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The Skinny: Rangers 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny" By Eric Hornick Game 68 Rangers 5, Isles 2 Johnny Brodzinski broke a 2-2 tie with 4:59 left in the middle period and ...

Monday, November 14, 2011

No "O" in Isles Defense

The Isles do not have a single even strength goal from their defensemen this season.

As Brian Compton of NHL.com pointed out, the Rangers (who visit the Coliseum tomorrow) have 8. 

Overall, the other 29 teams (entering Monday's play) have 131 even-strength goals from their defenders -- about 4 1/2 per team.

It's not that the Isles defense has scored many even strength goals in the recent past.  They had only 15 all last season; Travis Hamonic was the last to score (4/8 vs Pittsburgh) while Andrew MacDonald (3/5 vs St. Louis) was the last defender to score two even strength goals in a game last season.

In 41 road games last season, Isles defenders managed only three even strength goals:
Radek Martinek: 10/15/2010 at Pittsburgh
Jack Hillen: 1/21/2011 at Buffalo
Travis Hamonic: 2/1/2011 at Atlanta.

While one could note that the Isles played all last season without Mark Streit, the Isles captain has 28 goals since joining the squad, including one this season.  Twenty (20) have come on the power play while one was shorthanded; only seven have come at even strength.

The Isles defense recorded 20 even-strength goals in 2009-10.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

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