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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 ...

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

The Skinny: Ottawa 5, Isles 3


"The Skinny"

 
By Eric Hornick
 
Game 29
Senators 5, Isles 3

Sergei Gonchar scored the game-winning goal with one minute to play as the Ottawa Senators scored four goals in the third period to rally from a 3-1 deficit and defeat the Islanders 5-3 before a crowd of 10,668 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, dropping the Isles back to NHL .500 (13-13-3).

The Scoring:
1st Period
06:23    OTT      M. Kassian (1) Deflected - ASST: S. Gonchar (17) AND P. Wiercioch (8) 1 - 0 OTT          
17:53    NYI       K. Aucoin (5) Wrist - ASST: K. Okposo (8) AND J. Bailey (4)       1 - 1 TIE           
 
2nd Period
00:14    NYI       J. Bailey (3) Backhand - ASST: K. Okposo (9) AND F. Nielsen (12)          2 - 1 NYI          
11:46    NYI       PPG - L. Visnovsky (2) Wrist - ASST: M. Moulson (19) AND B. Boyes (17) 3 - 1 NYI
           
3rd Period
01:07    OTT      J. Silfverberg (7) Tip-In - ASST: P. Wiercioch (9) AND P. Regin (3)           3 - 2 NYI          
02:15    OTT      Z. Smith (3) Wrist - ASST: S. Gonchar (18) AND A. Benoit (7)      3 - 3 TIE           
19:00    OTT      S. Gonchar (2) Slap - ASST: P. Wiercioch (10) AND G. Latendresse (3)    4 - 3 OTT          
19:51    OTT      EN - G. Latendresse (3) Wrist - ASST: D. Alfredsson (12)            5 - 3 OTT
 
The Skinny:  
The Isles fall to 8-2-1 when leading after two periods… Matt Moulson has an assist in five straight games; he leads the Isles with 19 assists and now has 200 career points in an Islander uniform…Brad Boyes now has 10 points in the last eight games (4-6-10)…The Isles defense has combined for 16 goals this season…Josh Bailey scored his 50th career goal; he also had his first multi-point game of the season… The Isles have been outscored by a 42-30 margin in the third period, including 29-16 at home…Kyle Okposo played his 300th NHL game…Sergei Gonchar tied the Senator club record with an assist in his 8th straight game; he also finished +5… Daniel Alfredsson's assist on the empty-netter was his 1,100th NHL point…The Isles have now allowed 7 empty-net goals…The Sens scored twice in 1:08, and twice in 51 seconds (all in the third period).

The Record:
The Isles are now four games over .500 on the road and four games under .500 at home.  It's the first time in Islander history that they have not been over .500 overall at a time when they are four games over .500 on the road.

The Shots:                
Isles         9-12-8=29
Senators  6-7-10=23
 
The Disputed Goals:
 
The Isles had a goal disallowed after video review determined that Keith Aucoin kicked the puck into the net with his skate.  The play can be seen here:  http://www.nhl.com/ice/blogpost.htm?id=15461
The puck was apparently knocked down by a Senator high stick and was next played by a teammate, leading to the winning goal.  That play is not reviewable.
 
Gonchar's Night
Sergei Gonchar was on for all five Sens goals, finished 1-2-3 and +5 on the night.  He is the first player in the NHL this season with at least 3 points and at least a +5 rating this season.  Gonchar is the first player to be at least +5 in a game against the Isles since January 13, 2011; Gonchar also did it that night.  The last player to have at least three points and go at least +5 against the Isles was Olli Jokinen (2-4-6, +6, on March 17, 2007 for Florida).
Gonchar is now 17-48-65 in his career against the Isles (+31 in 77 games).  He is +10 in his career against the rest of the NHL.

Home and Road
The Islanders are 13-13-3 overall, 5-9-2 at home and 8-4-1 on the road.  The Isles remain in tenth place, trailing four teams by three points.
The Senators are 16-8-6 overall, 10-1-3 at home and 6-7-3 on the road.   The Sens are just below .500 on the road, despite not leading a single road game this season after 20 minutes. 

In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov made 18 saves but falls to 13-9-2 on the season.
Ben Bishop made 26 saves for the Senators; he is now 6-4-0 on the season.

Power Plays
The Islanders went 1-6 while the Senators were 0-1.  It's the second straight game that the opposition had only one power play.
The Isles have 13 PP goals in their last 14 games (with all 13 goals coming in six games).
The Isles are 10-3-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 3-10-2 when they do not.

In (Almost) Every Game
The Isles have been tied or ahead in the third period in 23 of 29 games this season (13-7-3).

They Said It
"I didn't see it as a distinct kicking motion.  I was going to the net hard and I had to stop. There's nothing you can do. The ref called it a goal on the ice, and when they were reviewing it [in Toronto], I didn't think there was any doubt it would be a goal."

They Tweeted It
 @ian_mendes "Only four defensemen in Sens history have ever had 3 points and a +5 rating in same game: Redden, Volchenkov, Karlsson -- and now Gonchar."

The Coach
"The game-winning goal they got should have been a whistle.  It was a high stick and Ottawa touched it first."

As Tavares Goes… 
The Isles are 1-0-0 when Tavares has four points, 1-0-1 when he has three points, 5-2-0 when he has two points, 5-2-0 when he has one point, and 1-9-2 when Tavares is pointless.

What a Pair!
John Tavares and Matt Moulson have combined for 28 goals this season.  Moulson has assisted on 12 Tavares goals this season after assisting on 12 of his 31 goals last season.  Tavares has earned an assist on 7 Moulson goals this season. Since November 2011, Tavares has been on-ice for 39 of Moulson's last 40 goals, earning 25 assists; since November 2010, he has earned 47 assists on Moulson's last 71 goals, while being on ice for 69 of them.

Head of the Class
John Tavares has 233 career points; he is 52 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.

114 NHL Goals
Moulson has 114 career goals (108 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 one goal behind Nikolai Zherdev for 16th place.

Leading Ice Men
Lubomir Visnovsky played 27:21 to lead the Isles.  Chris Phillips led the Sens with 27:54.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 32 of 57 draws.  Frans Nielsen won 8 of 12 for the Isles.

Heavy Hitters
The Islanders out-hit Florida 34-23.  Kyle Okposo led the Isles with five hits. Matt Martin had three hits, raising his season total to an NHL-leading 141. There were no fights, leaving the Isles' season total at 11.

Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 15 blocked shots. Lubomir Visnovsky led the Isles with five blocked shots.

All-time Winners
The Islanders are now two games over all-time NHL .500 (1360-1358-435 in 3,153 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.

March to Victory
The Isles were 4-2-1 in January and 4-9-1 in February.  The Isles are 5-2-1 in March.

Ironmen
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 275 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 188 consecutive games, while Nielsen and Streit have each played in 111.

Longest Consecutive Game Streaks, Islander History 
1. Billy Harris 576 
2. Bob Nystrom 301
3. Matt Moulson 275
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 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220
3.     Gerry Hart 3/1/1975-11/22/1977 198
4.     Janne Niinimaa 3/13/2004-1/7/2006 136
5.     Ken Morrow 3/1/1980-12/29/1981 134
6.     Travis Hamonic 11/24/2010 – 2/4/2012 113
7.     Mark Streit  10/8/2011-CURRENT 111
8.     Jean Potvin 10/23/1975-1/2/1977 110
9.     Kenny Jonsson 12/26/1996-2/4/1998 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
Joe Finley was scratched.  David Ullstrom, Michael Grabner, Matt Carkner and Brian Strait are on injured reserve. Jesse Joensuu is skating with the team but has not yet been added to the active roster.

Scoring
The Isles have scored 55 goals in their 13 wins (4.23 per game) and 29 goals in their other 16 games (0-13-3; 1.81 per game).  In their 13 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 20 goals (1.54 per game).

Career Wins, Active Goalies
 
Career Wins
19. Nikolai Khabibulin 330
19. Harry Lumley 330
22. Sean Burke 324
23. Miikka Kiprusoff 316
 
Career Shutouts, Active Goalies
 
4. Tomas Vokoun 49
 
Career Shutouts
 
18 Clint Benedict      57
19 Evgeni Nabokov 54
19 Bernie Parent      54
19 Ed Giacomin       54
22 Rogie Vachon     51
22 Dave Kerr           51
22 Curtis Joseph     51
 
Career Goals as an Islander
 
21
Ray Ferraro
116
 
 
22
Matt Moulson
108
 
 
23
Benoit Hogue
105
 
 
23
Ed Westfall
105
 
 
25
John Tavares
101
 
 
25
Anders Kallur
101
 
 
27
Trent Hunter
 99
 
 
 
 
 
 
Career Assists as an Islander
 
 
27
Greg Gilbert
138
 
 
28
Jason Blake
131
 
 
28
John Tavares
131
 
 
30
Trent Hunter
130
 
 
31
Mark Streit
129
 
 
32
Frans Nielsen
125
 
 
33
Benoit Hogue
124
 
 
33
Mikko Makela
124
 
 
35
Ray Ferraro
122
 






Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
25
Gerry Hart
476
 
26
Mariusz Czerkawski
470
 
27
Radek Martinek
462
 
28
Trent Hunter
459
 



 
39
Randy Wood
381
 
40
Frans Nielsen
348
 
41
Dave Scatchard
347
 



 
53
Ray Ferraro
316
53
Steve Webb
316
53
Richard Park
316
56
Gerald Diduck
314
57
Josh Bailey
310
58
Mikko Makela
307
59
Gordon Lane
304
60
Kyle Okposo
300
 
60
Arron Asham
300
60
Roman Hamrlik
300
63
Gordon Dineen
287
 
64
Jeffrey Norton
282
 
65
Steve Thomas
275
 
65
Matt Moulson
275
 
67
John Tavares
272
 
68
Mark Streit
267
 
69
Blake Comeau
261
 
69
Andre St. Laurent
261
 
 
 
 
 
Career Points as an Islander
24
Ray Ferraro
238
25
Travis Green
237
26
Kenny Jonsson
232
26
John Tavares
232
28
Greg Gilbert
231



35
Anders Kallur
211
36
Matt Moulson
200
37
Marty McInnis
198
38
Wayne Merrick
197
39
Robert Goring
195
40
Jeffrey Norton
188
41
Lorne Henning
184
42
Frans Nielsen
182
43
Kyle Okposo
172
43
Randy Wood
172
45
Claude Lapointe
171
45
Jean-Paul Parise
171
47
Shawn Bates
170
48
Jude Drouin
169
49
Dave Scatchard
168
50
Miroslav Satan
166
51
Mark Streit
166
52
Oleg Kvasha
158



Season Series Stats
The Sens win the season series two games to one (and five points to two).  The Isles have not defeated Ottawa coach in regulation time; The Isles are 2-5-0 against the Sens in the two seasons, with one victory in overtime and the other in a shootout.

Happy Anniversary
9 years ago tonight (March 19, 2004): Jason Blake scored all three Islander goals and Rick DiPietro made 16 saves as the Islanders defeated Minnesota 4-1 at the Coliseum.
Also on this date: Matt Hallin ties the Isles rookie record with a 3-goal game (1983 in Philadelphia); Frans Nielsen had a deciding goal in a shootout win in Florida (2011).
All-time, the Isles are 9-4-3 on March 19, although they are 1-2-1 in their last four.

On The Farm
Bridgeport is 26-25-6-4 on the season after blanking Albany 2-0 on Sunday.  Brock Nelson and Nino Niederreiter had the goals; Rick DiPietro recorded the shutout. The Sound Tigers are six points out of a playoff spot with 15 games to play. Bridgeport is off until Friday, when they visit Providence in the first of a three game in three days weekend.

Up Next
THURSDAY, MARCH 21st MONTREAL AT ISLANDERS (7:00PM)
[MSG+ (pre-game show at 6:30), WRHU (88.7FM)]
The Isles continue the home stand on Thursday with the final meeting of the season with the Montreal Canadiens.  The Isles won in overtime in Montreal and hold a regulation win on Long Island as well.
Montreal lost to Buffalo in overtime on Tuesday, but the Canadiens are 13-1-4 in their last 18 games, with their only regulation loss in that stretch coming against the Isles on March 5.

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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