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The Skinny: Isles 5, Pittsburgh 4

"The Skinny" By Eric Hornick Game 82 Isles 5, Pittsburgh 4    On to the Playoffs! Simon Holmstrom scored the winning goal with 5:3...

Monday, January 21, 2008

Monday not a funday

The Isles entertain Carolina this afternoon. They'll be looking to reverse a recent stretch of Monday home games in which the Isles have had very little success.

Since defeating Ottawa 5-2 in 2004, also on MLK Day, the Isles have played 11 Monday games at the Coliseum and won only once -- last President Day's 6-5 thriller over Pittsburgh. In the other 10, the Isles have 6 losses, 1 tie, 2 overtime losses and a shootout loss.

The Isles won twice earlier this season on the road on Mondays (at MSG in November and in Carolina on New Year's Eve). Those wins ended an 8-game road Monday losing streak (0-7-1 overtime loss)

This will be the Isles' 7th MLK matinee. The Isles are 2-3-1 in the prior 6, including a 4-3 loss last season to Tampa Bay. Perhaps the most infamous MLK matinee was in 1997. As the AP reported,

<<UNIONDALE, N.Y. - When the Islanders didn't skate in the third period New York coach Mike Milbury kept them around for a fourth.
After his team gave up four goals in the third period in a 6-4 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Monday, Milbury brought the Islanders back on Nassau Coliseum's ice after the game for 33 minutes of hard skating. ``When you don't produce an effort, you have to do something as a coach,'' Milbury said.>>

MLK Matinees:
17-Jan-94 Vs Florida 1 2 L
15-Jan-96 Vs Tampa Bay 3 2 W
20-Jan-97 Vs St. Louis 4 6 L
17-Jan-00 Vs Ottawa 3 4 Lot
19-Jan-04 Vs Ottawa 5 2 W
15-Jan-07 Vs Tampa Bay 3 4 L
21-Jan-08 Vs Carolina


Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

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