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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 ...

Sunday, October 06, 2013

The Skinny: Columbus 3, Isles 2 (shootout)

"The Skinny"

 By Eric Hornick

Game 2
Columbus 3, Isles 2(SO)
 
Nick Foligno was credited with the tying goal when the puck was deflected in off the Islanders' Peter Regin and then Cam Atkinson had the shootout winner as the Columbus Blue Jackets rallied from a 2-0 deficit to spoil the Islanders' home opener as they defeated the Isles 3-2 before a sellout crowd of 16,170 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.  The Isles are now 0-2-3 in home openers in their last five home openers.

The Scoring:
1st Period
NONE
 
2nd Period
08:17    NYI       PPG - L. Visnovsky (1) Slapshot - ASST: F. Nielsen (1), J. Tavares (1)     1 - 0 NYI          
14:01    NYI       M. Moulson (1) Backhand shot - ASST: J. Tavares (2), L. Visnovsky (1)   2 - 0 NYI          
 
3rd Period
07:45    CBJ      PPG - M. Letestu (1) Snap shot - ASST: C. Atkinson (1), B. Dubinsky (2)             2 - 1 NYI          
11:54    CBJ      N. Foligno (1) Wrist shot - ASST: R. Umberger (1), N. Nikitin (1)   2 - 2 Tie           
 
OT Period
NONE
 
The Shootout:
Frans Nielsen(NG), Artem Anisimov (NG), John Tavares (NG), Mark Letestu (G),   Matt Moulson (G), Ryan Johansen (NG),  Josh Bailey (NG), Cam Atkinson (G)                        
 
It's the first time since the shootout was introduced for the 2005-06 season that the Isles have been involved in consecutive shootouts to start the season.

The Skinny:  
Lubomir Visnovsky's goal extended an unusual streak – a defenseman has scored the first Islander goal on home ice in five straight seasons, joining Mark Streit, James Wisniewski, Andrew MacDonald and Travis Hamonic  (the last Isles forward to score at home was Mike Comre in 2008)…Going back to last season, the Isles' last six regular season games have been decided by one goal – including five in shootouts…Matt Moulson, who did not have a shootout attempt last season, converted in the shootout for the 2nd straight game, as he improves to 8/15 all-time in shootouts (53.3%)…Moulson's goal was his 113th as Islander, breaking a tie with John Tavares for the club lead among current players…Tavares earned his 250th and 251st points; his assist on the Tavares goal was named the #1 Play of the Day by NHL Tonight…It was Tavares' 29th multi-assist game; he had only one in the last 43 games last season (h/t Elias Sports Bureau)…  Frans Nielsen has been stopped on seven straight shootout attempts.

For Openers
The Isles are 24-12-5 all-time in home openers, but 0-2-3 in the last five seasons. Their last home opener victory was in 2008 against St. Louis. The only current Isles who played in that game are Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen.
The Isles sold out opening night for the 11th time in the last 13 seasons.

Shootout Stuff
Best shootout percentage, active players (minimum 15 shots)
  • 1.     Matt Hendricks NSH 9/15 60.0%
  • 2.     Matt Moulson NYI 8/15 53.3%
  • 3.     Frans Nielsen NYI 25/47 53.2%
The Shots:      
Isles        9-10-7-4=30
Jackets   4-8-12-5=29
 
Home and Road
The Islanders are 1-0-1 overall, 0-0-1 at home and 1-0-0 on the road. 
The Blue Jackets are 1-1-0 overall, 0-1-0 at home and 1-0-0 on the road.   

In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov made 27 saves and then stopped two of four shots in the shootout to win the season opener.  Nabokov falls to 19-4-3 against Columbus and 29-26 all-time in the shootout.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 28 saves for Columbus as he improves to 8-1-0 all-time against the Isles.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-2 while the Blue Jackets were 1-2.
The Isles are 0-0-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 1-0-0 when they do not.
The Isles are 0-0-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 1-0-0 when they do not.

Second to The One
Jack Capuano is now 2nd on the all-time Islander list in both games coached (197) and wins (85). He will coach his 200th game next Saturday in Nashville.

Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 85
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74

Most games coached (Islanders):
1.     Al Arbour 1,500
2.     Jack Capuano 197
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181

They Said It
Nick Foligno: "We pull for each other. We played hard, the way we expect to play every night. We were rewarded for it. We kept pressing and wound up with a great result."

They Tweeted It
@BComptonNHL  And my first reedonkulous of the season goes to that pass by Tavares. My goodness.

The Coach
"I was a little disappointed in the third period. Things were going well until they ramped it up and we didn't respond collectively as a group the way we needed to."

Head of the Class
John Tavares has 251 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.

Captain, O Captain
Tavares' two assists give him 139, tying former Islander captain Mark Streit for 27th place on the all-time Isles list.

119 NHL Goals
Moulson has 119 career goals (113 as an Islander).  While 262 players were selected before the Penguins chose Moulson in the 2003 entry draft, only 16 have more goals.  

Leading Ice Men
Andrew Mac Donald played 25:58 to lead the Isles.  Jack Johnson led Columbus with 27:39.
The Isles are 1-0-1 when MacDonald leads them in ice-time.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 31 of 61 draws.  Casey Cizikas won his first nine draws and 11 of 14 to lead the Isles while Artem Anisimov won 7 of 12 for Columbus.  The Isles won 24 of 40 draws over the first two periods, but only 7 of 21 in the third period and overtime.

Heavy Hitters
The Islanders were out-hit 25-20.  Matt Martin, who has led the NHL in hits in each of the last two seasons, led the Isles with 7 hits. There were no fights.

Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 21 blocked shots; Andrew MacDonald, who finished tied-3rd last season in blocks had seven to lead the Isles.

All–time Winners
The Islanders remain 10 games over all-time NHL .500 (1372-1362-440 in 3,174 games).  The Isles have finished every season since 1977-78 above all-time NHL .500.

Ironmen
John Tavares is the reigning Islanders' ironman. Tavares has now played in 209 consecutive games.
Frans Nielsen (132) and Kyle Okposo (115) also have streaks of at least 100 consecutive games.

Longest Consecutive Game Streaks, Post Cup Era 
·         Matt Moulson 10/3/2009- 4/4/2013  284
·         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
·         Mariusz Czerkawski 12/23/1999 – 4/14/2002 215
·         John Tavares 10/16/10 – CURRENT  209

Missing Men
Griffin Reinhart, Eric Boulton and Matt Carkner were scratched for the second straight game.

Career Wins, Active Goalies
 
Career Wins
19. Gump Worsley 335
20. Nikolai Khabibulin 331
 
Career Shutouts, Active Goalies
 
4. Tomas Vokoun 51
 
Career Shutouts
 
18 Clint Benedict       57
19 Evgeni Nabokov 55
20 Bernie Parent       54
20 Ed Giacomin        54
 
Career Goals as an Islander
 
21
Ray Ferraro
116
 
22
Matt Moulson
113
 
23
John Tavares
112
 
24
Benoit Hogue
105
 
24
Ed Westfall
105
 
 
 
 
Career Assists as an Islander
 
26
Steve Thomas
140
 
27
John Tavares
139
 
27
Mark Streit
139
 
29
Greg Gilbert
138
 
30
Frans Nielsen
137
 
31
Jason Blake
131





Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
39
Randy Wood
381
40
Frans Nielsen
369
41
Dave Scatchard
347



45
Robert Goring
332
45
Oleg Kvasha
332
47
Bruno Gervais
331
47
Zigmund Palffy
331
47
Josh Bailey
331
50
Shawn Bates
330
51
Eric Cairns
327
52
Alan Kerr
326
53
Brad Dalgarno
321
53
Kyle Okposo
321
55
Ray Ferraro
316
55
Steve Webb
316
55
Richard Park
316
58
Gerald Diduck
314
59
Mikko Makela
307
60
Gordon Lane
304
61
Arron Asham
300
61
Roman Hamrlik
300
63
Matt Moulson
295
64
John Tavares
293
65
Gordon Dineen
287
 
 
 
Career Points as an Islander
21
Jason Blake
258
21
Steve Thomas
258
23
John Tavares
251
24
David Volek
249



31
Mikko Makela
219
32
Matt Moulson
215
33
Mark Parrish
214
34
Garry Howatt
213
34
Jean Potvin
213
36
Anders Kallur
211
37
Marty McInnis
198
38
Frans Nielsen
198
39
Wayne Merrick
197
40
Robert Goring
195
41
Jeffrey Norton
188
42
Kyle Okposo
185
43
Lorne Henning
184



Season Series Stats
The Blue Jackets lead the season series one game to none (and two points to one) with three games to play.  The teams will next play on November 9th in Columbus.
The Isles are 3-0-2 in their last five home games against Columbus, but the Jackets are 10-1-4 all-time against the Isles.

Happy Anniversary
12 years ago tonight (10-5-01):  Mark Parrish scored two goals in a 99 second span in the third period as the Isles rallied from a 2-1 deficit for a 3-2 victory over the Lightning in a season opening game in Tampa.  The win jump-started the Islanders to a 9-0-1-1 start, which is the best in franchise history.
All-time, the Isles are 3-5-2 on this date, including a 6-4 win over Buffalo in 2007 that was led by a 4-point performance from Mike Comrie.

On The Farm
Bridgeport opened their season with a 5-2 loss to Wilkes Barre-Scranton.  Anders Lee scored Bridgeport's first goal, with Ryan Strome earning the primary assist.  Bridgeport hosts Norfolk on Sunday at 3pm. 

Up Next
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8th—PHOENIX AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 6:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN-FM]
 
The Islanders play their first Western Conference opponent since April 7, 2012 when they entertain the Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday.
 
Phoenix, led by a hat trick from Radim Vrbata won their season opener from the Rangers, but dropped a 4-1 decision in San Jose on Saturday.
 
This is the first of two meetings between the teams, who have not played since January 7, 2012 in Glendale.  Shane Doan recorded his first career hat trick in that game.
 
The Coyotes will make their first Coliseum appearance since defeating the Isles 4-3 in a shootout on December 18, 2010.

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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