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The Skinny: Isles 4, New Jersey 1 - Isles clinch a Playoff Spot!

"The Skinny" By Eric Hornick Game 81 Isles 4, New Jersey 1    They're in! Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Kyle Palmieri scored goals 4...

Tuesday, January 03, 2012

No time for Isles to be Special

I've noted in the past several editions of The Skinny that the Isles have been in a rather historical stretch of shorthanded infrequency.   "The Isles have killed 13-14 (92.9%) over the last seven games; it's the fewest times they have been shorthanded in a 7-game stretch since at least the mid-1980's."

This is found in the season to date numbers as well--on both the power play and penalty kill:

Isles have had the fewest number of power plays in the NHL : 119, which is three fewer than Phoenix and six fewer than Dallas.

However, Isles have also been shorthanded only 118 times - tied with Columbus for the 2nd fewest.  San Jose has been short 111 times.

The 237 times combined is two more than San Jose for the lowest total in the NHL.  It is 97 times (combined) fewer than Philadelphia, who have been involved in 334 power plays, for and against this season.

Through 573 games this season, the average NHL game has featured 7.4 PP/game.  The average Islander game is noticably less: 6.6

The Isles are on pace to have 271 power plays and 269 penalty kills; they had 302 PPs and 310 PKs last season.

271 would be the fewest pp's the Isles have had in a full season since they 268 in an 80-game schedule in 1982-83.

269 would be the fewest pk's the Isles have had in a full season since they were short 261 times in 1972-73 and 262 times in 1973-74; however, both of those seasons were 78 games long, meaning that they are currently on pace to be shorthanded fewer times than any year in their history.

The Isles are also the 6th-least penalized team in the league (10.4 PIM per game).  The club record is 11.3 pen mins per game, set in 1972-73, and equaled in 2009-10.
 
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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