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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 ...

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

The Skinny: Ottawa 3, Isles 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick
 
Game 16: Sens 3, Isles 1
Andre Benoit and Dave Dziurzynski each scored their first NHL goal as the Ottawa Senators, playing without injured stars Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson, defeated the Islanders 3-1 before 18,595 at ScotiaBank Place. Craig Anderson made 37 saves, as he lowered his goals against average to 1.57.

The Scoring:
 
1st Period
NONE
 
2nd Period
06:01    OTT      PPG - C. Greening (2) Wrist - ASST: S. Da Costa (1) AND D. Alfredsson (6) 1 - 0 OTT     
08:37    OTT      A. Benoit (1) Slap - ASST: J. Silfverberg (3)        2 - 0 OTT          
 
3rd Period
02:44    NYI       T. Hamonic (2) Wrist - ASST: M. Reasoner (2) AND K. Okposo (4)           2 - 1 OTT          
17:25    OTT      D. Dziurzynski (1) Wrist - ASST: Z. Smith (6) AND E. Gryba (1)    3 - 1 OTT
           
The Skinny:
The Sens had gone 0-24 on the power play in the past six games…Hamonic's goal ended a 103:19 scoreless streak; it was Travis' first goal since opening night and the Isles' first goal by a defenseman since January 31st…Ottawa has outscored their opponent 20-5 in the second period this season… Ottawa coach Paul MacLean recorded his 50th win behind the Senator bench…Rookie defenseman Eric Gryba recorded his first NHL point on the Dziurzynski goal.

The Shots:
Isles          8-17-13=38
Senators    7-10-9=26
 
The 38 shots are the most for the Islanders on the road this season and match the most the Islanders have had in any road game since December 2, 2011 (41 in Chicago).
 
Home and Road
The Islanders are 6-9-1 overall, 2-6-0 at home and 4-3-1 on the road. 
The Senators are 9-6-2 overall, 6-1-2 at home and 3-5-0 on the road.

In the Nets
Rick DiPietro made 23 saves as he falls to 0-3-0 on the season.  The three goals are the fewest DiPietro has allowed in any appearance this season. DiPietro is now 4-7-0 vs. Ottawa; this was his first appearance vs. the Sens since January 29, 2008.
Craig Anderson made 37 saves as he improved to 8-4-2 on the season and 5-4-2 vs. the Isles. Anderson, who was 13-30-7 in his first 50 career decisions, is 112-84-25 since then.

Power Plays
The Isles went 0-4 on the power play while the Sens were 1-5.  The Isles have allowed a power play goal in five straight games.

They Said It
"(Anderson) played well. He's probably been the best goalie in the league this year.  You can see he's playing with a lot of confidence. He's challenging a lot of shots."

They Tweeted It
@SunGarrioch: David Alphabet on first goal: "You dream of it as a kid. It's a great feeling that's tough to explain right now," said Dziurzynski. #Sens

The Coach
"I thought we had some good chances tonight. Our guys played hard. We had some looks. We've just got to bear down a little bit more. But give Anderson credit. He played well."

Head of the Class
John Tavares has 222 career points; he is 61 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks.  No other player in that draft is anywhere close.  Tavares also has more goals and more assists than any other player in that draft.

Friends, Friends, Friends
Matt Moulson has seven goals this season; John Tavares has earned an assist on four of them.  Tavares has now been on-ice for 67 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 44 of them, dating back to a Moulson goal on November 17, 2010 against Tampa. 

110 NHL Goals
Moulson has 110 career goals (104 as an Islander).  While 262 players were selected before the Penguins chose Moulson in the 2003 entry draft, only 17 have more goals. 

Leading Ice Men
Marc Streit played 25:45 to lead the Isles. Marc Methot led the Sens with 24:24.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 26 draws; the Senators won 24.  Marty Reasoner won 7 of 11 for the Isles; Zack Smith won 9 of 16 for Ottawa.

Heavy Hitters
The Islanders were out-hit 23-14; Matt Martin led the Isles with four hits.  There were no fights, leaving the season total at 9.

Under .500
The Islanders fall one game under all-time NHL .500 (1353-1354-433 in 3,140 games).  The Isles have been one game below .500 twice last season and twice this season. Prior to that, they had not been below NHL .500 since they were 177-178-83 prior to their victory on January 16, 1978.

3 Usually Enough
The Isles are 6-1-1 when scoring at least three goals and 0-8-0 when scoring two or less.

A Tale of Two Months
The Isles were 4-2-1 in January, outscoring their opponents 27-23.  The Isles are 2-7-0 in February, and have been outscored 34-18.

Road Tripping
This was the first of a three game road trip, and the only five days that the Isles are away from the Metropolitan area in February.  The Isles are 0-1-0 on the trip with games remaining in Montreal and Buffalo.

Battling the Northeast
This was the first game of an eight game stretch in which the Isles will play seven Northeast opponents, one Southeast opponent, and no divisional (Atlantic) opponents. 

Ironmen
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 262 games since joining the team.  Moulson tied Denis Potvin (also a 262 game streak) for 3rd place all-time. Moulson's streak is the longest for an Islander in the Post-Cup era.  Billy Harris played in the first 576 games in Islander history; that figure still stands as the club record. 
Three other Islanders, Frans Nielsen, John Tavares and Mark Streit, also played in every game last season.  Tavares extended his streak to 175 consecutive games, while Nielsen and Streit have each played in 98.

Longest Consecutive Game Streaks, Islander History 
1. Billy Harris 576 
2. Bob Nystrom 301
3. Matt Moulson 262
3. Denis Potvin 262
 
Missing Men
Radek Martinek, David Ullstrom and Thomas Hickey were scratched. Matt Carkner and Brian Strait are on injured reserve. Jesse Joensuu remains suspended after suffering an injury in Europe.

Scoring
The Isles have scored 28 goals in their 6 wins (4.67 per game) and 17 goals in their other 10 games (0-9-1; 1.70 per game).  In their 9 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 13 goals (1.44 per game).

Career Wins, Active Goalies
 
Career Wins
21. Sean Burke 324
23. Miikka Kiprusoff 313
 
Career Goals as an Islander
 
22
Benoit Hogue
105
 
 
22
Ed Westfall
105
 
 
24
Matt Moulson
104
 
 
25
Anders Kallur
101
 
 
26
Trent Hunter
 99
 
 
27
John Tavares
95
 
 
27
Mikko Makela
95
 
 
27
David Volek
95
 
 



 
 



 
Career Assists as an Islander – active players
 
1
John Tavares
127
 
2
Mark Streit
122
 
3
Frans Nielsen
121
 
4
Kyle Okposo
  96
 













Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
43
Marty McInnis
337
 
44
Frans Nielsen
335
 
45
Butch Goring
332
 
45
Oleg Kvasha
332
 



 
58
Gord Lane
304
59
Arron Asham
300
59
Roman Hamrlik
300
61
Josh Bailey
298
62
Gord Dineen
287
 
62
Kyle Okposo
287
 
64
Jeff Norton
282
 
65
Steve Thomas
275
 
66
Matt Moulson
262
 
67
Blake Comeau
261
 
67
Andre St. Laurant
261
 
69
John Tavares
259
 
69
Brad Lauer
259
 
71
Benoit Hogue
258
 
72
Pierre Turgeon
255
 
73
Mark Streit
254
 
74
Jude Drouin
250
 



 
 
 
 
 
Career Points as an Islander
28
Benoit Hogue
229
28
Trent Hunter
229
30
John Tavares
222
31
Mikko Makela
219



38
Butch Goring
195
39
Jeff Norton
188
40
Matt Moulson
187
41
Lorne Henning
184
42
Frans Nielsen
176
43
Randy Wood
172
44
Claude Lapointe
171
44
JP Parise
171
46
Shawn Bates
170
47
Jude Drouin
169
48
Dave Scatchard
168
49
Miroslav Satan
166
49
Kyle Okposo
166
51
Mark Streit
158
51
Oleg Kvasha
158
53
Alan Kerr
154
 
 
 
Season Series Stats
The Senators lead the season series one game to none (two points to zero).  This was the Islanders' only visit to Ottawa this season; the Sens will be at the Coliseum on March 3rd and March 19th.
The Isles have lost four straight to Ottawa, and have been outscored in those games by a combined total of 19-4.

Happy Anniversary
34 years ago today (2-19-79):  Four different Islander goalies have earned shutouts on this date, but if it is February 19th, you have to think about Mike Bossy, who on this date in 1979 scored his 100th career goal in an 8-3 Islander win in Los Angeles.  Bossy became the fastest player in NHL history to reach 100 goals, doing so in the second period of his 129th goal.  The Kings' goalie was Ron Grahame, who 23 months later would give up Bossy's 50th in 50 games.
All-time, the Isles are 12-5-0 on this date.
On The Farm
Bridgeport is 22-21-3-3.  The Sound Tigers are tied for third with Albany in the Northeast Division after being swept in a home-and-home series by Providence.  Bridgeport is off until Friday, when they visit Springfield. Nino Niederreiter continues to lead Bridgeport in goals (22) and points (39).

Up Next
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21st ISLANDERS AT MONTREAL (7:30PM)
[MSG+2 (Pre-game show at 7:00PM), WRHU (88.7FM)]

The Islanders continue their three game road trip with a game in Montreal against Les Habitants.  It's the first of three meetings this season with the Canadiens. 
The Islanders have had some success in Montreal in recent years, going 4-3-1 (including 1-1-0 last year); however, all four Isles win have been in overtimes or shootouts, leaving Montreal 7-0-4 in the last 11 at home against the Isles.  That streak began on March 13, 2007 – the game that Rick DiPietro suffered a concussion in a collision with Steve Begin.

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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