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The Skinny: Isles 6, Toronto 3

"The Skinny"  By Eric Hornick Game 34 Isles 6, Toronto 3 The Isles jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 4:48 and the Maple Leafs ...

Saturday, March 18, 2017

The Skinny: Columbus 3, Isles 2 (OT)

“The Skinny”


By Eric Hornick

Game 71
Columbus 3, Isles 2 (OT)
Cam Atkinson scored his 33rd goal of the season as the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Islanders 3-2 before a crowd of 14,007 at Barclays Center.

John Tavares had tied the game 8:48 into the third period but the Isles couldn’t find the winning tally.  Travis Hamonic also scored for the Islanders; it was his first goal since October 30th.

With the overtime point, the Isles remain one point behind Toronto for the 2nd Wild Card spot; the Leafs hold one game in hand. The Isles also move one point ahead of Tampa Bay.  Toronto has 12 games to play, the Lightning 11 and the Isles 11.   

The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
14:18    New York  Travis Hamonic (3) ASST: Jason Chimera (12), Anthony Beauvillier (11)            0-1

2ND PERIOD
01:00    Columbus  Oliver Bjorkstrand (6)            1-1
15:48    Columbus  Josh Anderson (16) ASST: Nick Foligno (24), Zach Werenski (34)      2-1

3RD PERIOD
08:48    New York  John Tavares (27) ASST: Dennis Seidenberg (15), Scott Mayfield (6)  2-2

OT PERIOD
01:19    Columbus Cam Atkinson (33) ASST: Brandon Dubinsky (27), Zach Werenski (35) 3-2

The Skinny:
The Isles are 16-9-4 (.621) under Interim Coach Doug Weight …Since opening the season 6-10-4, Isles are 27-16-8 in their last 51 games…The Isles are 7-5-2 in the last 14 games... The Isles’ top line has 28 goals (and 42 assists) in 29 games under Weight… Thomas Greiss leads all goalies this month in both games (10) and minutes (520) …  Travis Hamonic’s goal ended a 108:14 Islander scoreless streak against Joonas Korpisalo…Andrew Ladd’s fight with Brandon Dubinsky was the Isles’ first fight in a month (2/18/17 at New Jersey; Scott Mayfield vs. Miles Wood)…John Tavares regained the team lead in goals (27)…Columbus did not have a power play in either game in Brooklyn this season…Columbus is 11-3-1 in their last 15 games and allowed 2 goals or fewer for the 42nd time this season (37-2-3)…Zach Werenski had two assists, giving him 46 points on the season.  It is the 6th highest total by a teenage defenseman in NHL history (the three who had at least 49 points: Larry Murray, Ray Bourque and Phil Housley are all in the Hockey Hall of Fame).

Mr. 18 (Not Ed Westfall)    (As seen on MSG+)
Anthony Beauvillier assisted on Travis Hamonic’s first period goal, giving him points on all five games the Isles played on the 18th of the month.  (He scored on the 18th of October, November, December, and February.)  The Isles hope he gets a chance to play on April 18th – it will fall during the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

This Generation’s Mr. Islander Chasing Mr. Islander
John Tavares scored his 234th career goal, leaving him just one goal behind Bobby Nystrom for eighth place on the all-time list.

Career goals as an Islander:
7. Bob Bourne 238
8. Bobby Nystrom 235
9. John Tavares 234

The 300 Point Club
Josh Bailey remains one point shy of becoming the 6th player from his draft class to reach 300 points:
(Stamkos, Karlsson, Eberle, Doughty, and Stepan have already done so.)  His next point will also be his 50th point of the season.

The 300 Assist Club
John Tavares has 298 assists.  He needs two assists to become just the 10th player to record 300 assists as an Islander.

Experience Counts … 17 Times
Jason Chimera is only the second Islander age 36 or over to score 17 goals in a season; Bill Guerin, who turned 37 early in the 2007-08 season, scored 23 times that season.  Guerin also scored 16 times the next season, before being dealt to Pittsburgh.

Another One Goal Loss
The Isles are 11-9-12 in one-goal games, winning only 11 of the 32 games (.344).  That .344 percentage of 1-goal games won is the lowest in the NHL.  (The Isles were 21-6-10 in one-goal games last season.)

Tough Stretch
This was the first of three straight games against three of the top four teams in the East (and three of the top seven teams in the NHL).  The Isles are 0-0-1 in this stretch:

March 18 vs. Blue Jackets (lost 3-2 OT)
March 22 @ Rangers
March 24 @ Penguins

The Isles will catch both the Rangers and Penguins on the back-half of back-to-backs for their opponent.

Most points in NHL since January 19th (Weight’s First Game)



GP
W
L
OT
Pts
1
Islanders
29
16
9
4
36

Pittsburgh
26
16
6
4
36

Ottawa
28
16
8
4
36

Washington
27
17
8
2
36

NY Rangers
27
17
8
2
36

Chicago
24
18
6
0
36
7
San Jose
26
15
6
5
35


Playoff Chase:

Metropolitan
GP
PTS
1.   X-Washington
71
100

2.   Columbus
70
98

3.   Pittsburgh
70
97




Atlantic
GP
PTS


1.      Montréal
71
88


2.      Ottawa
70
86


3.      Boston
71
82


Wild Card
GP
PTS


1.      NY Rangers
72
93


2.      Toronto
70
79


3.      ISLANDERS
71
78


4.      Tampa Bay
71
77


5.      Florida
70
73


6.      Carolina
69
72


7.      Philadelphia
70
72


8.      Buffalo
72
70



Sunday’s games
Florida @ Pittsburgh 1:00
Columbus @ New Jersey 1:00
Carolina @ Philadelphia 7:30
Ottawa @ Montreal 7:30

Monday’s games
Boston @ Toronto 7:30
Buffalo @ Detroit 7:30

Tuesday’s games
NY Rangers @ New Jersey 7:00
Calgary @ Washington 7:00
Pittsburgh @ Buffalo 7:00
Ottawa @ Boston 7:00
Detroit @ Montreal 7:30
Carolina @ Florida 7:30
Arizona @ Tampa Bay 7:30
Philadelphia @ Winnipeg 8:00

Wednesday’s games
Isles @ NY Rangers 8:00
Toronto @ Columbus 7:00

Thursday’s games
Tampa Bay @ Boston 7:00
Columbus @ Washington 7:00
New Jersey @ Toronto 7:30
Carolina @ Montreal 7:30
Pittsburgh @ Ottawa 7:30
Arizona @ Florida 7:30
Philadelphia @ Minnesota 8:00

Friday’s games
Isles @ Pittsburgh 7:00
Tampa Bay @ Detroit 7:30

Saturday’s games
Boston @ Isles 7:00
Philadelphia @ Columbus 2:00
Arizona @ Washington 7:00
Carolina @ New Jersey 7:00
Toronto @ Buffalo 7:00
Ottawa @ Montreal 7:00
Chicago @ Florida 7:00
NY Rangers @ Los Angeles 10:30


50 in 40
The Isles are now 22-12-6 in their last 40 games (since December 20th vs. Boston).  In those games, the PP is 19-112 (17.0%) and the penalty kill is 15-92 (83.7%).

In Goal, #1
Thomas Greiss has played in 13 straight games (6-5-2), 32 of the last 36 games (16-11-5 with three shutouts) and 34 of the last 40 games (18-11-5 with three shutouts). Greiss has already appeared in a career high 44 games, and set career highs for both wins (23) and shutouts (3).

Weight Lifted
Isles leading scorers since Doug Weight became the Isles’ interim coach:


Games
Goals
Assists
Points
+/-
1
John Tavares
29
11
18
29
+5
2
Anders Lee
28
11
10
21
+1
Josh Bailey
29
6
14
20
+7
4
Nick Leddy
29
4
14
18
+3
5
Ryan Strome
29
7
9
16
-2
6
Brock Nelson
28
7
8
15
-5
Andrew Ladd
26
11
4
15
-2
8
Jason Chimera
29
9
4
13
+5

A Different Road
The Isles are 11-10-2 in their last 23 road games, after winning only 2 of their first 11 road games (2-6-3).

Solid at Home
The Isles have earned points in 12 of their last 14 home games (9-2-3), although they are 0-2-1 in their last three home games.

Longest Home-Ice Point Streaks in Post -Cup Era
11 – 1/19/17 - 2/19/17 (9-0-2)
10 -  12/16/89 - 01/28/90 (9-0-1)
10 – 3/24/13 - 10/17/13 (7-0-3 – Multi-season Streak)

The Shots
Isles        5-8-9-0=22
Columbus 12-17-7-2=38

The Isles are 16-8-5 when they outshoot their opponents and 3-3-0 when the shots are even but are 14-16-6 when they are outshot.

Home and Road
The Islanders are 33-26-12 overall; 20-10-7 at home and 13-16-5 on the road. 
Columbus is 46-18-6 overall; 26-9-1 at home and 20-9-5 on the road.  

By Division & Conference
The Isles are 10-9-5 in Division games and 23-17-7 in games versus other divisions (9-9-3 vs. Atlantic, 6-4-2 vs. Central and 8-4-2 vs. Pacific).   The Isles are 19-18-8 against the East and 14-8-4 against the West.

In the Nets
Thomas Greiss made 35 saves; he is 24-16-5 on the season and 5-4-3 in his career against Columbus.
Joonas Korpisalo made 20 saves to improve to 6-3-0 on the season and 2-0-1 in his career against the Isles.
Power Plays
The Isles went 0-1 on the power play; Columbus did not have a power play.
The Isles are 14-7-6 when they score at least one power play goal and 19-19-6 when they do not.  The Isles are 12-13-5 when they allow at least one power play goal and 21-13-7 when they do not.    

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 32-7-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-19-9 when they do not.

One Goal Games
The Isles are 11-9-12 in games decided by a single goal including 5-9-0 in regulation. They are 5-8 in games decided in overtime and are 1-4 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-1 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game (including one game that they allowed a goal after scoring an empty-netter).

First Goal
The Isles are 22-8-8 when they score first and are 11-18-4 when they allow the opening goal.

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 5-7-1 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-3-5 on the back-end. 
The Isles will play 16 sets of back-to-backs this season. The next back-to-back set is March 24th in Pittsburgh and March 25th vs. Boston.

Tired vs. Rested
·        The Isles are 4-1-3 when both teams played the night before.
·        The Isles are 5-4-2 when they are rested and their opponents are not.
·        The Isles are 1-2-2 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.
·        The Isles are 23-19-5 when both teams are rested.

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Nick Leddy (24:15); Columbus: David Savard (23:15)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (6-0-0), Nick Leddy (13-19-9), John Tavares (2-1-0), Johnny Boychuk (7-4-1), Dennis Seidenberg (1-1-1), Calvin de Haan (3-1-1), Tied (1-0-0).

John Tavares led the Isles forwards with 21:03 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (26-18-10), Josh Bailey (4-5-2), Casey Cizikas (1-0-0), Cal Clutterbuck (0-1-0), Brock Nelson (1-2-0), Shane Prince (1-0-0).

Face-offs
Isles 22, Columbus 32 (41%). 

Casey Cizikas won 4 of 5 for the Isles (all in the third period); Sam Gagner won 10 of 12 for Columbus.

Face-offs by period: 1st period- 7/18; 2nd period 8/22; 3rd period 7/13; overtime 0/1

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 21/52; Power play 1/2; Penalty kill 0/0.

Hit Count
Isles 31, Columbus 28.  Scott Mayfield and Casey Cizikas led the Isles with four hits; Matt Calvert and Brandon Dubinsky had four hits for Columbus.

Fights
Andrew Ladd fought Brandon Dubinsky in the 2nd period; it was Ladd’s first fight as an Islander.  Season total – 12: (Hamonic 3, Mayfield 2, Strome 2, Boychuk 1, Chimera 1, deHaan 1, Hickey 1, Ladd 1).

Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 8 blocked shots; Scott Mayfield led the Isles with two.

For the Corsi Crowd
All situations: Isles 56, Columbus 54
5-on-5 Isles 53, Columbus 50

5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Travis Hamonic +10; Travis Hamonic 65%
Columbus: Sam Gagner +7

Ironmen
Jason Chimera – 177 (including 106 for the Capitals); Josh Bailey 138, Calvin deHaan 74, John Tavares 71

Scratches
Thomas Hickey, Johnny Boychuk (injured), Alan Quine, Shane Prince (injured), Steven Gionta
Total games lost: 153

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)
1.      Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900
….
9.      Brent Sutter 694 *** 9. Derek King 638 *** 10. Josh Bailey 628
15 Garry Howatt 596 *** 16. John Tonelli 594 *** 17. John Tavares 581

Goals
1.      Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310
7. Bob Bourne 238 *** 8. Bob Nystrom 235 **** 9. John Tavares 234
25. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 26. Ed Westfall, Benoit Hogue and Josh Bailey 105

Assists
1.      Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553
8. Stefan Persson 317 *** 9. Bob Bourne 304 *** 10. John Tavares 298
16. Frans Nielson and Kyle Okposo 230 ***18. Josh Bailey 194

Points
1.      Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052
6. Pat LaFontaine 566 *** 7. John Tonelli 544 *** 8. Bob Bourne 542 *** 9.  John Tavares 531
18. Tomas Jonsson 333 *** 19. Ziggy Palffy 331 *** 20. Josh Bailey 299

Late Heroes
The Isles have scored three times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:
·        11/25 – SJ Sharks -- Nick Leddy (19:02); tied game, but Isles lost in regulation
·        11/30 – Pit Penguins – Anders Lee (19:33); Game Winning goal
·        2/6 – Tor Maple Leafs – Andrew Ladd (18:31); Isles won in overtime

Late Losses
The Isles have allowed the lead goal in the final 3 minutes of regulation seven times (including one game they rallied to win):

·        10/18 – SJ Sharks - Joe Pavelski (17:49)
·        10/26 – Mtl Canadiens - Shea Weber (17:03)
·        10/27 – Pit Penguins - Sidney Crosby (17:35)
·        11/23 – LA Kings – Dwight King (17:07)
·        11/25 – SJ Sharks – Patrick Marleau (19:37)
·        2/3 – Det Red Wings – Danny DeKeyser (19:32)
·        2/6 – Tor Maple Leafs – Michael Nylander (17:59) (Isles won game in OT)

Fit to Be Tied
The Isles have allowed the final goal of regulation in 12 of their 18 games that have gone to overtime this season, including four in the final minute:

·        10/16 – Ana Ducks – Ryan Getzlaf (19:00); Isles won in OT
·        11/3 – Phi Flyers – Jakob Voracek (19:02/PP); Flyers won in SO
·        11/12 – Fla Panthers – Jonathan Marchessault (19:46); Panthers won in OT
·        3/10 – Van Canucks – Troy Stecher (19:40); Isles won in OT

Better at Night
The Isles are 1-3-1 in day games (0-0-1 at home and 1-3-0 on the road) this season with one game to play:

·        11/25 - at SJ Sharks (lost 2-3)
·        1/16 – at Bos Bruins (won 4-0)
·        2/11 – at Ott Senators (lost 0-3)
·        3/5 -  at Cal Flames (lost 2-5)
·        3/18 – vs Col Blue Jackets (lost/OT 2-3)
·        4/2 – at Buf Sabres

The Isles went 3-4-2 in day games last season (3-1-1 at home and 0-3-1 on the road).

Season Series Stats
Columbus wins the season series three games to one (and 6 points to 3).

The Isles are 8-0-4 in their last 12 home games against Columbus, including 3-0-1 at Barclays Center.

On The Farm
Bridgeport is 38-22-2-1 on the season (and 20-7-1-0 in their last 28) following a 2-0 loss to Providence on Friday and a 4-1 win over Utica on Saturday.  Ryan Pulock left the game Saturday after he was boarded by former Islander prospect Andrey Pedan.

In Saturday’s win, Eamon MacAdam made 23 saves while five different players each had two points each.

Bracken Kearns leads the Sound Tigers in goals (21) and points (21-24-45). Rookie Devon Toews leads the team in assists with 33.  Ryan Pulock leads the defense with 12 goals (12-23-35 in only 42 games) while Jaroslav Halak leads the team in wins (16-6-3).

Bridgeport hosts Hershey on Sunday.

Up Next
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22th –ISLANDERS AT RANGERS– 8:00PM
[NBC Sports Net (NHL Live Pre-Game begins at 7:00), WNYM 970 AM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

The Isles and Rangers meet for the fourth (and final) time this season in a nationally-televised game at Madison Square Garden.

The Isles are 6-1-0 in their last seven games against the Rangers, including a perfect 4-0-0 at Barclays Center. It is the first time since October 23 1977- December 23, 1978 (7-1-0) that the Isles have had a streak where they have won at least six out of seven against the Rangers.  

The Rangers’ only win in that stretch came on Opening Night of this season, with the Rangers winning 5-3 on Garden ice. 

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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

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