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Saturday, November 15, 2014

The Skinny: Tampa Bay 5, Isles 2

"The Skinny"  

 
By Eric Hornick
 
Game 17
Tampa Bay 5, Isles 2
Cedric Paquette broke a 2-2 tie late in the first period and the Tampa Bay Lightning blanked the Isles the rest of the way enroute to 5-2 victory before a crowd of 19,204 at Amalie Arena in Tampa. The loss ended the Isles' first (single season) 5-game winning streak since a 6-game winning streak from February 12-21, 2008.

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD
07:41    NYI       Brock Nelson (8) ASST: John Tavares (11), Kyle Okposo (11)      1 - 0 NYI          
08:41    TBL      Ryan Callahan (6) ASST: Jason Garrison (7), Valtteri Filppula (12)            1 - 1 Tie           
11:22    NYI       Josh Bailey (3) ASST: Johnny Boychuk (10), Nick Leddy (4)        2 - 1 NYI          
13:46    TBL      PPG - Valtteri Filppula (4) ASST: Steven Stamkos (8), Jason Garrison (8)   2 - 2 Tie         
15:29    TBL      Cedric Paquette (5) ASST: Vladislav Namestnikov (4), Alex Killorn (3)      3 - 2 TBL          
 
2ND PERIOD
01:39    TBL      Tyler Johnson (6) ASST: Ondrej Palat (8), Nikita Kucherov (9)      4 - 2 TBL          
 
3RD PERIOD
15:34    TBL      Radko Gudas (1) ASST: Ryan Callahan (7)          5 - 2 TBL

The Skinny:
The Isles have trailed after 1 period in each of their last two games after trailing after one period only once in their first 15 games… Brock Nelson's goal breaks a tie for the club lead with John Tavares.  Both Tavares and Kyle Okposo assisted on the goal and remain tied for the club lead (11).  Tavares' point tied him for 15th on Isles' all-time list with Tomas Jonsson, while Okposo's assist tied him for 23rd with Jeff Norton. … While it's not recognized by the NHL, Josh Bailey has a point in each of the last four games he's played…Tampa Bay has won all 11 games in which Ryan Callahan has scored a goal, dating back to last season…Tavares and Boychuk each extended point streaks to three games; Steven Stamkos has a five-game point streak for Tampa Bay….The Lightning have scored an NHL-leading 65 goals…Tyler Johnson has four goals in his last six games for Tampa Bay.

As Seen on MSG+
"Rested" NHL teams (teams that did not play the night before while their opponents had played) had a 35-10-13 record so far this season (entering tonight).

Comparable Records
The Isles are 11-6-0 thru 17 games, matching their most wins thru 17 games since they opened 12-4-1 in the 1987-88 season.  The Isles were 6-8-3 through 17 games and 6-9-3 through 18 games last season, when they won only 11 of their first 39 games (11-21-7).

November to Remember?
The Isles are 5-2-0 this November, which still includes home-and-home series with Pittsburgh and Washington and home games with Tampa Bay, Philadelphia and New Jersey.  The Isles have seven games remaining in November.

Streakers
The Isles won their first four games, lost their next two games, won the two games after that, lost the next three games and won the last five before losing tonight.

The Shots:
Isles             11-7-9=29
Tampa Bay   13-10-5=28
 
Home and Road
The Islanders are 11-6-0 overall, 4-2-0 at home and 7-4-0 on the road.
The Isles are 25-10-2 in their last 37 road games, dating back to a December 20 win at Madison Square Garden (No other NHL team has more than 21 road wins in that span).  Since the start of the 2013 (shortened) season, the Isles are 42-28-6 on the road.
Tampa Bay is 12-4-2 overall; 7-2-1 at home and 5-2-1 on the road. The Lightning avoid losing consecutive games in regulation for the first time this season.

By Division
The Isles are 3-1-0 in Division games and are 8-5-0 in games against other divisions. They are 2-2-0 vs. the Atlantic Division, 2-2-0 vs. Central Division, and 4-1-0 vs. the Pacific Division.
The Isles won only three of their first 17 division games (3-11-3) last season.

Playing the East
This was the second of 11 consecutive games against the Eastern Conference.  The Isles are 1-1-0 in this stretch, which includes upcoming including home/home series with Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh, Washington, and Ottawa.

In the Nets
Chad Johnson made 26 saves but falls to 4-2-0 on the season. It was Johnson's first career appearance vs. Tampa Bay.
Ben Bishop made 24 saves for Tampa Bay and improves to 10-2-2 on the season.  Bishop is 4-2-1 in his career against the Isles. 

Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-4 on the power play while Tampa Bay was 1-3.
The Isles have killed 19 of 21 over the last five games after they allowed 6 power play goals in 14 times short over the previous five games.
The power play is 4-24 (16.7%) over the last six games.
The Isles are 7-3-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 4-3-0 when they do not.  The Isles are 5-5-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 6-1-0 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 9-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 2-5-0 when they do not. 

One Goal Games
The Isles are 7-1-0 in games decided by a single goal including 3-1-0 in regulation. They are 1-0 in games decided in overtime and are 3-0 in shootouts.  Two games have been decided by two goals in which the second goal was an empty-netter.  The Isles are 1-1 in those games.

First Goal
The Isles are 7-5-0 when they score first and are 4-1-0 when they allow the opening goal. 

Second to The One
Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 129-126-39 behind the Islander bench.

Most games coached (Islanders):
1.     Al Arbour 1,500
2.     Jack Capuano 294
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181
 
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 129
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74

They Said It
John Tavares: They are a good hockey team. They have a lot of skill, we know we have to play better than we did the last two nights if we want to get back on track… we know we can be better."

They Tweeted It
@supersport75 Bishop was awesome tonight although we missed the net way too much and face offs were a huge problem ughhhh
@peconicgp #isles lose #bolts played well the sky isn't falling and they will go at it again on Tuesday in the #Coli
@RobTaub25 Tough loss, but 5 out of 6 to go into a week with TB and Pitt twice is not the worst thing in the world, just need to respond tues #isles

The Coach
"We had our looks… just stay the course and get another shot at this team on Tuesday."

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 3-0-0 in the front-end and 2-1-0 on the back end of back-to-backs this season. 
The next set of back-to-backs will be a home and home series with the Penguins on Friday/Saturday.

Leading Ice Men
Johnny Boychuk led the Isles with 20:47 of ice-time while Anton Stralman led Tampa Bay with 22:56.
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (5-2-0), Travis Hamonic (3-1-0), Lubomir Visnovsky (2-1-0) and John Tavares (1-2-0).
John Tavares led Islander forwards with 19:26 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (6-6-0), Kyle Okposo (3-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), and Casey Cizikas (1-0-0).

In the Circle
The Islanders won 24 of 57 draws (42%). Brock Nelson won 4 of 7 for the Isles but his teammates won only 20 of 50; Tyler Johnson won 15 of 21 for Tampa Bay.
The Isles won only 4 of 17 draws in the second period, including just one of six when they had the power play.
The Isles have lost at least 50% of the draws in every road game this season.

Heavy Hitters
The Isles outhit Tampa Bay 30-21.  Travis Hamonic had eight hits to lead the Isles.  Cedric Paquette and Ryan Callahan each had three hits for Tampa Bay.
There were no fights, leaving the season total at two: Martin (1), Hamonic (1).

Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 8 blocked shots; Travis Hamonic led the Isles with three.

For the Corsi Crowd
Nick Leddy (+12) led the Isles in even-strength Corsi, which measures shots attempted for and against (including blocks).  Matt Martin (3 of 4, 75%) and Leddy had a team-leading 73% of Corsi For events.

Head of the Class
Islander Captain John Tavares has 333 career points; he is 56 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.

All-time Winners
The Islanders fall to 11 games over all-time NHL .500 (1416-1405-450 in 3,271 games).  
The Isles have not been more than 1 game under NHL-.500 since January 11, 1978 and have finished every season since 1977-78 over all-time NHL .500.

Ironmen
Nick Leddy and Thomas Hickey are the Islanders' reigning ironmen.  Leddy has played 269 consecutive regular season games, while Hickey has played 100 consecutive regular season Islander games.

Century Club
Thomas Hickey is part of a select group of Islander defensemen who have played in 100 consecutive regular season 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. Andrew MacDonald 12/19/2011- 3/2/2014 164 (**)
5. Janne Niinimaa 3/13/2004-1/7/2006 136 (**)
6. Ken Morrow 3/1/1980-12/29/1981 134 (*)
7. Mark Streit  10/8/2011-4/26/2013 130
8. Travis Hamonic 2/24/2012-1/12/2014 117
9. Travis Hamonic 11/24/2010– 2/4/2012 113 (*)
10.Jean Potvin 10/23/1975-1/2/1977 110
11.Kenny Jonsson 12/26/1996-2/4/1998 104
12. Thomas Hickey 4/26/2013- current 100

(*) Start of NHL career.
(**) Entire career with Islanders
 
Missing Men
Eric Boulton, Michael Grabner and Matt Carkner are on injured reserve. Matt Donovan was scratched for the 17th straight game. Cory Conacher returned to the lineup, replacing the injured Cal Clutterbuck.
The Isles have lost 63 games this season due to injury, and have had four injured players for 12 of their 17 games. 

Good Company for Halak
Jaroslav Halak became the 110th goalie in NHL history to record 150 wins with his shutout of Colorado on November 11th.  It was his 32nd career shutout, tying Eddie Johnson and Felix Potvin for 50th on the all-time list.

Halak's 32 shutouts also rank sixth among active goalies:
1.     Roberto Luongo 67
2.     Evgeni Nabokov 59
3.     Henrik Lundqvist 53
4.     Pekka Rinne      33
5.     Jonathan Quick 33
6.     Jaroslav Halak 32
7.     Marc-Andre Fleury 31
8.     Ryan Miller        30

All-time Islander Leader Board:
John Tavares has:
·         143 goals (16th all-time, 2 behind Mariusz Czerkawski, 4 behind Pierre Turgeon and 17 behind Pat Flatley)
·         190 assists (16th all-time, 3 behind Pierre Turgeon and 59 behind Tomas Jonsson)
·         333 points (tied-15th all-time with Tomas Jonsson, 7 behind Pierre Turgeon and 36 behind Stefan Persson)
·         367 games played (43rd among Islander skaters all-time, 14 behind Randy Wood and 16 behind Anders Kallur)
Frans Nielsen has:
·         90 goals (35th all-time, 2 behind Travis Green and 3 behind Greg Gilbert & Garry Howatt)
·         174 assists (19th all-time, 1 behind Kenny Jonsson and 7 behind Ed Westfall)
·         264 points (23rd all-time and 6 behind Kyle Okposo and 22 behind Ed Westfall)
·         464 games played (28th among Islander skaters all-time, 6 behind Mariusz Czerkawski and 12 behind Gerry Hart)
Kyle Okposo has:
·         104 goals (26th all-time and 1 behind Ed Westfall & Benoit Hogue and 12 behind Ray Ferraro)
·         166 assists (tied-23rd all-time with Jeff Norton, 1 behind Jean Potvin and 5 behind Duane Sutter & Alexei Yashin)
·         270 points (22nd all-time, 16 behind Ed Westfall and 20 behind Alexei Yashin)
·         407 games played (36th among Islander skaters all-time, 4 behind Wayne Merrick and 8 behind Josh Bailey)
Michael Grabner has:
·         82 goals (38th all-time, 2 behind Tomas Jonsson and 5 behind Butch Goring)
Josh Bailey has:
·         415 games played (34th among Islander skaters all-time, 7 behind Dave Langevin and 10 behind Greg Gilbert)

Season Series Stats
The Lightning lead the season series 1 game to none (and 2 points to 0).  The teams will meet again on Tuesday at the Coliseum.
The losses ended a six-game Islander point streak against Tampa Bay (4-0-2).

It Happened at the Coliseum … on NOVEMBER 15th
31 years ago tonight (1983) – Mike Bossy recorded his third hat trick of the season to help power the Isles to a 6-4 win over the Hartford Whalers.  Bossy added two assists to mirror the two goals, three assists contribution from linemate Bryan Trottier.  It easily could have been 2 ½ goals each, as Trottier was originally credited with the game's final goal, but it was later changed to Bossy. Trottier told Newsday's Tim Moriarty: "I looked at the replay and you really couldn't tell (whether Trottier's shot had gone in before Bossy made sure it did)…Mike doesn't lie.  They should give it to him."  Eventually they did.
Also on this date: (2008) – Joey MacDonald made 38 saves and Chris Campoli had the winning goal as the Isles  built a 3-0 lead and held on to beat Ottawa 3-2, giving the Islanders a sweep of the home-and-home series between the teams.
All-time, the Isles have played eight November 15th games at the Coliseum and finish with a 4-3-1 record on this date at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale.

On The Farm
Ryan Pulock scored two power play goals on Saturday night as the first place Sound Tigers improved to an AHL Eastern Conference-best 10-3-0-1 completed a sweep of the home-and-home series with a 5-2 win against the Rangers' top farm club, the Hartford Wolf Pack, at Webster Bank Arena.
David Leggio made 25 saves as he improved to 3-2-0 on the season. Bridgeport hosts Springfield on Sunday afternoon (3pm).

Up Next
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18th—TAMPA BAY AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 6:30pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Isles return home for a rematch with the Lightning on Tuesday.  This time it will be the Lightning that are on the back-end of back-to-backs as they will face the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
The Isles are 5-0-1 in their last six home games against the Lightning.

And Finally…
The Buffalo Sabres got their voice back today as Rick Jeanneret, who has been battling throat cancer returned to their booth. His passionate words "I don't care what happens from here; I feel like a winner" #HockeyFightsCancer

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 & on his blog www.nyiskinny.com. 
 
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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