"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 40
Boston 5. Isles 1
Patrice Bergeron's goal from behind the goal line broke a 1-1 tie and the Bruins then added three goals in the third period as they defeated the Islanders 5-1 before a crowd of 11,878 at Barclays Center.
Jordan Eberle had the only Islander goal; Josh Bailey saw his point streak end at 11 games. The loss, coupled with Carolina's overtime loss to Washington, drops the Isles out of a playoff spot as the Canes now have 44 points in 39 games to the Isles' 44 points in 40 games.
The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
08:17 Boston Danton Heinen (10) ASST: Riley Nash (13) 0-1
09:30 New York Jordan Eberle (14) 1-1
2ND PERIOD
08:28 Boston Patrice Bergeron (12) ASST: Brad Marchand (18), Danton Heinen (18) 1-2
3RD PERIOD
09:04 Boston Brad Marchand (16) ASST: David Pastrnak (20) 1-3
15:02 Boston Tim Schaller (5) ASST: Sean Kuraly (5), Charlie McAvoy (16) 1-4
17:47 Boston EN - Noel Acciari (5) ASST: Tim Schaller (6), Kevan Miller (6) 1-5
The Skinny
The Isles have allowed 46 first period goals (most in the NHL) and have allowed the opening goal in an NHL-high 26 of 40 games…Josh Bailey saw his point streak end at 11 games; it was the longest point streak for an Islander since John Tavares had a 12-game streak in the 2011-12 season… Josh Bailey and John Tavares were held scoreless; the linemates have combined for 36 points on the last 30 Islander goals... Including shootout winners, the Isles have scored 137 goals in the first 40 games (first time since 1993-94 when they had 142) and allowed 144 goals (highest since 2008-09, when they allowed 146)… Tanner Fritz played 11:36 in his NHL debut as he became the second Islander to debut in as many games…Patrice Bergeron recorded his 271st NHL goal, breaking a tie with (among others) Bobby Orr on the all-time goal list; Brad Marchand earned his 200th NHL assist on the play…The Isles have killed 17 of the last 19 opponent power plays at home…The Isles have allowed at least one third period goal in 16 straight games; it's the longest such streak since they allowed a goal in 21 third periods over parts of two seasons (2011-12 & 2012-13)..Bruins rookie Danton Heinen had two points to remain third in the team in scoring… Jaroslav Halak made his sixth straight start; he has faced at least 35 shots in all six games…All 14 of Jordan Eberle's goals have come in the last 30 games; he is now third on the team in goals…The Isles are 3-3-1 in their last 7 home games after a 9-1-2 start…By NHL accounting, this was the 1,499th loss in team history (1558-1499-483)… The Isles are 5-9-2 in their last 16 games.
24 by New Years
Anders Lee is the first Islander since Pat LaFontaine to record 24 goals by the end of the calendar year. LaFontaine did it in both 87-88 and 89-90. Besides LaFontaine, the only other Islanders to do so are Mike Bossy (8 times), Bryan Trottier (3 times) and Anders Kallur (in 1980-81).
December to Remember
Anders Lee led the NHL with 11 goals last month. John Tavares shared the assist lead (16) with Claude Giroux while Josh Bailey went 7-15-22 to lead the league in points. For his efforts, Bailey was name the NHL's 2nd Star of the Month for December.
First Time in a Long Time
The Isles earned 102 standings points in calendar year 2017. It is the first time that the Isles have earned at least 100 points in a calendar year since 1983, when they tallied 105.
First Times in (Thankfully) a Long Time
The Isles have lost consecutive games by at least four goals for the first time since November 19-21, 2011.
The Isles (as a team) have allowed at least 37 shots in six straight games for the first time since a 7-game streak in March 2000.
Taking it Ten Games at a Time
Games 1-10: 5-4-1
Games 11-20: 6-3-1
Games 21-30: 6-3-1
Games 31-40: 3-6-1
Five's Alive
The Isles have scored at least five goals nine times at home (8-1-0) and thirteen times overall (12-1-0). The Isles have also scored one shootout winner for a fifth goal of the game (not included above). The Isles scored five goals (including shootout winners) in only 10 games all last season.
Five's Trouble
The Isles have allowed at least five goals five times at home (0-4-1) and eleven times overall (0-10-1). They have allowed at least five goals in all four of their regulation losses at home.
First Things First
The Isles have scored first fourteen times this season (13-1-0). The Isles won the first eleven times they scored first this season and had won a franchise-record 16 straight dating back to last season.
First Goal
The Isles are 13-1-0 when they score first and are 7-15-4 when they allow the opening goal.
A Favorable Comparison
The Isles are 20-16-4 this season; they were 16-16-8 through 39 games last season and won only 20 of their first 46 games last season (20-17-9). Their 20th win came in Doug Weight's fourth game as Islander head coach.
Lots of Wins
Jaroslav Halak has 223 career wins, leaving him two wins shy of Ken Wregget for 67th place on the all-time NHL win list.
Greiss, Greiss, Baby
Thomas Greiss is 9-5-2 on the season, including 6-3-0 in his last nine decisions.
Fastest to 40
Doug Weight is now 44-28-8 as an NHL coach. On December 4 in Florida, he reached 40 wins faster than any coach in Islander history:
Fewest Games to 40 Wins by an Islander Coach:
66 – Doug Weight (40-20-6)
80– Peter Laviolette 2001-02 (40-28-8-4)
82 – Ted Nolan 2006-07 (40-30-12)
86—Steve Stirling 2003-04 (40-31-11-4)
The Shots
Isles 12-8-6=26
Boston 9-17-12=38
The Isles are 6-6-2 when they outshoot their opponents, 0-1-0 when the shots are even, and 14-9-2 when they are outshot.
Offside Challenges
The Isles have challenged twice and been successful once.
10/10 vs STL Blues – unsuccessful; Isles killed ensuing power play.
10/12 @ Ana Ducks -- successful
The opponents have not challenged an Islander goal due to an offside so far this season.
Home and Road
The Islanders are 20-16-4 overall; 12-4-3 at home and 8-12-1 on the road.
Boston is 22-10-6 overall; 13-5-3 at home and 9-5-3 on the road.
By Division & Conference
The Isles are 5-4-1 in Division games and 15-12-3 in games versus other divisions. The Isles are 10-9-1 against the East and 10-7-3 against the West.
Our House
The Isles are 12-4-3 at home; they are 5-3-0 against the East and 7-1-3 against the West. All-time the Isles are 28-5-6 all-time at Barclays against the West.
In the Nets
Jaroslav Halak made 33 saves in his sixth straight start; he is 11-11-2 on the season and 8-8-0 in his career against Boston.
Tuukka Rask made 25 saves to improve to 14-8-3 on the season and 12-5-0 in his career against the Isles.
Power Plays
The Isles were 0-4 on the power play in 6:42 of PP time; Boston was 0-3 in 4:42 of PP time.
The Isles are 12-7-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 8-9-3 when they do not. The Isles are 11-11-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 9-5-2 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 19-5-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-11-2 when they do not.
One Goal Games
The Isles are 7-4-4 in games decided by a single goal including 1-4 in regulation. They are 4-3 in games decided in overtime and are 2-1 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.
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 4-3-0 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 3-4-0 on the back-end.
The next back-to-back set is January 4th in Philadelphia and January 5th vs. Pittsburgh.
Tired vs. Rested
• The Isles are 1-2-0 when both teams played the night before.
• The Isles are 5-0-0 when they are rested, and their opponents are not.
• The Isles are 2-2-0 when their opponents are rested, and the Isles are not.
• The Isles are 11-12-4 when both teams are rested.
Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Nick Leddy (23:48); Boston: xx (23:10)
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (4-1-1), Nick Leddy (11-14-2), John Tavares (2-1-0), Calvin deHaan (2-0-0).
Anders Lee led the forwards in ice-time (19:50). Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (17-10-4), Josh Bailey (2-1-0), Brock Nelson (0-1-0), Mathew Barzal (0-2-0), Andrew Ladd (1-1-0), Anders Lee (1-0-0).
Face-offs
Isles 20, Boston 30 (40%)
No Islander won more than he lost; Patrice Bergeron won 12 of 17 for Boston.
Face-offs by period: 1st period 6/17; 2nd period 6/16; 3rd period 8/17.
Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 14/38; Power play 3/8; Penalty kill 3/4.
Hit Count
Isles 25 (Thomas Hickey -4)
Boston 18 (Kevan Miller-3)
Fights
There were no fights. Season total – 4: (Boychuk 1, Mayfield 1, Cizikas 1, Chimera 1).
Blocked Shots
The Isles blocked 18 shots; Thomas Hickey led the way with four.
For the Corsi Crowd
All situations: Isles 58, Boston 66.
5-on-5 Isles 48, Boston 54.
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Sebastian Aho +4
Boston: Riley Nash +7
Night and Day
The Isles are 18-16-3 in night games and 2-0-1 in matinees. The Isles, who went 2-3-1 in matinees last season, will play six matinees this season; the next ones are January 7th vs New Jersey and January 13 at the Rangers (both 1pm).
Ironmen
Jason Chimera – 228 (including 106 for the Capitals), Jordan Eberle 191 (including 151 for the Oilers), Josh Bailey 189, Nick Leddy 117.
Century Club
Nick Leddy has joined a select group of defensemen in Islander history who have played at least 100 consecutive regular season games:
1. Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979 262
2. Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220 (*) (**)
3. Gerry Hart 3/1/1975-11/22/1977 198
4. Andrew MacDonald 12/19/2011- 3/2/2014 164 (**)
5. Janne Niinimaa 3/13/2004-1/7/2006 136 (**)
6. Ken Morrow 3/1/1980-12/29/1981 134 (*)
7. Mark Streit 10/8/2011-4/26/2013 130
8. Calvin deHaan 4/7/2016- 12/16/2017 118
9. Travis Hamonic 2/24/2012-1/12/2014 117
Nick Leddy 10/23/2016 – CURRENT 117
11.Travis Hamonic 11/24/2010– 2/4/2012 113 (*)
12. Jean Potvin 10/23/1975-1/2/1977 110
13. Kenny Jonsson 12/26/1996-2/4/1998 104
14. Thomas Hickey 4/26/2013- 11/22/2014 103
(*) Start of NHL career.
(**) Entire career with Islanders
Scratches
(Nikolay Kulemin -IR), (Calvin deHaan-IR), (Johnny Boychuk -IR), Dennis Seidenberg, Alan Quine
Total games lost: 100
Late Heroes
The Isles have scored three times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:
10/9 – STL Blues – Anders Lee (19:00); tied game, but Isles lost in shootout
12/7 – PIT Penguins – Brock Nelson (18:50); tied game, but Isles lost in overtime
12/27- BUF Sabres – Josh Bailey (18:51); tied game, and Isles won in overtime
Late Goals Allowed
The Isles have allowed a goal twice in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:
12/16 – LA Kings – Anze Kopitar (19:47); tied game, but Isles won in overtime
12/21—Ana Ducks – Rickard Rakell (18:45); tied game and Ducks won in overtime
7-11
The Isles have used 7 defensemen twice this season (10/19 @NYR, 10/21 vs SJ) and are 2-0-0 in those games. Under Doug Weight, the Isles are 6-0-0 when they dress seven natural defensemen.
All-time Islander Leader Boards:
Games Played (skaters)
1. Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900
…
7. Patrick Flatley 712 *** 8. Brent Sutter 694 *** 9. Josh Bailey 679 *** 10. Derek King 638 *** 11. John Tavares 626
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. John Tavares 256
…
20. Frans Nielsen and Alexei Yashin 119 *** 22. Josh Bailey, Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 *** 26. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 27. Anders Lee 107
Assists
1. Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553*** 4. Clark Gillies 359***5. John Tonelli 338 *** 6. John Tavares 330
…
13. Bobby Nystrom 278 *** 14. Billy Harris 259 *** 15. Tomas Jonsson 249 *** 16. Josh Bailey 238
Points
1. Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052 *** 4. Clark Gillies 663 ***5. Brent Sutter 610 *** 6. John Tavares 586
…
13. Billy Harris 443 *** 14. Kyle Okposo & Stefan Persson 369 *** 16. Josh Bailey 356
Games Played (Goalies)
1. Billy Smith 674 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318 *** 3. Glenn Resch 282
…
6. Glenn Healy 176 *** 7. Jaroslav Halak 148 *** 8. Roland Melanson 136*** 9. Mark Fitzpatrick 129 ***10. Garth Snow 127 *** 11. Evgeni Nabokov 123 *** 12. Thomas Greiss 110
Wins (Goalie)
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157 *** 3. Rick DiPietro 130***4. Kelly Hrudey 106 ***5. Jaroslav Halak 79 *** 6. Rollie Melanson 77*** 7. Glenn Healy 66 *** 8. Tommy Salo 62 *** 9. Thomas Greiss 58
Season Series Stats
Boston leads the season series two games to none (and four points to zero). The final meeting of the season will be in Brooklyn on January 18th.
The Isles have played very well at Barclays Center over the last 2½ seasons, going 59-27-15 in 101 games, but they are 0-4-0 against the Bruins in Brooklyn. The Isles are 1-9-0 in their last 10 home games against the B's.
On the Farm
Bridgeport is 16-12-2-1 on the season as they begin a three-game road trip in Wilkes-Barre-Scranton on Wednesday,
Tanner Fritz led Bridgeport with 35 points (10-25-35) at the time of his recall; Rookie Scott Eansor leads the team in goals with 13. Christopher Gibson is 12-6-1 in the nets with 2 shutouts; he has allowed only two goals in his last three starts.
The Sound Tigers visit Rochester on Friday and Toronto on Saturday as they begin a stretch where they'll play 6 of 8 on the road.
Up Next
THURSDAY, JANUARY 4th –ISLANDERS AT PHILADELPHIA 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 6:30PM), WFAN 660AM/101.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM]
The Isles will look for their first road victory in exactly a month as they head to Philadelphia to close out the first half of their season.
The Isles swept a home-and-home series from Philadelphia over Thanksgiving, getting overtime goals from Josh Bailey and Nick Leddy, and will be looking to win consecutive games in Philly for the first time since 2012.
The season series concludes on April 3rd at Barclays; the Isles will be back at Barclays to host Pittsburgh on Friday.
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
No comments:
Post a Comment