Sunday, March 03, 2013

The Skinny: Isles 3, Ottawa 2 (shootout)


"The Skinny"

 By Eric Hornick
Game 22
Isles 3, Ottawa 2 (SO)
Evgeni Nabokov made 29 saves and the Islanders got shootout goals from Frans Nielsen and John Tavares and the Islanders overcome allowing a "first NHL goal" from Patrick Wiercioch as they defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-2 before 13,512 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.  The Islanders now have points on home-ice in consecutive games for the first time this season as they improve to 3-8-1 at the Coliseum.

The Scoring:

1st Period
07:48    NYI       B. Boyes (5) Wrist - ASST: M. Moulson (14) AND M. Streit (8)     1 - 0 NYI          
2nd Period
08:36    OTT      M. Zibanejad (4) Wrist - ASST: C. Neil (3)            1 - 1 TIE           
3rd Period
16:31    NYI       M. Grabner (8) Wrist - ASST: M. Reasoner (4)     2 - 1 NYI          
18:51    OTT      PPG - P. Wiercioch (1) Tip-In - ASST: K. Turris (9) AND S. Gonchar (7)     2 - 2 TIE           

The Shootout
F. Nielsen  SCORES/ J.Silverberg FAILS/B. Boyes FAILS/D. Alfredsson FAILS/J. Tavares SCORES  Isles win shootout 2-0

The Skinny: The Isles have scored five goals in the first periods of their last four games after scoring only seven first-period goals in their first 18 games…Although he scored the shootout goal that clinched the game, John Tavares was technically pointless for the 3rd straight game; the Isles are now 1-7-1 when Tavares is held without a point…Ottawa has outscored their opponents 25-9 in the second period this season; their +16 differential is the largest in the NHL...Tavares how has 86 shots on goal, tied with Zach Parise for the NHL lead; Matt Moulson is 5th, with 83 shots on goal.

The Shots:
Isles        11-12-7-5=35
Senators  6-11-10-4=31
Home and Road
The Islanders are 9-11-2 overall, 3-8-1 at home and 6-3-1 on the road. 
The Senators are 12-7-4 overall, 9-1-2 at home and 3-6-2 on the road.

In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov made 29 saves as he improves to 9-7-2.  Nabokov is 2-0 in shootouts this season, and has not allowed a goal to the four shooters he has faced.
Robin Lehner made 33 saves for Ottawa. He is now 0-0-2 on the season, despite a 1.89 GAA.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-5 while the Sens were 1-3.
The Isles are 7-2-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-9-1 when they do not.

They Said It
John Tavares: "The biggest thing for me is that I didn't feel like I had that extra gear at times. I tried to keep my shifts short to stay as fresh as I could. I tried to keep my energy as high as I could."  Tavares has been under the weather for the past couple of days.

They Tweeted It
@StapeNewsday #Isles will now have been tied or led in the 3rd period in 17 of their 22 games. (9-6-2 in those games after today's win.)

The Coach
"I told them yesterday that I'm tired of hearing about it.  I'm tired of listening about our home record, how we play at home. We have one singular focus, and that is to win hockey games."

As Tavares Goes…
The Isles are 1-0-0 when Tavares has four points, 1-0-1 when he has three points, 3-2-0 when he has two points, 3-2-0 when he has one point, and 1-7-1 when Tavares is pointless.

What a Pair!
John Tavares and Matt Moulson were held scoreless but have combined for 23 goals. Among teammates, only James Neal and Chris Kunitz (24) have more.  Moulson has assisted on 10 Tavares goals this season after assisting on 12 of his 31 goals last season.

Head of the Class
John Tavares has 227 career points; he is 60 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 ten goals this season; John Tavares has earned an assist on seven of them.  Tavares has now been on-ice for 39 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 25 of them, dating back to a Moulson goal on November 26, 2011 against New Jersey.  Since November of 2010, Tavares has been on-ice for 69 of 70 Moulson goals, earning 47 assists.

113 NHL Goals
Moulson has 113 career goals (107 as an Islander).  While 262 players were selected before the Penguins chose Moulson in the 2003 entry draft, only 17 have more goals.  Moulson is two goals behind Nikolai Zherdev for 16th place.

Leading Ice Men
Lubomir Visnovsky played 26:28 to lead the Isles.  Marc Methot led Ottawa with 27:57.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 28 draws; the Sens won 27.  Casey Cizikas won 7 of 9 for the Isles; Jim O'Brien won 7 of 12 for Ottawa.

Heavy Hitters
The Islanders were out-hit 43-33; Matt Martin led the Isles with 11 hits; he now leads the NHL with 104. Chris Neal led Ottawa with 9. There were no fights, leaving the Isles' season total at 10.

Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 14 blocked shots. Andrew MacDonald led the Isles with five. He is tied-4th in the NHL with 58 blocks on the season

Back to .500
The Islanders regain all-time NHL .500 (1356-1356-434 in 3,146 games).  The Isles have been one game below .500 twice last season and four times 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.

Good Start to March
The Isles were 4-2-1 in January and 4-9-1 in February.  The Isles are 1-0-0 in March.

Battling the Northeast
This was the seventh game in an eight game stretch that the Islanders play seven Northeast opponents. The Isles are 3-2-1 against their first six Northeast opponents, with Montreal upcoming.

Nobody Beats the Viz
Lubomir Visnovsky has been on ice for 20 of the 32 Islander goals in his 11 games with the team.  Being on the ice when is team scores is nothing new for Visnovsky; he led the entire NHL in 2010-11 when he was on-ice for 146 Anaheim goals (13 more than Henrik Sedin).

Lots of Home Cooking
This was the fourth game of a seven-game homestand, which matches the club record.
·         October 7- October 28, 1972  (1-5-1 in the first seven games in club history)
·         December 19, 2000- January 2, 2001  (2-5-0)
·         November 21-December 4, 2001 (3-2-2)
·         October 14- October 31, 2006 (4-1-2)
·         February 15-March 1, 2007 (5-1-1)          
·         February 24-March 9, 2013 (1-2-1 with three games to play)

Ironmen
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 268 games since joining the team.  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 181 consecutive games, while Nielsen and Streit have each played in 104.

Longest Consecutive Game Streaks, Islander History 
1. Billy Harris 576 
2. Bob Nystrom 301
3. Matt Moulson 268
4. Denis Potvin 262
Century Club
Mark Streit is the 9th Islander defenseman to play at least 100 consecutive games.
1.     Denis Potvin 11/29/1975-1/17/1979  262
2.     Bryan McCabe 10/7/95-2/4/98 220
3.     Gerry Hart 3/1/75-11/22/77 198
4.     Janne Niinimaa 3/13/2004-1/7/2006 136
5.     Ken Morrow 3/1/1980-12/29/1981 134
6.     Travis Hamonic 11/24/10 – 2/4/12 113
7.     Jean Potvin 10/23/75-1/2/77 110
8.     Mark Streit  10/8/11-CURRENT 104
8.     Kenny Jonsson 12/26/96-2/4/98 104
Hamonic, McCabe and Morrow's streaks came at the start of their NHL careers.  Both Niinimaa's streak and McCabe's streak encompassed their entire Islander careers.
Missing Men
David Ullstrom replaced Eric Boulton in the lineup. Radek Martinek and Keith Aucoin were also 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 38 goals in their 9 wins (4.22 per game) and 24 goals in their other 13 games (0-11-2; 1.85 per game).  In their 11 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 16 goals (1.45 per game).

Career Wins, Active Goalies
Career Wins
21. Sean Burke 324
23. Miikka Kiprusoff 313
Career Shutouts, Active Goalies
4. Tomas Vokoun 49
Career Shutouts
19 Bernie Parent      54
19 Ed Giacomin       54
21 Evgeni Nabokov 53
22 Rogie Vachon     51
22 Dave Kerr           51
22 Curtis Joseph     51
Career Goals as an Islander
21
Ray Ferraro
116
22
Matt Moulson
107
23
Benoit Hogue
105
23
Ed Westfall
105
25
Anders Kallur
101
26
Trent Hunter
 99
27
John Tavares
97
28
Mikko Makela
95
28
David Volek
95
Career Assists as an Islander
28
Jason Blake
131
29
John Tavares
130
29
Trent Hunter
130
31
Mark Streit
126
32
Benoit Hogue
124
32
Mikko Makela
124
34
Ray Ferraro
122
35
Frans Nielsen
121
36
Garry Howatt
120








Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
26
Mariusz Czerkawski
470
27
Trent Hunter
459
28
Radek Martinek
455
29
Scott Lachance
450



39
Dave Scatchard
347
40
Alexei Yashin
346
41
Mark Parrish
345
42
Frans Nielsen
341
43
Marty McInnis
337



58
Gordon Lane
304
59
Josh Bailey
303
60
Arron Asham
300
60
Roman Hamrlik
300
62
Kyle Okposo
293
63
Gordon Dineen
287
64
Jeffrey Norton
282
65
Steve Thomas
275
66
Matt Moulson
268
67
John Tavares
265
68
Blake Comeau
261
68
Andre St. Laurent
261
70
Mark Streit
260
71
Brad Lauer
259
72
Benoit Hogue
258
Career Points as an Islander
28
Benoit Hogue
229
28
Trent Hunter
229
30
John Tavares
227
31
Mikko Makela
219



38
Robert Goring
195
39
Matt Moulson
194
40
Jeff Norton
188
41
Lorne Henning
184
42
Frans Nielsen
177
43
Randy Wood
172
44
Claude Lapointe
171
44
Jean-Paul Parise
171
46
Shawn Bates
170
47
Kyle Okposo
169
47
Jude Drouin
169
49
Dave Scatchard
168
50
Miroslav Satan
166
51
Mark Streit
163
52
Oleg Kvasha
158
Season Series Stats
The season series is even at one game each (Ottawa has three points to the Isles' two).  The final meeting of the season will come on March 19th at Coliseum.
Sens' coach Paul MacLean is 4-0-2 in six career games against the Isles.  (The Isles are 2-4-0 in that stretch). 

Happy Anniversary
40 years ago today (March 3, 1973): The late Bob Cook had a hat trick as the Islanders pound the Vancouver Canucks 9-3 on Stick Night at the Coliseum.  The win delights a future statistician, who attended his first NHL game.
Also on this date:  Mike Bossy's 9th hat trick of the season (1981), Pat LaFontaine's hat trick in his second NHL game (1984), Bossy's jersey retirement (1992), and Zigmund Palffy's hat trick vs. Winnipeg is first in back-to-back games (1996).
All-time, the Isles are 10-5-3 on this date, including three straight wins. 

On The Farm
Bridgeport is 23-24-4-4 on the season after going 1-1-1-0 in three games this weekend. Bridgeport plays in Manchester on Wednesday.

Up Next
TUESDAY, MARCH 5th MONTREAL AT ISLANDERS (7:00PM)
[MSG+2 (pre-game show at 6:30), WRHU (88.7FM)]
The Isles and Canadiens meet for the 2nd time this season at the Coliseum.  The Isles won the first meeting, in Montreal, on an overtime goal by Thomas Hickey.
The Isles are 8-7-1 in their last 16 games against Montreal but only two of their wins have come in regulation, leaving Montreal 8-2-6 over the same 16 games and 14-2-6 in their last 22 games against the Isles.

Max Pacioretty is 4-2-6 in the last three games overall, recording two points in each game.

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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