The Skinny: Isles 2, Nashville 1 (OT)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

 

Game 79

Isles 2, Nashville 1 (OT)

Thomas Hickey, playing forward as the Isles dressed seven natural defensemen, scored a season-saving goal 1:25 into overtime as the Isles rallied for a 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators before a sellout crowd of 17,113 at Bridgestone Arena.

 

Mike Fisher had given the Preds a 1-0 lead in the second period but Brock Nelson tied it for the Isles in the third, setting the stage for overtime.

The Isles would have been mathematically eliminated had they not won this game.  However, with the win the Isles head to Carolina on Thursday alive in the playoff chase as they play game 80.

 

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD

No Scoring

 

2ND PERIOD

07:03    Nashville          Mike Fisher (18) ASST: Colin Wilson (23), Craig Smith (16)         0-1

 

3RD PERIOD

01:32    New York         Brock Nelson (18) ASST: Calvin de Haan (19), Dennis Seidenberg (17)            1-1

 

OT PERIOD

01:25    New York         Thomas Hickey (4) ASST: Josh Bailey (40), Jaroslav Halak (1)    2-1

The Skinny:

The Isles are 21-12-4 (.622) under Interim Coach Doug Weight …Since opening the season 6-10-4, Isles are 32-19-8 in their last 59 games…The Isles are 6-6-1 in the last 13 games... The Preds played their final home game of the regular season; all 41 games were sellouts… Isles finish season 15-9-4 against the West…The Isles are at NHL .500 on the road for the first time this season and can finish with their 5^th straight season of NHL .500 or better on the road FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THEIR HISTORY with two points in their final two road games…Joshua Ho-Sang led all Isles forwards in ice-time (21:07); it's the most ice-time for an Isles rookie forward since Anders Lee played 22:54 on 2/22/15 vs Vancouver…Jaroslav Halak recorded an assist on the winning goal.  It's his 6^th career assist, including exactly one in each of the last five seasons… Josh Bailey reached the 40 assist mark for the first time; he will lead the team in helpers this season… Two of Thomas Hickey's four goals this season have come in overtime to give the Isles 2-1 wins (also 11/28 vs Calgary) …The Isles had the final seven shots on goal and held Nashville without a shot over the final 10:53 of the game…The Isles have won three straight games for the 6^th time this season (they last won four straight games in March 2016)

 

The Playoff Chase

The Isles need to finish ahead of at least two of these three teams to make the playoffs: Ottawa, Toronto, Tampa Bay.

Standings:

Ottawa 94 points, 37 ROW in 79 games

Toronto 93 points, 38 ROW in 79 games

ISLES 88 points, 36 ROW in 79 games

Tampa Bay 88 points, 35 ROW in 79 games

 

·        ISLES will finish ahead of Ottawa IF Isles win last 3 (including at least one ROW) and Sens lose last 3, all in regulation

·        ISLES will finish ahead of Toronto IF Isles win last 3 and Leafs lose last 3, all in regulation OR IF Isles win last 3 (all ROW) and Leafs go 0-2-1 in last 3.

·        ISLES will finish ahead of Tampa Bay IF Isles earn as many points in last three as Lightning, and have at least as many ROWs.

 

There is still a possibility of a 3-way tie between the Isles/Lightning and either Ottawa or Toronto (at 94/37 with Ottawa or 94/38 with Toronto).

 

Remaining Schedules:

Thursday:  Isles @ Carolina, Ottawa @ Boston, Tampa Bay @ Toronto

Friday: Tampa Bay @ Montreal

Saturday: Isles @ Devils (6:00), Rangers @ Ottawa (12:30), Pittsburgh @ Toronto (7:00)

Sunday: Ottawa @ Isles (5:00), Buffalo @ Tampa Bay (5:00), Columbus @ Toronto (6:00)

 

Most Career Overtime Goals by an Islander (Regular Season only)

9- John Tavares

6- Kyle Okposo

5- Thomas Hickey

4- Josh Bailey

4- Pierre Turgeon

 

Mr. Overtime

Thomas Hickey has scored 5 OT goals out of his 17 career OT tallies.  No other player in NHL history with at least 5 career overtime goals has scored fewer than 69 career goals (Tom Poti – also 5). Christian Ehrhoff (74 goals, 7 in OT) has the fewest goals of any player with more OT goal than Hickey.

 

Flying since Thanksgiving

Anders Lee has scored 30 goals in his last 60 games (since November 23rd).  Only 4 players in the NHL have more goals in that span:  Brad Marchand (33), Auston Matthews (33), Max Pacioretty (31) and Sidney Crosby (31).

 

Experience Counts … 18 Times

Jason Chimera is only the second Islander age 36 or over to score 18 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.

 

This Generation's Mr. Islander Is Tied with Mr. Islander

John Tavares has 235 career goals, tying him with Bobby Nystrom for eighth place on the club's all-time list.

 

Career goals as an Islander:

7. Bob Bourne 238

8. Bobby Nystrom 235

8. John Tavares 235

 

One Goal Games

The Isles are 15-10-12 in one-goal games, winning only 14 of the 36 games (.405).  That .405 percentage in 1-goal games won is the second lowest in the NHL – the Leafs are 14-7-15 (.389) in 1-goal games.  (The Isles were 21-6-10 in one-goal games last season.)

 

The Stretch Run

The Isles are playing their final 11 regular-season games in a span of 19 days.  The Isles are 5-3-0 in this stretch (1-2-0 at home and 4-1-0 on the road), with five of the seven games decided by empty net or less:

·        March 22 @ Pittsburgh (Won 3-2)

·        March 24 @ Penguins (Won 4-3 OT)

·        March 25 Vs Bruins (Lost 2-1)

·        March 27 Vs Predators (Lost 3-1)

·        March 30 @ Flyers (Lost 6-3)

·        March 31 Vs Devils (Won 2-1)

·        April 2 @ Sabres (Won 4-2)

·        April 4 @ Predators (Won 2-1)

·        April 6 @ Hurricanes

·        April 8 @ Devils

·        April 9 Vs Senators

 

60 in 48

The Isles are now 27-15-6 in their last 48 games (since December 20^th vs. Boston). In those games, the PP is 22-139 (15.8%) and the penalty kill is 18-114 (84.2%).

 

Jaro, Jaro

Jaroslav Halak is 4-1-0 since his recall from Bridgeport (and 4-0-0 as a starter).  He has played to a 1.82 GAA and 93.9 save percentage in those five games.

 

In Goal, #1

Thomas Greiss has played in 17 of the last 21 games (7-7-2 with one no decision), in 36 of the last 44 games (17-13-5 with one no-decision and three shutouts) and 38 of the last 48 games (19-13-5 with one no-decision and three shutouts). Greiss has appeared in a career high 50 games, and set career highs for both wins (25) and shutouts (3).

 

50 Game Club

Thomas Greiss is the 11^th different Islander goalie to appear in 50 games in a season.  Rick DiPietro did it four times and Tommy Salo did so three times.  The other eight, and now Greiss, have done so once.  An Isles goalie has appeared in more than 53 games only 9 times (3 by DiPietro, 2 by Salo, and once by Smith, Osgood, Hextall, and Halak).

 

Let's Hear It for the Ladd

Andrew Ladd has reached the 20-goal mark for the 4^th straight season and the sixth straight full season (he had 18 goals in the lockout year).  He is one of 21 players to reach 20-goals in each of the last four seasons and one of only 14 to do so six times in the last seven seasons.  He is now five points shy of 500 for his career (231-264-495) and is tied in career goals with two Original Islanders: Ed Westfall and Billy Harris on the all-time NHL list.

 

Weight Lifted

Isles leading scorers since Doug Weight became the Isles' interim coach:

		Games	Goals	Assists	Points	+/-
1	John Tavares	35	12	22	34	+3
2	Anders Lee	36	16	11	27	+1
3	Josh Bailey	37	7	17	24	+3
4	Nick Leddy	37	4	17	21	0
5	Brock Nelson	36	9	9	18	-6
6	Andrew Ladd	34	13	4	17	-7
7	Ryan Strome	30	7	9	16	-3
8	Jason Chimera	37	10	4	14	+3

A Different Road

The Isles are 15-11-2 in their last 28 road games, after winning only 2 of their first 11 road games (2-6-3). They are 10-4-1 in their last 15 road games after going 7-13-4 in their first 24 on the road.

 

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       13-8-9-2=32

Nashville  7-9-7-0=23

 

The Isles are 19-10-5 when they outshoot their opponents and 3-3-0 when the shots are even but are 16-17-6 when they are outshot.

 

Home and Road

The Islanders are 38-29-12 overall; 21-12-7 at home and 17-17-5 on the road. 

Nashville is 40-28-12 overall; 24-9-8 at home and 16-19-4 on the road.  

 

By Division & Conference

The Isles are 13-10-5 in Division games and 25-19-7 in games versus other divisions (10-10-3 vs. Atlantic, 7-5-2 vs. Central and 8-4-2 vs. Pacific).   The Isles are 23-20-8 against the East and 15-9-4 against the West.

In the Nets

Jaroslav Halak made 22 saves to improve to 10-9-5 on the season and 13-3-4 in his career against Nashville.

Pekka Rinne made 30 saves; he is 31-18-9 on the season and 4-3-2 in his career against the Isles.

Power Plays

The Isles went 0-2 on the power play; Nashville was 0-1.

The Isles are 16-7-6 when they score at least one power play goal and 22-22-6 when they do not.  The Isles are 14-14-5 when they allow at least one power play goal and 24-15-7 when they do not.    

 

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number

The Isles are 35-8-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 3-21-9 when they do not.  The only Islander wins when not scoring 3 goals were on November 28^th vs. Calgary (2-1 in OT), March 31 vs. Pittsburgh (2-1), and April 4 @ Nashville (2-1).

 

One Goal Games

The Isles are 15-10-12 in games decided by a single goal including 7-10 in regulation. They are 6-8 in games decided in overtime and are 2-4 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-2 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 24-9-8 when they score first and are 14-20-4 when they allow the opening goal.

 

Back-to-Backs

The Isles are 6-8-1 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 6-4-5 on the back-end. 

The Isles will conclude the regular season with back-to-back games on April 8^th-9^th (at Devils, vs Senators)

 

Tired vs. Rested

·        The Isles are 4-1-3 when both teams played the night before.

·        The Isles are 7-4-2 when they are rested and their opponents are not.

·        The Isles are 2-3-2 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

·        The Isles are 25-21-5 when both teams are rested.

 

Ice-time Leaders

Isles: Nick Leddy (22:57); Nashville: PK Subban (23:06)

 

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (7-0-0), Nick Leddy (16-21-9), John Tavares (2-1-0), Johnny Boychuk (8-4-1), Dennis Seidenberg (1-1-1), Calvin de Haan (3-2-1), Tied (1-0-0).

 

Joshua Ho-Sang led the Isles forwards with 21:07 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (28-21-10), 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), Andrew Ladd (1-0-0), Joshua Ho-Sang (1-0-0).

 

Face-offs

Isles 22, Nashville 31 (42%). 

 

Anders Lee won 3 of 4 for the Isles; Calle Jarnkrok won 11 of 15 for Nashville.

 

Face-offs by period: 1^st period- 8/17; 2^nd period 9/18; 3^rd period 4/17; Overtime 1/1

Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 17/43; Power play 4/7; Penalty kill 1/3.

 

Hit Count

Isles 21, Nashville 19.  Johnny Boychuk led the Isles with four hits; Cody McLeod led Nashville with seven.

 

Fights

There were no fights.  Season total – 17: (Hamonic 4, Mayfield 3, Chimera 2, Strome 2, Lee 2, Boychuk 1, deHaan 1, Hickey 1, Ladd 1).

 

Blocked Shots

The Isles were credited with 13 blocked shots; Nick Leddy led the Isles with four.

 

For the Corsi Crowd

All situations: Isles 72, Nashville 49 (The Isles had the final 15 attempts of the game)

5-on-5 Isles 59, Nashville 45

 

5-on-5 leaders:

Isles: Calvin deHaan +18; Cal Clutterbuck 88%

Nashville: Colin Wilson +9

 

Ironmen

Jason Chimera – 185 (including 106 for the Capitals); Josh Bailey 146, Calvin deHaan 82

 

Scratches

JF Berube, Nikolay Kulemin (injured), Ryan Strome (injured), Casey Cizikas (injured), Travis Hamonic (injured), John Tavares (injured), Shane Prince (injured)

 

Total games lost: 181

 

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

 

Games Played (skaters)

1.      Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900

….

1.      Brent Sutter 694 *** 9. Derek King 638 *** 10. Josh Bailey 636

…

15 Garry Howatt 596 *** 16. John Tonelli 594 *** 17. John Tavares 587

 

Goals

1.      Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 *** 4. Clark Gillies 304***

5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. Bob Bourne 238 *** 8. Bob Nystrom and John Tavares 235

…

25. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 26. Josh Bailey 106

 

Assists

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

…

8. Stefan Persson 317 *** 9. Bob Bourne 304 *** 10. John Tavares 302

…

16. Frans Nielson and Kyle Okposo 230 ***18. Josh Bailey 197

 

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 537

…

18. Tomas Jonsson 333 *** 19. Ziggy Palffy 331 *** 20. Josh Bailey 303

 

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 13 of their 20 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 finished the season with a record of 2-3-1 in day games (0-0-1 at home and 2-3-0 on the road):

 

·        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 (won 4-2)

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

The teams split the season series one game to one (Nashville earned 3 points to the Isles' 2)

 

It's just the second Isles win in their last 9 trips to Nashville (2-7-0) and their fourth road win ever against the Preds (4-8-0).

 

On The Farm

Bridgeport is 43-24-3-1 on the season following a 2-1 win over Springfield in Tuesday's school day matinee.  The win moved the Sound Tigers three points ahead of Hershey in the battle for the final playoff spot (each team has five games to play).

 

Joshua Nyquist scored a first period power play goal; Jake Bischoff's second period goal, his second as a professional, turned out to be the winner.  Eamon McAdam made 19 saves for his fourth straight win.

 

Bracken Kearns leads the Sound Tigers in goals (23) and points (23-25-48). Rookie Devon Toews leads the team in assists with 37.  Ryan Pulock leads the defense with 13 goals and 43 points (13-30-43).

 

Bridgeport, who trails Providence by one point, begins a home-and-home series in Rhode Island on Friday.  The Webster Bank Arena rematch will be on Saturday.  Bridgeport will host Hartford to close out the season's final 3 games-in-3 days on Sunday at 3pm.

 

Up Next

THURSDAY, APRIL 6th –ISLANDERS AT CAROLINA– 7:00PM

[MSG+/MSG GO (Isles Pre-Game begins at 6:30), WNYM 970, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]

 

The Isles head to Raleigh for the third time this season as they close the season series with the Hurricanes.

 

Carolina leads the season series three games to one (and 7 points to 3), and has outscored the Isles 22-15.  However, the Isles are 5-2-0 in their last seven games in Raleigh, including March overtime wins each of the last two seasons (Cal Clutterbuck last year and Joshua Ho-Sang this year).

 

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 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