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The Skinny: Montreal 2, Isles 1 (OT)

"The Skinny"  By Eric Hornick Game 26 Montreal 2, Isles 1 (OT) Nick Suzuki scored his third career overtime goal 2:39 into the ext...

Sunday, October 13, 2013

The Skinny: Nashville 3, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

 By Eric Hornick
 
Game 5
Nashville 3, Isles 2
 
Ryan Ellis broke a 2-2 tie early in the period and the Predator defense and penalty killing did the rest as Nashville handed the Islanders their second consecutive 3-2 loss, before a crowd of 17,113 at Bridgestone Arena.  The Isles have lost six straight games in Nashville and the defeat spoiled the 200th NHL game for Islander coach Jack Capuano.

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD
NONE
 
2ND PERIOD
01:03 NSH  PPG - S. Jones (1) Slapshot - ASST: D. Legwand (1), S. Weber (1)    1 - 0 NSH         
12:39 NYI  F. Nielsen (2) Snap shot - ASST: K. Okposo (2), T. Hamonic (2)          1 - 1 Tie           
15:28 NYI  J. Tavares (3) Wrist shot - ASST: K. Okposo (3), B. Strait (1)   2 - 1 NYI          
19:07 NSH P. Hornqvist (1) Wrist shot - ASST: C. Wilson (1), R. Ellis (1)  2 - 2 Tie           
 
3RD PERIOD
03:23 NSH R. Ellis (1) Slapshot - ASST: M. Cullen (2), C. Smith (2)          3 - 2 NSH         
 
The Skinny:  
For the second straight game, an opponent's first career goal opened the scoring (Joakim Nordstrom for Chicago, Seth Jones for Nashville) … After being held pointless in the opener, John Tavares has a point in four straight games… Four of the Isles' five games this season have been decided by one goal (and eight of nine, going back to last season)… The Isles had gone 10-1-5 in their last 16 regular season games before losing to Chicago on Friday; they have now lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time since losing three games in four days last March 19th-22nd. .. The Isles are 1-2-0 against the West…The Isles did not lose consecutive road games in regulation all last season…All three Isles losses (0-2-1) have come by a 3-2 score…Ellis' winning goal was the first Predator goal in the third period this season.

The Shots:      
Isles           4-7-5=16
Predators   9-10-12=31
 
The Isles were held to their fewest shots in 133 games, dating back to a 2-1 win over Minnesota on October 10, 2011, when they had only 14.
 
The Isles were held under 20 shots for the first time in consecutive games (one season) since October 28-31, 2000 vs. Montreal and Boston. (The Isles also were held under 20 in the last game of the 2002-03 season and the first game of the 2003-04 season)

Home and Road
The Islanders are 2-2-1 overall, 1-0-1 at home and 1-2-0 on the road.
It's the first time since April 3-7, 2012 that the Isles have lost consecutive road games in regulation and the first time since January 6-7, 2012 that they have consecutive games, both on the road, in regulation.
The Predators are 2-3-0 overall, 2-1-0 at home and 0-2-0 on the road.   

In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov made 28 saves for suffers his first regulation loss of the season.
Pekke Rinne made 14 saves for Nashville as he improves to 3-0-1 against the Isles.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-3 while the Predators were 1-2.
The Isles are 1-0-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 1-20 when they do not.
The Isles are 0-1-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 2-1-0 when they do not.  The Isles have killed 11 of 13 opponents' power plays this season.

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 2-0-0 when they score at least three goals and are 0-2-1 when they do not.  They're not alone, the Preds are 2-0-0 when they score at least three goals and 0-3-0 when they do not.

Fifth Goal
Counting the goal that Columbus was awarded for beating the Isles in a shootout, the team that has scored the fifth goal has won all five Islander games this season.

Second to The One
Jack Capuano is now 2nd on the all-time Islander list in both games coached (200) and wins (86).

Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 86
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74

Most games coached (Islanders):
1.     Al Arbour 1,500
2.     Jack Capuano 200
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181

They Said It
John Tavares: "It was one of those games, especially as an offensive player, where we really didn't feel like we had a whole lot of room. Pucks were bouncing, and we couldn't seem to get it done when we needed to."

They Tweeted It
@markpherrmann Good burst by Isles, exerting more pressure, capped by goal by Nielsen, whom Barry Trotz said is overlooked but is "a heck of a player" 1-1

The Coach
"We didn't get off to the start that we wanted. We regrouped after the first, and I thought we picked our game up. We eliminated our turnovers, we started to play high-percentage, we started to do a lot of good things and got ourselves back in the game. But they got a big goal with under a minute left in the second period."

Head of the Class
John Tavares has 255 career points; he is 58 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks.  No other player from that draft is anywhere close.  Tavares also has more goals and more assists than any other player from that draft.

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
Travis Hamonic played 25:06 to lead the Isles for the first time this season.  Shea Weber led Nashville with 23:11.
The Isles are 2-1-1 when MacDonald leads them in ice-time and 0-1-0 when Hamonic leads them.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 21 of 52 draws.  Casey Cizikas won 8 of 14 to lead the Isles, but the other face-off men won only 13 of 38; Paul Gaustad, the NHL's leading face-off man, won 11 of 15 for Nashville. 

Heavy Hitters
The Islanders out-hit Nashville 16-14.  Reigning NHL hit leader Matt Martin led the Isles with four hits. There were no fights for the fifth straight game.

Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 17 blocked shots; Andrew MacDonald led the way with five.

All–time Winners
The Islanders are now 9 games over all-time NHL .500 (1373-1364-440 in 3,177 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 212 consecutive games.
Frans Nielsen (135) and Kyle Okposo (118) 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  212

Missing Men
Brock Nelson and Matt Carkner replaced Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Matt Donovan in the lineup; Eric Boulton was scratched for the fifth straight game.  The Isles have lost three games this season due to injury.

Career Wins, Active Goalies

Career Wins
19. Gump Worsley 335
20. Nikolai Khabibulin 333

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
John Tavares
115
23
Matt Moulson
113
24
Benoit Hogue
105
24
Ed Westfall
105
 
 
 
Career Assists as an Islander
24
Mariusz Czerkawski
150
25
Travis Green
145
26
Frans Nielsen
140
26
Steve Thomas
140
26
John Tavares
140
29
Mark Streit
139
30
Greg Gilbert
138
31
Jason Blake
131
Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
39
Randy Wood
381
40
Frans Nielsen
372
41
Dave Scatchard
347
44
Marty McInnis
337
45
Josh Bailey
334
46
Robert Goring
332
46
Oleg Kvasha
332
48
Bruno Gervais
331
48
Zigmund Palffy
331
50
Shawn Bates
330
51
Eric Cairns
327
52
Alan Kerr
326
53
Kyle Okposo
324
54
Brad Dalgarno
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
298
64
John Tavares
296
65
Gordon Dineen
287


Career Points as an Islander
20
Ed Westfall
286
21
Jason Blake
258
21
Steve Thomas
258
23
John Tavares
255
24
David Volek
249
29
Benoit Hogue
221
29
Trent Hunter
221
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
Frans Nielsen
202
38
Marty McInnis
198
39
Wayne Merrick
197
40
Robert Goring
195
41
Kyle Okposo
189
42
Jeffrey Norton
188
Season Series Stats
The Predators lead the season series one game to none (and two points to none) with one game to play.  The teams will also play on November 12th on Long Island.
The Isles have lost six straight games (including three by shutout) in Music City since Garth Snow led the Isles to a 5-2 victory in April, 2002.  Overall, the Isles are 1-7-1 in their last eight against the Preds (with the win coming in a shootout); Nashville is 8-0-2 against the Isles overall since that Snow victory in 2002.

Happy Anniversary
41 years ago tonight (10-12-72):  Germain Gagnon scored the winning goal with 1:09 to play as the Islanders defeated Los Angeles 3-2 for the first victory in franchise history.  The win raised the Isles all-time record to 1-1-0; they would not be at .500 all-time again until January 16, 1978.
All-time, the Isles are 7-6-2 on this date, but have lost four straight since Eric Fichaud stopped 29 Flyer shots for a 5-1 win in the 1996-97 home opener.  

On The Farm
Bridgeport dropped to 1-2-0-0 with a 3-0 loss to Manchester on Saturday; the Sound Tigers outshot the Monarchs 38-24.  Bridgeport will look to even their record when they host Springfield on Sunday at 3pm. 

Up Next
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15th—BUFFALO AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders pre-game at 6:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN-FM]
 
The Isles return home to begin a 4-game homestand on Tuesday vs. Buffalo. The Sabres are 0-5-1 following a Saturday night loss in Chicago and will host Minnesota on Monday before facing the Isles on Tuesday.
This is the first of three meetings between the teams; the Isles went 1-1-1 against Buffalo last season.  The Isles have done well on home-ice against Buffalo in recent years, going 5-1-2 in the last 8.

Finally…
Sunday's New York Post has a story by Mike Vaccaro, "Who is the new face of New York Sports?".  The Answer: John Tavares.  http://nypost.com/2013/10/12/islanders-star-is-new-face-of-new-york-sports/

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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