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The Skinny: Isles 4, Buffalo 3

"The Skinny" By Eric Hornick Game 11 Isles 4, Buffalo 3 Bo Horvat and Maxim Tsyplakov each scored a goal and added an assist, and ...

Saturday, January 07, 2012

The Skinny: Coyotes 5, Isles 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick
 
Game 39
Phoenix 5, Isles 1
 
Shane Doan, playing his 1,161st NHL game, recorded his first career hat trick as the Phoenix Coyotes defeated the Islanders 5-1 in front of 13,350 at Jobing.com Arena. Doan's third goal just beat the game's final horn. The loss extends the Islanders' losing streak to two games.

The Scoring:
1st Period
01:41 PHX Shane Doan (10) - ASST: M. Boedker (8) AND D. Langkow (12)
10:00 NYI PPG - Frans Nielsen (7) - ASST: J. Tavares (23) AND P. Parenteau (26)
 
2nd Period
01:39 PHX Shane Doan (11) - ASST: K. Yandle (20)
03:41 PHX Taylor Pyatt (5) - ASST: L. Korpikoski (9) AND M. Pouliot (1)
14:39 PHX Oliver Ekman-Larsson (7) - ASST: R. Vrbata (14) AND R. Klesla (7)
 
3rd Period
19:59 PHX Shane Doan (12) – ASST: R. Whitney (22) AND O. Ekman-Larsson (10)

The Skinny: 
John Tavares extended his point streak to five games but Kyle Okposo's four-game point streak and Matt Moulson's three-game streak came to an end. Tavares has two goals and seven assists in those five games (including three multi-point games).  It's the 39th time in his career that Doan has scored at least twice in a game but his first NHL hat trick.

The Shots
The Islanders outshot the Coyotes 11-7 in the first period, 13-11 in the second period and 8-7 in the third period.  For the game, the Isles outshot Phoenix 32-25.

Home and Road
The Islanders are 14-19-6 overall and are 6-10-3 on the road.  They are 6-5-1 in their last 12 road games, after going 0-5-2 in their first seven away from home. 
The Coyotes are 20-17-5 overall and 8-8-3 at home.  It is Phoenix' second win in the last eight games (2-4-2).

In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov, making his eight straight start, made 20 saves but falls to 5-10-0 on the season.  Nabby is 22-13-5 in his career against Phoenix with 7 shutouts, more than against any opponent.
Mike Smith made 31 saves for Phoenix; he had a save against every Islander except Mark Eaton.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-2 on the power play; the Coyotes were 0-3.  The Isles are 8-20 on the power play over the last seven games after going just 1-22 in the previous seven games.
The Isles have killed 19-20 (95%) over the last ten games.

Stuck at 298
Evgeni Nabokov has 298 career wins. He is just two wins shy of becoming the 26th goalie in NHL history with 300 career wins. Among current NHL goalies, only Martin Brodeur, Nikolai Khabibulin and Roberto Luongo have more career wins.

They Said It
Paul Bissonette, one of the NHL's most prolific tweeters:  "#ShaneDoan, hats are a good thing.  (in front of a picture of Doan with hundreds of them)

They Tweeted It
@bcomptonnhl: Must congratulate Shane Doan on finally getting a hat trick. A class act every time I've dealt with him.

The Coach
"We lost a couple of one-on-one battles…and there was that (bad) line change."

Leading Ice Men
Andrew MacDonald led the Isles with 22:56; Oliver Ekman-Larsson led all players with 24:01. Shane Doan, given extra shifts in pursuit of his hat trick, played 21:15.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 21 draws; Phoenix won 31. Frans Nielsen was the Isles' best, winning four of 6, but Josh Bailey went 0-9. Marc-Antoine Pouliot won 8 of 9 for Phoenix.

Heavy Hitters
The Islanders out-hit Phoenix 34-19.  Matt Martin had seven hits for the Isles while Nino Niederreiter had six.  Martin was the only Islander who was not on-ice for a Phoenix goal.

Trailing Early
The Isles allowed a goal on the first shot for the eighth time this season.  The Isles are 2-4-2 when they allow a goal on the first shot.  It was also the eighth time that the Isles have allowed a goal in the first five minutes.  They are 1-5-2 in those situations this season.

Third Periods
The Isles were outscored 1-0 in the third period; they have been outscored 46-24 overall in the third period (36-21 excluding empty nets); the 24 goals scored are the fewest of any team in the third period.  In the first two periods, the Isles have been outscored 73-64. 

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are now 2-2-0 on the back-end of back-to-backs.  They have been swept in both ends of their last two back-to-backs.

38 to Go
The Isles have scored 9,962 goals in their history (excluding 42 shootout winners), leaving the club 38 shy of 10,000.

Back to .500
The Islanders drop back to all-time NHL .500 (1327-1327-427 in 3,081 games).  The Isles have twice this season been one game below .500. Prior to this season, they had not been below NHL .500 since they were 177-178-83 prior to their victory on January 16, 1978.

Scoring
The Isles have scored 49 goals over the last 18 games (9-7-2) after scoring only 15 in the previous nine games (1-6-2).  The Isles have scored 44 goals in their 13 wins (3.39 per game) and 40 goals in their other 25 games (0-19-6; 1.60 per game).  In their 19 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 24 goals (1.26 per game).

Head of the Class
John Tavares had an assist, giving him nine points over the last five games.  He now has 157 career points; he is 11 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks.  No other player in that draft is anywhere close. (Duchene suffered a knee injury last week and is expected to miss the next month.)

Friends, Friends, Friends
Moulson has 18 goals this season; John Tavares has earned assists on 12 of them.  He has now been on-ice for 42 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 28 of them, dating back to Moulson goal on November 17, 2010 against Tampa.  Moulson is now 12 goals away from a third consecutive 30-goal season; no Islander since Ziggy Palffy has accomplished that feat.

Missing Men
Al Montoya (concussion), Marty Reasoner (broken thumb) and Dylan Reese (healthy) were scratched.  Mike Mottau, David Ullstrom, Rick DiPietro, and Mark Katic are on injured reserve.  The Isles have lost 192 man-games to injury so far this season.  Anders Nilsson dressed as the back-up to Nabokov for the eighth straight game.

Milestone Men
Three Islanders had milestone games:
·         Josh Bailey played in his 250th Isles/NHL game
·         John Tavares played in his 200th Isles/NHL game
·         Mark Streit played in his 400th NHL game

Ironmen
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 203 games since joining the team. He is the 93rd skater in Islander history to appear in 200 games. Moulson's streak is the longest for an Islander since Richard Park played in 221 games from October 2006- February 2009.  Travis Hamonic has now played 101 NHL games (all consecutive); he has the longest consecutive game streak on defense for the Isles. 

Century Club
Hamonic is only the 8th defensemen in Islander history to play in 100 consecutive games and the first since Janne Niinimaa.
·         Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979  262
·         Bryan McCabe 10/7/95-2/4/98 220
·         Gerry Hart 3/1/75-11/22/77 198
·         Janne Niinimaa 3/13/2004-1/7/2006 136
·         Ken Morrow 3/1/1980-12/29/1981 134
·         Jean Potvin 10/23/75-1/2/77 110
·         Kenny Jonsson 12/26/96-2/4/98 104
·         Travis Hamonic 11/24/10 – CURRENT 101
Like Hamonic, McCabe and Morrow's streaks came at the start of their NHL careers.  Niinimaa's streak included the only 136 games he played as an Islander.

List Time
Career Wins, Active Goalies
4. Evgeni Nabokov  298
 
Career Goals, Active Players
13. Patrik Elias 348
15. Dany Heatley 337
 
Career Goals as an Islander
34
Wayne Merrick
81
34
Dave Scatchard
81
36
Marty McInnis
79
36
Matt Moulson
79
38
Miroslav Satan
78
 
42
Alan Kerr
69
43
Brad Isbister
67
44
John Tavares
66
45
Jude Drouin
64
 
Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
61
Jeff Norton
282
62
Frans Nielsen
276
63
Steve Thomas
275



68
Pierre Turgeon
255
69
Jude Drouin
250
70
Josh Bailey
250
71
Brendan Witt
247
71
Brad Isbister
247
73
Sean Bergenheim
246



91
Tom Fitzgerald
205
92
Matt Moulson
203
93
Billy Carroll
200
93
John Tavares
200
95
Ralph Stewart
199
96
Mark Streit
195
97
Tom Kurvers
192
97
Todd Bertuzzi
192
 
Career Points as an Islander
46
Miroslav Satan
166
47
John Tavares
157
48
Oleg Kvasha
156
49
Alan Kerr
154
50
Roman Hamrlik
153
51
Michael Peca
142
52
Dave Lewis
141
53
Robert Reichel
140
53
Frans Nielsen
140
55
Bryan Smolinski
139
 
Season Series Stats
The Coyotes win the only meeting of the season between the teams. This was the first game between the teams since 2004 that was not decided by a single goal.

Happy Anniversary
18 years ago tonight (1-7-94): Jamie McLennan makes his NHL debut a successful one as the Islanders get three points apiece from Pierre Turgeon, Steve Thomas and Tom Kurvers as they defeat Calgary 6-2 at the Coliseum.
Overall, the Isles are 8-10-0 on this date, but have won only once since McLennan's victory.

On The Farm
Kevin Poulin has had a perfect start to 2012.  Saturday night in Portland he recorded his third consecutive shutout as Bridgeport blanked Portland 4-0.  Bridgeport is 15-17-3-1 on the season.  Poulin broke Rick DiPietro's team record and the team is just 4:16 away from the club record scoreless streak.  Bridgeport visits Providence on Sunday afternoon.

Up Next
TUESDAY, JANUARY 10th DETROIT AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders Game Night at 6:30pm), WRHU (88.7FM)]
The Islanders return home and begin a four-game homestand as they entertain Detroit.
The Red Wings have been one of the most successful teams in the NHL in recent years, but not against the Islanders.  The Isles have earned points in each of the last five meetings between the teams, going 4-0-1.

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.
 
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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