOD
02:24 PHI Nick Cousins (6) ASST: Jakub Voracek (39) 1 - 0 PHI
03:54 NYI Kyle Okposo (20) ASST: Calvin de Haan (9) 1 - 1 Tie
13:01 PHI Brandon Manning (1) ASST: Andrew MacDonald (5), Mark Streit (15) 2 - 1 PHI
3RD PERIOD
04:22 PHI Sam Gagner (8) ASST: Sean Couturier (23), Michael Raffl (15) 3 - 1 PHI
19:33 PHI EN - Claude Giroux (19) ASST: Wayne Simmonds (25), Brayden Schenn (25) 4 - 1 PHI
The Skinny:
Brandon Manning's first NHL goal came in his 66th NHL game (45th this season) …The Isles allowed the first goal for the sixth straight game…The Isles have led after one period only once (3/6 at Rangers, 4-3) of the last 13 12 games…Kyle Okposo reached the 20 goal mark for the third time in his career; the Isles had gone 101:59 without a goal before his tally…John Tavares played in his 500th NHL game; Tavares, the only 2009 draftee to score 200 goals, 250 assists and 450 points, is also the first to play 500 games…The loss snapped a 7-game Isles point streak ( 6-0-1) at home; it was their longest single season point streak at home since November/December 2014…The Flyers are "flying", having gone 6-1-1 in their last 8 and 9-2-1 in their last 12 games…Former Islander Andrew MacDonald was a career-best +4 for the Flyers; Brock Nelson went -4 for the Isles. Nelson is the first Islander forward to go -4 since John Tavares and Josh Bailey both did so on March 17, 2015 in Chicago.
Movin' On Up
Frans Nielsen played his 596th game as an Islander, tying Garry Howatt for 13th place among skaters on the all-time Islander list.
Most Points in The Post-Cup Era through 71 games
· 90 in 2014-15
· 85 in 2015-16
· 81 in 2001-02
Home Sweet Home
The Isles are 21-9-4 on home-ice (46 points), matching their most points through 33 games in the last 30 years (46 last season; 48 in 1984-85).
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 8-9-7=24
Philadelphia 6-12-9=27
Home and Road
The Islanders are 38-24-9 overall; 21-9-4 at home and 17-15-5 on the road.
Philadelphia is 35-24-12 overall; 19-10-7 at home and 16-14-5 on the road.
By Division
The Isles are 13-6-4 in Division games and are 25-18-5 in games against other divisions. They are 6-11-3 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 2nd-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
Thomas Greiss made 23 saves but falls to 19-10-4 on the season; he has lost three straight for the first time as an Islander is personal two-game losing streak matches a season high. He is 2-2-1 in his career against Philadelphia.
Steve Mason made 23 saves as he improves to 18-16-8; Mason, who is 5-1-1 in his last 7 games, is now 7-2-3 in his career against the Isles, including two shutouts.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-3 on the power play, while Philadelphia was 0-4.
The Isles power play is 1-10 over their last seven games (1-4-2).
The Isles are 23-5-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 15-19-5 when they do not. The Isles are 12-11-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 26-13-6 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 31-3-1 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 25-5-4 when they score first and are 13-19-5 when they allow the opening goal.
Second to The One
Jack Capuano, the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history, is 203-172-55 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 430
3. Mike Milbury 191
4. Terry Simpson 187
5. Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1. Al Arbour 740
2. Jack Capuano 203
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 203 wins is now 71st all-time. (Tied/69 – Gerry Cheevers and Todd Richards 204)
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 25th in Tampa Bay and March 26th in Carolina.
Tired vs. Rested
· The Isles are 3-1-0 when both teams played the night before.
· The Isles are 5-3-0 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 (23:23); Philadelphia: Mark Streit (22:27)
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (23-6-6), Johnny Boychuk (5-3-0), Calvin deHaan (2-3-1), Nick Leddy (6-9-2), John Tavares (0-2-0), Tied (0-1-0)
John Tavares led the forwards with 20:50 of ice time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (26-18-8), 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 23 Philadelphia 27 (46%)
John Tavares won 9 of 14 for the Isles but his teammates won only 14 of 36; Claude Giroux won 18 of 23 for Philadelphia.
The Isles won 6 of 12 in the first period but only 17 of 38 in the final two periods.
The Isles won 18 of 39 draws at even strength, 3 of 4 on the power play and 2 of 7 on the penalty kill.
Heavy Hitters
Isles 27, Philadelphia 24. Nikolay Kulemin and Johnny Boychuk led the Isles with four hits while Matt Martin added three hits to extend his NHL-leading total to 337. It's the 4th time in his career that he has recorded 300 hits and the 13th 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).
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 15 blocked shots, including six from Calvin deHaan.
For the Corsi Crowd
All situations: Isles 54, Philadelphia 48. 5-on-5: Isles 40, Philadelphia 36.
The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks).
Nick Leddy led the Isles with a +10 5-on-5 Corsi rating; Leddy also had a club-leading 67% Corsi For percentage. Michael Raffl led Philadelphia with a +5 5-on-5 Corsi rating.
Ironmen
Five Islanders have played every game this season:
· Nikolay Kulemin -221 consecutive games (68 for Maple Leafs and 153 for the Isles)
· Anders Lee - 147 (all for Isles)
· Nick Leddy – 81 (all for Isles)
· Matt Martin – 71 (all for Isles)
· Frans Nielsen – 71 (all for Isles)
Missing Men
Adam Pelech is on injured reserve. Other injured players: Jaroslav Halak, Mikhail Grabovski and Marek Zidlicky. Ryan Pulock, 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 597 *** 13. Garry Howatt 596 and Frans Nielsen 596*** 15. John Tonelli 594*** 16. Ken Morrow 550 *** 17. Duane Sutter 547 *** 18. Josh Bailey 546 *** 19. Lorne Henning 543 ***20. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 21. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 22. Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 23. Kyle Okposo 518*** 24. Dave Lewis 514 *** 25. Mick Vukota 510 *** 26. Rich Pilon 509 *** 27. John Tavares 500
Goals
1. Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310
….
9. Derek King 211 *** 10. John Tonelli 206*** 11. John Tavares 200
…
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 154 *** 27. Josh Bailey 153
Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052
…
10. Derek King 499 *** 11. Pat Flatley 488 *** 12. John Tavares 457***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 246
Season Series Stats
The team have split the first four games of the season series; the Flyers have earned five points to the Isles' four.
It should be noted that the Isles' first home win does not count towards the head-to-head tie-breaker which means that should the teams finish tied in points and regulation/overtime wins, the Flyers own that tiebreaker.
The teams will conclude the season series, and the regular season, on April 10th in the makeup of the January 23rd snowout.
Despite the loss, the Isles are 6-3-0 in their last 9 games against Philadelphia; Philly's win snapped a 4-game losing streak in New York to the Isles.
On The Farm
Alan Quine scored the tying goal early in the third period and then assisted on Matt Finn's game-winning power play goal as the Sound Tigers defeated Albany 4-2 on Sunday. Bridgeport is 36-23-3-3 on the season and remain tied for 3rd place in the Atlantic Division with Providence; the Sound Tigers are just three points behind Wilkes Barre-Scranton and Hershey for the division lead. Bridgeport begins a road trip on Wednesday in Portland before visiting Hartford on Friday.
Up Next
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23rd–OTTAWA AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 6:30), 91.5 WNYE-FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Ottawa Senators make their first visit to Brooklyn as the Isles look to break their three-game losing streak and four-game winless streak.
The teams have already met twice in Ottawa; Erik Karlsson's overtime goal decided the first meeting while the Isles beat the Sens 5-2 in January as they rallied from a 2-1 deficit with four straight goals.
The Sens won 5 of their last 7 trips to Nassau Coliseum (Isles 2-5-0, Ottawa 5-0-2).
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
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