The Skinny: Florida 3, Isles 1

"The Skinny"   

By Eric Hornick

 

Eastern Conference First Round Game 2

Florida 3, Isles 1 (Series Tied 1-1))

Reilly Smith and Nick Bjugstad each had a goal and an assist as the Florida Panthers built a 2-0 lead and held on to defeat the Isles 3-1 in the second game of their Eastern Conference First Round Playoff Series before a crowd of 18,373 at BB&T Center.

 

John Tavares had the only goal for the Islanders, just as they had pulled goaltender Thomas Greiss for a 6^th attacker.

 

Game 3 of the series is Sunday night in Brooklyn.

 

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD

04:32    FLA      Reilly Smith (3) Wrist shot - ASST: Nick Bjugstad (2), Jonathan Huberdeau (1) 1 - 0 FLA         

 

2ND PERIOD

06:17    FLA      Nick Bjugstad (1) Snap shot - ASST: Reilly Smith (2), Dmitry Kulikov (2)  2 - 0 FLA     

 

3RD PERIOD

16:27    NYI      John Tavares (2) Wrist shot - ASST: Nick Leddy (2), Kyle Okposo (2)      2 - 1 FLA

19:50    FLA      EN - Dmitry Kulikov (1) Snap shot - ASST: Aleksander Barkov (1)            3 - 1 FLA

 

The Series

Game 1: Isles 5, Florida 4

Game 2: Florida 3, Isles 1

Game 3 @ Isles Sunday 8:00

Game 4 @ Isles Wednesday 8:00

Game 5 @ Florida Friday (time TBA)

Game 6 @ Isles (if necessary) April 24

Game 7 @ Florida (if necessary) April 26

 

The Skinny

Reilly Smith has three goals and 2 assists in the series; he has 3 goals and six assists in 9 career regular season games against the Isles… The Isles fired 42 shots on Roberto Luongo, matching their most since they had 44 vs. Toronto in game 3 in 2002…The Isles are 10-19 all-time in game 2's played on the road and 27-23 in game 2's overall… The Isles held Jaromir Jagr without a point; Jagr has 16 assists, but no goals, in his last 33 playoff games…John Tavares goal, officially a 6^th attacker goal, gives him a goal in consecutive games in this series and in the last 6 games (including regular season) that he has played…Tavares had 9 shots on goal, becoming the first Isle to do so in a playoff game since Alexei Yashin (4-28-02, game 6 vs. Toronto); Tavares has twice in his career had 9 shots on goal in a regular season game… The Isles have not led a series 2-0 since the 1983 Stanley Cup Final, when they swept Edmonton in 4 games. Since then, they have led a series 1-0 six times but lost game two on all six occasions, including the last two years… Dmitry Kulkov hit the empty-net to give the Cats three players with two points in the game

 

Point Per Game Man

John Tavares now has 15 points in 15 career playoff games; he is the only Islanders other than Mike Bossy (1.24 points per game) to play more than two playoff games for the Isles and average at least 1.00 points per game.  (Bryan Trottier had 170 points in 175 games, falling just shy of 1.00.)

 

With 7 goals in those 15 games, only Bossy (.66) and Ray Ferraro (.64) have averaged more goals per playoff game as an Islander than Tavares (.47) [Minimum 5 goals]

 

Playoffs All-time

The Isles fall to 140-115 in 255 all-time playoff games.  They are 80-41 at home and 60-74 on the road. The Isles were 77-32 in home playoff games from 1975 to 2002, but won only three of their last 12 home games at Nassau Coliseum.

Home Sweet Home

The Isles went 25-11-5 on home-ice (55 points).  It's the first time since 1983-84 and 1984-85 that the Isles have earned at least 52 points at home in consecutive seasons.

 

Road Warriors

The Isles finished their road schedule with a record of 20-16-5. It's the 10^th time in franchise history that the Isles have won 20 road games in a season. 

 

The Shots

Isles     11-16-15=42

Florida 13-10-8=31

 

Shots by Game

·        Game 1: Isles 26, Florida 46

·        Game 2: Isles 42, Florida 31

·        Total:  Isles 68, Florida 77

 

By Division (Regular Season)

The Isles are 18-8-4 in Division games and are 27-19-6 in games against other divisions. They are 8-12-4 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 the record of an Eastern team vs. the West. 

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 28 saves but falls to 1-1 in the series.

Roberto Luongo made 41 saves to record his first playoff win since game 5 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final.  Luongo is 33-32 in his playoff career.

Power Plays

In the game, the Islanders were 0-3 on the power play, while Florida was 0-1.

For the series, the Isles are 1-5 on the power play, while Florida is 1-4.

In the regular season, the Isles were 27-5-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 18-22-6 when they do not.  The Isles are 13-13-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 32-14-7 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 1-0 in the playoffs when scoring at least 3 goals and are 0-1 when they do not.

In the regular season, the Isles were 37-4-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 8-23-8 when they did not. 

One Goal Games

The Isles are 1-1 in playoff games decided by a single goal.

The Isles went 21-6-10 in regular season games decided by a single goal including 10-6-0 in regulation. They were 6-5 in games decided in overtime and are 5-5 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 0-0 in playoff games when they score first and are 1-1 when they allow the opening goal.

The Isles were 29-7-5 in the regular season when they scored first and were 16-20-5 when they allowed the opening goal.   

Coach Cappy

Jack Capuano is now 6-9 in playoff games behind the Islander bench.  Among the 9 New York area teams, only the Yankees' Joe Girardi has led his team longer than Capuano. 

Capuano is only the 2^nd coach to lead three Islander teams to the playoffs, joining Al Arbour.

Most playoff wins by Islander coaches:

·        Al Arbour 123

·        Terry Simpson 9

·        Jack Capuano 6

·        Peter Laviolette 4

·        Ted Nolan 1

·        Steve Stirling 1

Most playoff games coached (Islanders):

·        Al Arbour 209

·        Terry Simpson 20

·        Jack Capuano 15

·        Peter Laviolette 12

·        Steve Stirling 5

·        Ted Nolan 5

Most playoff series wins:

·        Al Arbour 29

·        Terry Simpson 1

Most overtime wins/overtime record:

·        Al Arbour 26 (26-9)

·        Terry Simpson 3 (3-0)

·        Jack Capuano 1 (1-3)

·        Peter Laviolette 0 (0-1)

·        Steve Stirling 0 (0-1)

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (25:11); Florida: Erik Gudbranson (24:04)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Nick Leddy (1-1)

John Tavares and Frans Nielsen led the forwards with 20:18 of ice time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (1-0), Tie (0-1)

Face-offs

Isles 27, Florida 36 (43%)

John Tavares won 10 of 18 for the Isles but his teammates won only 17 of 45; Rocco Grimaldi won 5 of 6 for Florida (and has won 15 of 17 in the series).

The Isles won 50% of the draws in the first and third periods but only 6 of 21 in the middle period.

The Isles won 21 of 55 draws at even strength, 4 of 5 on the power play and 2 of 3 on the penalty kill.

Face-offs Game by Game:

·        Game 1: Isles 34, Florida 32

·        Game 2: Isles 27, Florida 36

·        Series: Isles 61, Florida 68

Heavy Hitters

Isles 32, Florida 22.  Johnny Boychuk led the Isles with six hits.

Hits Game by Game:

·        Game 1: Isles 40, Florida 39

·        Game 2: Isles 32, Florida 22

·        Series: Isles 72: Florida 61

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      2015-2016        NYI      365

4          Matt Martin       2013-2014        NYI      359

5          Cal Clutterbuck 2008-2009        MIN      356

6          Cal Clutterbuck 2014-2015        NYI      343

7          Cal Clutterbuck 2010-2011        MIN      336

8          Cal Clutterbuck 2009-2010        MIN      318

 

Fights

There were no fights in the game and there have been no fights in the series.

Regular season total – 23 (Martin-11, Lee-3, Bernier, Boychuk, Cizikas, Hamonic, Leddy, Mayfield, Okposo, Pulock, Strait). 

Blocked Shots

The Isles were credited with 8 blocked shots, including two by Calvin deHaan and Ryan Pulock.

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

1              Brendan Witt                    2006-2007    207

2              Sean Hill                          2006-2007    202

3              Calvin de Haan                2015-2016    198

3              Andrew Mac Donald          2013-2014    198

5              Andrew Mac Donald          2011-2012    185

 

For the Corsi Crowd

All situations:  Isles 61, Florida 45 (Including 42-26 Isles in the final two periods)

5-on-5: Isles 51, Florida 39

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

Frans Nielsen and John Tavares each had a +19 5-on-5 Corsi rating; Nielsen led the squad with a 77% Corsi For percentage. Dmitri Kulikov led Florida with a +3 5-on-5 Corsi rating.

Corsi (All Situations) Game by Game:

·        Game 1: Isles 42, Florida 77

·        Game 2: Isles 61, Florida 45

·        Series: Isles 103, Florida 122

Corsi (5-on-5) Game by Game:

·        Game 1: Isles 37, Florida 68

·        Game 2: Isles 51, Florida 39

·        Series: Isles 88, Florida 107

Missing Men

Anders Lee

Brian Strait

Mikhail Grabovski

Christopher Gibson

Jaroslav Halak

Steve Bernier

Marek Zidlicky

 

On The Farm

Bracken Kearns scored the winning goal in the final minute as the Sound Tigers clinched a playoff berth with a 3-2 win in Portland.

 

Michael dalColle had two shots on go and went -1 in his first professional game.

 

Bridgeport is 40-27-4-3 and closes the regular season with a pair of 5:00 starts, on Saturday in Albany and at home vs. Providence on Sunday.

 

Up Next

ISLANDERS VS PANTHERS

GAME 3: SUNDAY, APRIL 17^th – FLORIDA AT ISLANDERS  8:00PM

[MSG/MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 7:30), WFAN 660, 88.7 WRHU-FM]

 

GAME 4: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20^th – FLORIDA AT ISLANDERS  8:00PM

[MSG/MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 7:30), WCBS 880, 88.7 WRHU-FM]

 

GAME 5: FRIDAY, APRIL 22ND – AT FLORIDA Time TBD

[MSG/MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at TBD), WCBS 880, 88.7 WRHU-FM]

 

GAME 6: IF NECESSARY: SUNDAY, APRIL 24TH – AT ISLANDERS Time TBD

GAME 7: IF NECESSARY: TUESDAY, APRIL 26^TH – AT FLORIDA Time TBD

 

The Isles will look to take a 2-1 lead in the series on Sunday night as Barclays Center hosts the first NHL playoff game in its history.

 

This is the 17^th time that the Isles have split the first two games of a series; they are 7-9 all-time in those series.

 

When a best-of-7 series is tied, 1-1, the Isles have gone 6-10 in game 3.  They have won 5 of the 6 series in which they win game 3, with the exception being last spring against Washington.

 

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