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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 ...

Saturday, February 11, 2012

The Skinny: Isles 2, Kings 1 (OT)

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick
Game 54
Isles 2, Kings 1 (OT)
Mark Streit scored 1:36 into overtime and Evgeni Nabokov made 34 saves as the Islanders defeated the Los Angeles Kings in front of 13,079 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The win move the Isles within eight points behind 8th place Toronto (who host Montreal on Saturday night) and ten points behind 7th place Ottawa.

The Scoring:
First Period
6:52 EV NYI 40 M.GRABNER(15) 4 M.EATON(3) 21 K.OKPOSO(18)
Second Period
5:20 EV L.A 48 A.LOKTIONOV(1) 23 D.BROWN(16) 7 R.SCUDERI(7)
Third Period – None
Overtime
1:36 EV NYI 2 M.STREIT(5) 26 M.MOULSON(24) 47 A.MACDONALD(5)

The Skinny: The Isles are 4-1-1 since the All-Star Break, 4-1-2 in their last seven and 7-2-2 in their last 11 games.  The Islanders are back to .500 for the 2nd time in three games and will look to go over .500 on Sunday afternoon. Streit's goal was his 2nd career overtime goal.  Loktionov recorded his first goal since February 16, 2011.  It's the first time the Islanders have ever beaten the Kings in a home overtime/ shootout game.  Grabner's goal was his first in nine games and the first Los Angeles has allowed in the opening period since January 15th.

The Shots
Los Angeles outshot the Isles 12-8 in the first period and 12-4 in the second period. The Isles outshot the Kings 12-11 in the third period and had the only shot of overtime. For the game, the Isles were outshot 35-25. 

Home and Road
The Islanders are 23-23-8 overall and are 12-12-5 at home. The Isles are 6-3-2 in their last 11 games at home.
The Kings are 26-20-10 overall and 11-9-6 on the road.  Los Angeles is 1-3-1 on their current six-game road trip, which concludes in Dallas.

In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov made 34 saves and improves to 13-13-0 on the season. With the victory, he passes Islander legend Billy Smith for 22nd place on the all-time wins list (306).  Nabokov has allowed only 5 goals in four appearances since the All-Star Game, has not allowed a goal in six overtimes, and is a perfect 5-0 in overtime/shootout games this season.  Nabokov is 7-2-0 in his last nine games; he is now 7th in the NHL in save percentage and 9th in goals against average.
Jonathan Quick made 23 saves for the Kings; he is 23-14-10 this season.

Leaning on #91
John Tavares has 54 points (22-32-54) on 124 Islander goals this season (44%).  No Islander since Zigmund Palffy has recorded points on over 40% of the team's goals in a complete season.
Tavares is 0-1-1 in five games in February after having 22 points on 35 Islander goals in January.

Streaking Streit
Mark Streit has goals in consecutive games for the first time since January 9-12, 2010.  He is the first Islander defenseman to have goals in consecutive games since Travis Hamonic did so in the final two games of last season.  The Isles have two overtime goals by defensemen this month after not having any since Streit scored on October 30, 2009 in Washington.

Power Plays
The Islanders went 0-2 on the power play while the Kings were 0-2. The Isles entered the game with the NHL's 7th best power play.  The Isles are 6-26 in the last 11 games on the power play and 12-48 in the last 19 games on the power play.
The Isles have killed 25-27 (92.6%) over the last 13 games and 49-53 (92.5%) over the last 24 games, dating back to December 16th. 

They Said It
Mark Streit: I made a little move, cut back and all of a sudden I was in front of the goalie and decided to score. It's one I'm going to remember.

They Tweeted It
@BComptonNHL: "What a move by Streit. #Isles win it in OT."

The Coach
"They took it to us in the second period. They tilted the ice. We were fortunate that Nabby made some big saves for us."

Leading Ice Men
Andrew MacDonald led the Isles with 24:42; Drew Doughty led Los Angeles with 25:41. It's the 7th time in eight games that Andrew MacDonald led the Isles in ice-time. 

In the Circle
The Islanders won 20 draws; Montreal  Los Angeles won 37. Josh Bailey won 6 of 14 for the Isles; Anze Kopitar won 17 of 22 and Mike Richards won 12 of 18 for Los Angeles.

 Heavy Hitters
The Islanders outhit Los Angeles 48-41; it was the most hits that the Isles have had in a game this season. NHL hit leader Matt Martin had five hits, raising his total to 250.  Martin, who had a club record 299 hits last season (hits have only been recorded since 2005-06) leads the NHL in hits by a wide margin.  He is on a pace to have 380 hits, which would be the highest total of any NHL player since the lockout.  MacDonald led the Isles with 7 hits; Matt Greene had nine hits for LA.

Lots of Blocks
The Isles were credited with 22 blocks, led by Aaron Ness' four.  Ness saw 18:23 of ice-time in his third NHL game.

Third Periods
Neither team scored in the third period. The Isles have been outscored 58-40 overall in the third period (46-33 excluding empty nets). In the first two periods, the Isles have been outscored 89-83. 

All-time Winners
The Islanders are five games over all-time NHL .500 (1336-1331-429 in 3,096 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 75 goals in their 23 wins (3.27 per game) and 51 goals in their other 31 games (0-23-8; 1.61 per game).  In their 23 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 29 goals (1.27 per game).

Head of the Class
John Tavares has 175 career points; he is 29 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 in late December and has not yet resumed skating.)

Longest Point Streaks in NHL, Last 2 Seasons
·         Sidney Crosby, 25 games (11/5/10-12/28/10)
·         John Tavares, 12 games (12/29/11-1/21/12)
·         Ilya Kovalchuk 12 games (2/1/11-2/25/11)
Friends, Friends, Friends
Moulson has 24 goals this season; John Tavares has earned assists on 16 of them.  He has now been on-ice for 48 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 32 of them, dating back to a Moulson goal on November 17, 2010 against Tampa. 

MOT-ley Crew?
Since being put together 20 games ago, Matt Moulson is 8-12-20, Kyle Okposo is 6-10-16, and John Tavares is 10-17-27.  The Isles are 12-6-2 in those games.

20-20-20, 30-30-30?
Matt Moulson is the first Islander since Jason Blake (4 seasons: 2002-03 to 2006-07) to have at least three consecutive 20-goal seasons. He is six goals away from a third consecutive 30-goal season; no Islander since Ziggy Palffy has accomplished that feat. In fact, no Islander since Palffy has had three consecutive 25-goal seasons.  Moulson has 85 goals as an Islander – the most by any Islander since the lockout.

20-20-20 x 2
Moulson and Tavares are the first Islander teammates to record at least twenty goals in three straight seasons since Mark Parrish and Jason Blake did so in 2002-03, 2003-04, and 2005-06.  Tavares, by the way, is the fifth player to score at least 20 goals for the Islanders in each of his first three NHL seasons, joining:
·         Billy Harris (first six seasons: 1972-73 through 1977-78),
·         Clark Gillies (five: 1974-75 through 1978-79),
·         Bryan Trottier (13: 1975-76 through 1987-88) and
·         Mike Bossy (all 10 seasons: 1977-78 through 1986-87).

As Seen on MSG+
Kyle Okposo recorded a point for his 14th consecutive home game.  It's the longest streak on home ice by an Islander since Ziggy Palffy also had a 14-game home streak.

Ironman
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 218 games since joining the team. Moulson's streak is the longest for an Islander since Richard Park played in 221 games from October 2006- February 2009.  Moulson is one of only five Islanders in the last thirty years to appear in 200 consecutive games:
·         Richard Park 10/5/2006 – 2/18/2009 221
·         Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220
·         Bryan Trottier 3/7/1981- 1/12/1984 219
·         Matt Moulson 10/3/2009-CURRENT  218
·         Mariusz Czerkawski 12/23/1999 – 4/14/2002 215
Billy Harris played in the first 576 games in Islander history; that figure still stands as the club record.
Mark Streit is the only Islander defender to appear in every game this season.

Missing Men
Travis Hamonic (broken nose) and Rhett Rakhshani (healthy) were scratched.  Dylan Reese, Marty Reasoner, Mike Mottau, Rick DiPietro, and Mark Katic are on injured reserve.  The Isles have lost 266 man-games to injury so far this season.  Al Montoya dressed as the back-up. 

List Time
Career Wins, Active Goalies
4. Evgeni Nabokov  306
Career Wins
21. Sean Burke 324
23. Billy Smith 305
Most First Goals of Game (NHL This Season)
1
Matt Moulson
9
2
Evander Kane
7
2
Loui Eriksson
7
Career Goals as an Islander
32
Butch Goring
87
33
Matt Moulson
85
34
Tomas Jonsson
84
35
Wayne Merrick
81
35
Dave Scatchard
81
37  
Marty McInnis
79
38
Miroslav Satan
78
39
Claude Lapointe
76
40
John Tavares
75
41
Lorne Henning
73
41
JP Parise
73



Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
58
Arron Asham
300
58
Roman Hamrlik
300
60
Frans Nielsen
291
61
Gord Dineen
287
62
Jeff Norton
282
63
Steve Thomas
275
64
Josh Bailey
265
65
Blake Comeau
261
65
Andre St. Laurent
261






74
Miro Satan
243
74
Kyle Okposo
243
76
Bryan Berard
242
77
JP Parise
240



88
Andy Hilbert
218
88
Matt Moulson
218
90
John Tavares
215
91
Paul Boutilier
211
92
Mark Streit
210
92
Gary Nylund
209
94
Tom Fitzgerald
205









Career Points as an Islander
39
Lorne Henning
184
40
John Tavares
175
41
Randy Wood
172



50
Roman Hamrlik
153
51
Matt Moulson
149
52
Kyle Okposo
146
53
Frans Nielsen
145
54
Michael Peca
142



Season Series Stats
The Islanders win the only match-up of the teams this season (2 points to 1).  It's the straight season the Isles have defeated Los Angeles on Coliseum ice after having not done so since 1998.

Happy Anniversary
1 year ago tonight (2-11-11):  In one of the most memorable nights at the Coliseum in recent years, the Islanders pound the Pittsburgh Penguins 9-3 at the Coliseum. Rookie defender Travis Hamonic recorded the "Gordie Howe Hat Trick". 
All-time, the Isles, who won four Stanley Cups before ever losing on February 11th,  are 11-3-2 on this date.
On The Farm
The Sound Tigers host Springfield on Saturday night. Bridgeport is 11-1-0-1 in their last 13 games and trail the Connecticut Whale by two points. Casey Cizikas continues red hot; he now has points in eight straight games and 15 of the last 16.

Up Next
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12th   FLORIDA AT ISLANDERS 3:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders Game Night at 2:30pm), WRHU (88.7FM)]
The Islanders conclude the three-game homestand when the entertain the Southeast division-leading Florida Panthers.  The Cats won 3-1 in Newark on Saturday afternoon and own two regulation victories over the Islanders this season.
Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 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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