The Skinny: Isles 4, Rangers 1

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick

Game 80

Isles 4, Rangers 1

Shane Prince broke a scoreless tie in the second period and later added an assist as the Isles scored three goals in a 6:17 span to chase Henrik Lundqvist, and complete a season series sweep with a 4-1 victory over the Rangers before a sellout crowd of 18,006 at Madison Square Garden.

With the win, the Isles tie the Rangers in points (the Isles have two games to play and the Rangers just one) as they also clinched at least the top Wild Card.  The Isles will finish ahead of the Rangers if they earn more points in their two remaining games than the Rangers do in their one game.

The Isles are 6-1-0 in their last seven as they move 19 games over NHL-.500 for the first time this season.

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD

NONE

2ND PERIOD

13:28    NYI      Shane Prince (6) ASST: Marek Zidlicky (12), Steve Bernier (4)    1 - 0 NYI           

18:38    NYI      Casey Cizikas (8) ASST: Shane Prince (11), Brock Nelson (14)   2 - 0 NYI           

19:45    NYI      PPG - Frans Nielsen (20) ASST: John Tavares (37), Kyle Okposo (41)    3 - 0 NYI     

3RD PERIOD

17:12    NYR     Kevin Klein (9) ASST: Derek Stepan (31), Keith Yandle (42)        3 - 1 NYI           

19:28    NYI      EN - John Tavares (32) ASST: Kyle Okposo (42) 4 - 1 NYI          

The Skinny

John Tavares now has three consecutive multi-point games (3-5-8); Tavares' empty net goal was his 206^th, tying John Tonelli for 10^th place on the all-time Isles list…The Isles and Rangers have both made the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time since a 10-season span 1977-78 to 1986-87…The Isles have won 20 road games in three consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history…Matt Martin missed his first game of the season, ending his consecutive game streak at 79…Casey Cizikas (18 games) and Frans Nielsen (16 games) both ended long goal scoring droughts… Four of Cizikas' eight goals this season and 8 of his 29 career goals have been game-winning goals…Derek Stepan extended his point streak to 5 games with his late goal…Tavares, Nielsen and Kyle Okposo all extended point streaks to three...The Isles killed 12 of 13 Ranger power plays this season.

The Injury

Anders Lee suffered a lower body injury in the first period; he did not return for the 2^nd or 3^rd periods.  Lee, who was playing in his 156^th consecutive regular season game, has played every Islander regular season game since he was recalled from Bridgeport early last season.

Movin' On Up

Frans Nielsen tied Alexei Yashin for 20^th place on the Isles' goal list (119); he broke a four-way tie with Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson, and Steve Thomas at 118.

Greiss in Record Territory

Thomas Greiss stopped 36 of 37 saves, cementing his hold on the best save percentage in Islander history.

Player                         Season   SA    SV      SV%    MIN 
Thomas Greiss           2015-16    1188 1100   .926    2267 
Al Montoya               2010-11    585    539     .921    1154 
Wade Dubielewicz    2007-08    627    576     .919    1132 
Jaroslav Halak           2015-16    984    904     .919    2091 
Rick DiPietro             2006-07    1917    1761 .919    3627

Comeback Kids

The Isles have earned 19 points (7-21-5) in games that they trailed after 2 periods.

The 7 wins:

4-Dec-15          Vs        St. Louis (Trailed 1-0, won 2-1 in a shootout)

14-Jan-16         Vs        New York (Trailed 1-0, won 3-1)

9-Feb-16           @         Columbus (Trailed 2-1, won 3-2 in a shootout)

25-Feb-16         @         Calgary (Trailed 1-0, won 2-1 in overtime)

14-Mar-16         Vs        Florida (Trailed 2-0, won 3-2)

26-Mar-16         @         Carolina (Trailed 3-2, won 4-3 in overtime)

29-Mar-16         Vs        Carolina (Trailed 1-0, won 2-1 in a shootout)

Most wins (since 1987-88) by Isles when trailing after 2 periods

10 in 2013-14

7 in 2015-16

(Through games on April 7)

Metropolitan Division Standings (Top 5)

xy Washington 55-17-8=118 points / 80 games (51 ROW) Lost to Pitts 4-3 (OT)

x Pittsburgh     48-25-8=104 points / 81 games (44 ROW) Beat Wash 4-3 (OT)

x ISLES         45-26-9=99 points / 80 games (40 ROW) Beat NY Rangers 4-1

x NY Rangers  45-27-9=99 points / 81 games (42 ROW) Lost to Isles 4-1

Philadelphia  39-27-14=92 points/ 80 games (36 ROW) Lost to Toronto 4-3 (OT)

Atlantic Teams in Wild Card Race

Detroit             41-29-11=93 points/ 81 games (39 ROW) Lost to Boston 5-1

Boston             42-30-9=93 points/ 81 games (38 ROW) Beat Detroit 5-1

x Clinched Playoff Spot

y Clinched Division Title, Conference Title and President's Trophy

Best They Can Do (By Winning Every Game in Regulation or Overtime)

Pittsburgh      106 points/ 45 ROW 

ISLES             103 points/ 42 ROW

NY Rangers   101 points/ 43 ROW

Philadelphia    96 points/ 38 ROW

Detroit             95 points/ 40 ROW

Boston            95 points/ 39 ROW

Remaining Schedule:

Washington:  4/9 at St. Louis, 4/10 vs. Anaheim

Pittsburgh:  4/9 @ Philadelphia

NY Rangers:   4/9 vs. Detroit   

ISLES:  4/9 vs. Buffalo, 4/10 vs. Philadelphia

Philadelphia:  4/9 vs Pittsburgh, 4/10 @ ISLES

Detroit:   4/9 @ NY Rangers

Boston: 4/9 vs Ottawa

On Their Own

If the Isles go 1-0-1 they will finish third in the Metropolitan regardless of what anyone else does.

If the Isles go 0-2-0, they will finish fourth in the Metropolitan regardless of what anyone else does.

Magic Number

The Isles have clinched at least a 7th place finish in the East.  Their magic number to clinch at least third place in the Metropolitan is 3.

(Top 3 in each division, plus next two teams make the playoffs)

The Races for 3rd and the 2nd Wild Card

Detroit holds the ROW tiebreaker vs. Boston so the Red Wings will finish third as long as they do as well as Boston... with one exception.  If the Red Wings win in a shootout and Boston wins in regulation or overtime, the Bruins will tie Detroit in ROW's, and will finish 3rd based on the head-to-head tie-break.

Philadelphia can make the playoffs regardless of what Detroit and Boston do, by winning their final two games. Otherwise, the Flyers can make the playoffs by earning two more points (in their two games) than either Detroit or Boston earn in their single remaining game.

Friday's Games

None affecting playoff race

Saturday's Games

Buffalo at Isles

Detroit at Rangers

Pittsburgh at Philadelphia

Washington at St. Louis

Ottawa at Boston

Sunday's Games

Philadelphia at Isles

Anaheim at Washington

The Isles magic number for clinching 3rd place in the Metropolitan is 3.

If the Rangers beat Detroit, the Isles will need to go 1-0-1 or 2-0-0 to finish 3rd.

If the Rangers lose in overtime or a shootout, the Isles will need to go 1-1-0, 0-0-2 (or better) to finish 3rd.

If the Rangers lose in regulation, the Isles will need at least one point in the final two games to finish 3rd.

 "Home" Stretch

The Isles are playing six of their final eight games at home this season; it's the first time in franchise history that this has happened.  The Isles are 5-1-0 in this stretch:

·        March 29 vs. Hurricanes (Won 2-1 SO)

·        March 31 vs. Blue Jackets (Won 4-3)

·        April 2 vs. Penguins (Lost 5-0)

·        April 4 vs. Lightning (Win 5-2)

·        April 5 @ Capitals (Win 4-3 OT)

·        April 7 @ Rangers (Win 4-1)

·        April 9 vs. Sabres

·        April 10 vs. Flyers

Most Points in The Post-Cup Era through 80 games

·        99 in 2015-16

·        98 in 2014-15

Home Sweet Home

The Isles are 25-10-4 on home-ice (54 points), matching their highest point total through 39 home games in the Post-Cup era (54 in 1984-85).  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 finish 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. 

Most Road Points in Post Cup Era

·        47  2014-15

·        47 2001-12

·        45 2015-16

·        44 2013-14

·        44 1993-94 (42 road games)

The Isles have clinched an above NHL-.500 road record for the 4^th straight season, matching the club record (1975-76 to 1978-79).

The Shots

Isles             7-9-7=23

Rangers     12-16-9=37

Home and Road

The Islanders are 45-26-9 overall; 25-10-4 at home and 20-16-5 on the road. 

The Rangers are 45-26-9 overall; 26-10-4 at home and 19-17-5 on the road.

By Division

The Isles are 18-7-4 in Division games and are 27-19-5 in games against other divisions. They are 8-12-3 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 the record of an Eastern team vs. the West. 

In the Nets

Thomas Greiss made 36 saves to improve to 23-11-4 with his 4^th straight win.  Greiss is 1-0-1 in his career against the Isles. 

Henrik Lundqvist made 13 saves over the first two periods but falls to 35-21-7 on the season; he is 29-17-6 in his career against the Isles.  Anti Raanta stopped all six shots he faced in the third period.

Power Plays

The Islanders were 1-3 on the power play, while the Rangers were 0-4.    

The Isles are 27-5-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 18-21-5 when they do not.  The Isles are 13-12-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 32-14-6 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number

The Isles are 37-4-1 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 8-22-8 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 21-6-9 in games decided by a single goal including 10-6-0 in regulation. They are 6-4 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 29-6-4 when they score first and are 16-20-5 when they allow the opening goal.   

Second to The One

Jack Capuano, the 2^nd winningest coach in Islander history, is 210-174-55 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 439

3.      Mike Milbury 191

4.      Terry Simpson 187

5.      Scott Gordon 181

Most wins by Islander coaches:

1.      Al Arbour 740

2.      Jack Capuano 210

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 210 wins places him 67th all-time, 5 behind Brent Sutter and 9 behind Herb Brooks.

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 5-5-4 on the front-end and 9-2-3 on the back end of back-to-backs this season. The Isles' final two games will also be played as a back-to-back set (April 9 vs Buffalo, April 10 vs. Philadelphia).

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 6-1-3 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (23:40); Rangers: Kevin Klein (21:40)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (24-6-6), Johnny Boychuk (5-3-0), Calvin deHaan (3-3-1), Nick Leddy (11-11-2), John Tavares (0-2-0), Tied (0-1-0)

Frans Nielsen led the forwards with 19:21 of ice time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (28-18-8), Ryan Strome (2-0-0), Kyle Okposo (3-3-1), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Frans Nielsen (8-2-0), Josh Bailey (2-0-0), Tied (1-2-0). 

Face-offs

Isles 27, Rangers 21 (56%)

Casey Cizikas won 10 of 16 for the Isles; no Ranger won more than he lost. 

The Isles won 10 of 20 draws in the third period after winning 17 of 28 draws over the first two periods.

The Isles won 20 of 36 draws at even strength, 3 of 5 on the power play and 4 of 7 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters

Isles 22, Rangers 21.  Ryan Pulock led the Isles with five hits.

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

Martin needs 18 hits in the final two games to break his own NHL record.

Fights

There were no fights. Season total – 23 (Martin-11, Lee-3, Bernier, Boychuk, Cizikas, Hamonic, Leddy, Mayfield, Okposo, Pulock, Strait). 

Blocked Shots

The Isles were credited with 23 blocked shots, including six 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              Calvin de Haan                2015-2016    196

5              Andrew Mac Donald          2011-2012    185

For the Corsi Crowd

All situations:  Isles 48, Rangers 71.

 5-on-5: Isles 33, Rangers 57.

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

Casey Cizikas led the Isles with a +1 5-on-5 Corsi rating and a 52% Corsi For percentage. Eric Staal led the Rangers with a +18 5-on-5 Corsi rating.

Ironmen

Four Islanders have played every game this season:

·        Nikolay Kulemin - 230 consecutive games (68 for Maple Leafs and 162 for the Isles)

·        Anders Lee – 156 (all for Isles)

·        Nick Leddy – 90 (all for Isles)

·        Frans Nielsen – 80 (all for Isles)

Missing Men

Adam Pelech has been loaned to Bridgeport on injury rehab. Other injured players: Jaroslav Halak, Mikhail Grabovski, Travis Hamonic., JF Berube, Cal Clutterbuck, Brian Strait and Matt Martin.  Scott Mayfield was a healthy scratch.

Missing a Piece (or two)

The Isles are 16-16-2 over the last two seasons in games in which they are missing Johnny Boychuk, Travis Hamonic or Nick Leddy, including 8-6-1 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. Frans Nielsen 605 *** 13. Kenny Jonsson 597 *** 14. Garry Howatt 596 *** 15. John Tonelli 594*** 16. Josh Bailey 555 *** 17. Ken Morrow 550 *** 18. Duane Sutter 547 *** 19. Lorne Henning 543 ***20. Claude Lapointe 535 *** 21. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 22. Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 23. Kyle Okposo 527*** 24. Dave Lewis 514 *** 25. Mick Vukota 510 *** 26. Rich Pilon 509 *** 27. John Tavares 509

Goals

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

….

9. Derek King 211 *** 10. John Tonelli and John Tavares 206

…

16. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 17. Kyle Okposo 139 *** 18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Duane Sutter 121 *** 20. Alexei Yashin and Frans Nielsen 119

Assists

1.      Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 ***

…

11. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 12. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 13. John Tavares 264*** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Tomas Jonsson 249***16. Frans Nielsen 230 *** 17. Kyle Okposo 229

…

25. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 26. Josh Bailey 157

Points

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

…

10. Derek King 499 *** 11. Pat Flatley 488 *** 12. John Tavares 470***13. Billy Harris 443 ***

14. Stefan Persson 369 *** 15. Kyle Okposo 368 *** 16. Frans Nielsen 348

…

24 Jason Blake & Steve Thomas 258 *** 26. Josh Bailey 250

Season Series Stats

The Isles sweep the season series four games to none (and eight points to one). 

It is the first time that the Isles have ever swept a regular season series from the Rangers and only the second time that the Isles have won four consecutive games in the same season from the Rangers (2006-07).

On The Farm

Bridgeport is 38-25-4-3 on the season after splitting a pair of games last weekend, defeating Wilkes-Barre Scranton 5-2 on Saturday and dropping a 3-1 decision to Springfield on Sunday.

Bridgeport is tied with Portland for 4^th place in the Atlantic Division; their magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 7. Bridgeport begins a 3-game in 3-day weekend on Friday in Hershey before playing Lehigh Valley in a home-and-home series.

Up Next

SATURDAY, APRIL 9^th –BUFFALO AT ISLANDERS 7:30PM

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

The Isles return home to end the regular season with a pair of games.  First up it's the Buffalo Sabres.   The Sabres, who will close their home season on Friday vs. Columbus, are led in goals by rookie Jack Eichel (24).

The teams have split a pair of games this season, with the road team emerging each time with a 2-1 win.  The Sabres win in Brooklyn was a bit of a rarity; it's one of only two games this season that they Isles have lost in regulation after leading through two periods (29-2-2).

Note that this game will air on MSG, as opposed to the team's regular TV home, MSG+.

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