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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 ...

Saturday, March 28, 2015

The Skinny: Anaheim 3, Isles 2

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick
Game 76
Anaheim 3, Isles 2
Kyle Palmieri and Andrew Cogliano scored second period goals to break open a 1-1 tie as the Anaheim Ducks defeated the Islanders 3-2, before yet another sellout crowd of 16,170 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Lubomir Visnovsky and Casey Cizikas scored for the Islanders, who remain winless at home during the month of March.
Pittsburgh beat Arizona 3-2 to move ahead of the Isles in the battle for second place in the Metropolitan Division; the teams each have 93 points but the Penguins have a game in hand.  Washington lost to Nashville 4-3; the Caps remain three points behind the Isles but Washington also has a game in hand.

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD
08:23    ANA     Rickard Rakell (8) ASST: Patrick Maroon (25)      1 - 0 ANA         
17:08    NYI       Lubomir Visnovsky (5) ASST: Ryan Strome (32), Thomas Hickey (20)      1 - 1 Tie           
2ND PERIOD
01:46    ANA     Kyle Palmieri (14) ASST: Matt Beleskey (10), James Wisniewski (25)        2 - 1 ANA         
15:11    ANA     Andrew Cogliano (14) ASST: Cam Fowler (27)     3 - 1 ANA         
3RD PERIOD
14:24    NYI       Casey Cizikas (8) ASST: NONE  3 - 2 ANA
The Skinny
The Isles are 3-7-3 in their last 13 games… The Isles were not shorthanded at all during the game, extending their franchise record streak to 12 games without allowing a power play goal…This was the 2nd time this season (11-21-14 at Pittsburgh) that the Isles were not shorthanded and the first time at home since February 28, 2013...Lubomir Visnovsky's goal was his fifth of the season, giving the Isles four defensemen with at least 5 goals for the first time since 2003-04 (Aucoin-13, Niinimaa-9, Hamrlik-7, Jonsson-5); the Isles did not have a defensemen with 5 goals last season—it was only the 2nd time in franchise history (1972-73) that this had happened…The Isles lost 30 of 44 draws in the game and have won only 28 of 75 draws in the last 5 periods (37.3%)…The Isles are 6-5-0 in their third (Stadium Series) jerseys…Visnovsky has 129 career goals, only 5 defenseman who have appeared in an NHL game this season have more goals.  Visnovsky needs 9 points to reach 500 career points…Casey Cizikas' goal extended his career-high total; he had six goals in each of the last two seasons…Andrew Cogliano, who is the NHL's iron man, scored the winning goal. Cogliano has never missed a game in his 617-game NHL career, which is the third-longest NHL streak from the start of his career.

Not Matinee Isles?
This was the final regular season afternoon game at the Coliseum and the final afternoon game of the season.  The Isles went 2-3-1 in matinees this season.

Fort Never Lose?
Isles are now winless in 7 straight games at the Coliseum (0-6-1).  They have had only three longer home winless streaks in Coliseum history:
·         9 games in 1998-99
·         8 games in 1999-00
·         8 games in 2014-15

Winless Months at Home
The Isles are 0-5-1 this month at the Coliseum with one game to play.
The Isles have had only four winless months on home ice in their history (at least six games):
·         7 games in March 1999 (0-6-1)
·         6 games in October 1989 (0-4-2)
·         6 games in March 2001 (0-6-0)
·         6 games in January 2008 (0-4-2)

The Big 3
The Isles are 36-17-5 in the 58 games that they have had Nick Leddy, Johnny Boychuk and Travis Hamonic all in the lineup.  They are 8-10-0 in the 18 games that one or two have been missing.
Both Hamonic and Boychuk have at least 30 points.  It's the first time that the Isles have had 2 defensemen with at least 30 points since Adrian Aucoin and Roman Hamrlik did so in 2002-03.  Leddy has 29 points.

Most Times Scoring the First Goal of a Game as a Rookie (last 25 seasons)
1.     Alex Ovechkin – 12 (2005-06)
2.     Teemu Selanne – 10 (1992-93)
3.     Anders Lee - 9 (2014-15)
       Mike Hoffman -9 (2014-15)

Most Shutouts in a Season by an Islander
7 – Chico Resch (1975-76)
5- Jaroslav Halak (2014-15), Rick DiPietro (2006-07 and 2003-04), Tommy Salo (1998-99 and 1996-97), and Ron Hextall (1993-94),

Most Goals by an Islander in the 2000's
·         Jason Blake -40 (2006-07)
·         Matt Moulson-36 (2011-12)
·         Miroslav Satan -35 (2005-06)
·         Mariusz Czerkawski-35 (1999-2000)
·         Michael Grabner-34 (2010-11)
·         John Tavares-34 (2014-15)

It's Magic
The Isles' magic number remains 9.  Any combination of points won by the Islanders and/or lost by Boston will clinch a playoff spot for the Isles. 

Tired vs. Rested
There have been 25 times this season that the Isles, their opponent, or both had played the night before.  The Isles are 15-3-1 against an opponent playing on back-to-back nights but are 1-5-0 when the Isles are playing on the back-end of back-to-backs against a rested opponent.
·         The Isles are 7-1-0 when both teams played the night before. This will also happen on March 29th vs. Detroit and April 11th vs Columbus.
·         The Isles are 8-2-1 when they are rested and their opponents are not. This will happen for the final time this season on April 4th vs Buffalo
·         The Isles are 1-5-0 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not. This will not happen again this season.
Metropolitan Division Standings (Top 4)
·         NY Rangers  47-20-7=101 points / 74 games (43 ROW)  Lost to Boston 4-2.
·         Pittsburgh     41-23-11=93 points / 75 games (38 ROW) Beat Arizona 3-2
·         ISLES           44-27-5=93 points / 76 games (37 ROW)  Lost to Anaheim 3-2.
·         Washington  40-25-10=90 points / 75 games (36 ROW)  Lost to Nashville 4-3
Remaining Schedule:
·         NY Rangers: Sunday vs. Washington, Tuesday at Winnipeg, Thursday at Minnesota, Saturday vs. New Jersey, 4/6 vs Columbus, 4/7 at New Jersey, 4/9 vs. Ottawa, 4/11 at Washington
·         ISLES: Sunday vs. Detroit, Thursday at Columbus, Saturday vs. Buffalo, 4/7 at Philadelphia, 4/10 at Pittsburgh, 4/11 vs. Columbus
·         Pittsburgh: Sunday vs. San Jose, Wednesday vs. Philadelphia, Saturday at Columbus, 4/5 at Philadelphia, 4/7 at Ottawa, 4/10 vs. ISLES, 4/11 at Buffalo
·         Washington: Sunday at NY Rangers, Tuesday vs. Carolina, Thursday at Montreal, Saturday at Ottawa, 4/5 at Detroit, 4/8 vs. Boston, 4/11 at NY Rangers

Year of the Fan:
The Isles have sold-out 24 of their 38 home dates this season, including each of the last seven dates. The 24 sellouts are the most for the Isles since the 1980s.  The Isles have drawn at least 15,000 fans 29 times this season.

What a Season:
The Isles are 44-27-5 thru 76 games, representing their most wins since 1983-84 (50). 

The Isles have won more than 44 games only six times in their history:
·         1981-82           54
·         1978-79           51
·         1983-84           50
·         1980-81           48
·         1977-78           48
·         1976-77           47
·         2014-15           44

Home Sweet Home
The Isles are 23-14-1 on Coliseum ice, representing their most home wins since 2010 (when they finished 23-14-4).
The Isles are winless in seven straight on Coliseum ice (0-6-1) and have scored just 11 goals in those seven games.

Road Warriors
The Isles are 21-13-4 on the road and have earned at least a point in 8 of their last 9 (5-1-3). 

Streakers
The Isles have had a season of streaks, going 4-0-0 to open the season and then (in succession) 0-2-0, 2-0-0, 0-3-0, 13-2-0, 0-3-0, 7-1-1, 0-2-0, 6-1-0, 1-4-0, 6-1-0, and 4-2-3 before going 1-6-1 in their last eight games.

Winning Streaks (Season)
·         2 streaks of at least 5 games -- First time since the 1987-88 season that the Isles have had two winning streaks of at least five games.
·         6 streaks of at least 4 games -- First time in the Post-Cup era that the Isles have had at least six winning streaks of at least four games. The Isles had seven separate winning streaks of at least four games in their 1983-84 defense of the Stanley Cup.
·         8 streaks of at least 3 games -- First time in the Post-Cup era that the Isles have had at least eight winning streaks of at least three games. The Isles had nine separate winning streaks of at least three games in their 1983-84 defense of the Stanley Cup.

The Shots:
Isles           9-9-13=31 
Anaheim   10-10-7=27
The Isles have outshot 40 of their last 47 opponents and 57 of their 76 opponents this season. The 57 times outshooting their opponent is the highest total in the NHL this season.
On the season, the Isles have outshot their opponents 2,562 - 2,137 for a +425 shot differential.  

Biggest Differential, Season
·         +425 THIS SEASON
·         +307 in 1976-77
·         +254 in 1986-87
·         +152 in 1975-76

Most Shots on Goal, Season
·         2616  1992-93 (84 games)
·         2562   2014-15
·         2537   2013-14
·         2511   1993-94 (84 games)
The Isles need just 55 shots on goal to establish a new franchise record.

Shooting Percentage
The Isles scored on 9.5% of their shots before the All-Star Game (31-14-1 record); they have scored on only 7.5% of their shots since the break (13-13-4).

Home and Road
The Islanders are 44-27-5 overall; 23-14-1 at home and 21-13-4 on the road.  The Isles have at least 21 wins both at home and on the road for the first time since the 2001-02 season, when they won 21 at home and 21 on the road.
Anaheim is 48-22-7 overall, 25-10-3 at home and 23-12-4 on the road.  The Ducks lead the NHL with 103 points.

By Division
This was the Islanders' final game against the Western Conference this season.
The Isles are 20-5-1 in Division games and are 24-22-4 in games against other divisions. They are 10-10-2 vs. the Atlantic Division, 6-6-2 vs. Central Division, and 8-6-0 vs. the Pacific Division.
The Isles finished last season 10-16-4 against the Met and 24-21-7 against other Divisions. 

Metropolitan Hockey Club, Inc.
The Isles are 20-5-1 against the Met Division, and are 13-3-1 in their last 17 division matchups.  They are 11-3-0 at home (outscoring opponents 54-36) and 9-2-1 on the road. The Isles are 7-1 in overtime/shootouts against division foes, going 4-0 at home and 3-1 on the road. 
The Isles' next division game will be on April 2nd in Columbus.  Four of the Isles' last five games are against division foes.

In the Nets
Michal Neuvirth made 24 saves but falls to 7-20-4 on the season. It was his third loss of the season against the Ducks (including twice as a Sabre).
Frederik Andersen made 29 saves to improve to 33-11-5 on the season. Andersen is 2-0-0 in his career against the Isles and 53-16-5 in his career overall.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-4 on the power play, while Anaheim did not have a power play. The Isles failed on a 1:54 5-on-3, and went 0-4 on the power play in the second period.

The power play is 5-32 (15.6%) in the last 11 games.  The Isles have not scored 2 PP goals in a game since January 4th.

The penalty kill has killed 48 of 52 (92.3%) in the last 22 games; the Isles allowed two goals to Vancouver on February 22nd and two goals to Carolina on February 28th but blanked their other 20 opponents. The Isles have killed all 25 opponent power plays this month (12 games), and 28 straight overall; in their last 9 road games, the Isles have killed all 19 opponent power plays.

The Isles have broken the franchise record (10 games without allowing a power play goal) which was set February 18- March 7, 1978.
The Isles are 24-11-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 20-16-4 when they do not.  The Isles are 15-16-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 29-11-5 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 37-7-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 7-20-3 when they do not. 

One Goal Games
The Isles are 25-9-5 in games decided by a single goal including 12-9-0 in regulation. They are 6-1 in games decided in overtime and are 7-4 in shootouts.  Six games have been decided by two goals in which the second goal was an empty-netter.  The Isles are 3-3 in those games. 
The 25 wins are a new franchise record – in 2007-08, 23 of Isles' 35 wins were by 1 goal.

First Goal (and Second Goal)
The Isles are 27-15-4 when they score first and are 17-12-1 when they allow the opening goal.  This was the Isles' first loss in 15 games this season (13-1-1) when they allow the opening goal but score the second goal.  The Isles have rebounded from 2-0 deficits to win four times this season (New Jersey on December 15th (SO), Pittsburgh on January 16th, Philadelphia on February 5th and Toronto on March 9th)

Second to The One
Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 162-147-44 behind the Islander bench. Among the 9 New York teams, only the Giants' Tom Coughlin and the Yankees' Joe Girardi have led their respective teams longer than Capuano.

Most games coached (Islanders):
1.     Al Arbour 1,500
2.     Jack Capuano 353
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 162
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74

They Said It
John Tavares: "A lot of guys look to me for the way we need to play. I accept that challenge and what comes with that."
Johnny Boychuk: "I think we're fine. We just have to bear down and support each other. We have a lot of skill in here, but we have to limit the turnovers and just do the right things. When we try to get a bit fancy, we bite ourselves."

They Tweeted It
@ehornick Teenage fan knocked puck out of netting and gave to young girl.  My fan of the game. #isles
@justin_paley Nice to hear that Barry Landers will be calling the second period of tomorrow's @NYIslanders game on @WRHU_FM #isles #wrhu
@ISLES_SEC_337 Got to hang out at the coliseum today. Loved every second of it. Go #isles. #beLIeve.
@DJPasley Bad stretch by a very young team. Once they get through this, they will be a better team going forward. #Isles
@CryptodiraMike #isles getting ready to start a big 6 game winning streak heading into the playoffs. I FEEL IT

The Coach
"They have to find a way.  They know they have to score a goal, they get it."

Back-to-Backs
Including today, the Isles are 9-5-1 in the front-end and 8-6-0 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.  The Isles have swept 5 sets of back-to-backs, are 1-1-0 in seven sets, are 0-1-1 in one set, and have been swept once.
This back to back concludes on Sunday vs. Detroit.  The Isles' final back-to-back will be in games 81 and 82, on April 10-11 (at Pittsburgh, vs Columbus).

Leading Ice Men
Nick Leddy led all Isles with 23:11 of ice-time. Francois Beauchemin led Anaheim in ice-time with 22:51.

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (13-5-1), Travis Hamonic (20-7-2), Lubomir Visnovsky (2-1-0) John Tavares (2-6-1), Thomas Hickey (4-0-0), Nick Leddy (0-5-1), Frans Nielsen (1-0-0), Kyle Okposo (0-1-0), Brian Strait (1-0-0) and Calvin deHaan (1-2-0).

John Tavares led Isles forwards with 21:26. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (26-25-5), Kyle Okposo (12-1-0), Ryan Strome (1-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-1-0), Anders Lee (1-0-0), Frans Nielsen (1-0-0), Casey Cizikas (1-0-0) and Josh Bailey (1-2-0). 

In the Circle
The Islanders won only 14 of 44 draws (32%).  For the second straight game, no Islander won more than he lost; Ryan Getzlaf won 14 of 19 and Nate Thompson won 7 of 9 for Anaheim.  The Isles won fewer than 40% of the draws in each period, including just 1 of 6 on the power play.
There were 17 draws in the Ducks' zone and the Isles won only 4 of them (24%).

Heavy Hitters
The Isles out-hit Anaheim 38-28.  Matt Martin led the Isles with six hits while Cal Clutterbuck added four.
Matt Martin leads the NHL with 373 hits while Cal Clutterbuck is 2nd with 321. Martin now has the three highest totals in NHL history (since 2005) and needs just 2 hits to set a new NHL record:

Most hits, season:
1.     Matt Martin, NYI 374 in 2011-12
2      Matt Martin, NYI 373 in 2014-15           
3.     Matt Martin, NYI 359 in 2013-14
4.     Cal Clutterbuck, Min 356 in 2009-10
There were no fights in the game. The Isles have been involved in 14 fights this season: Martin (9), Hamonic (3), Lee (1), Strome (1) and 11 of the 14 have been against Metropolitan Division opponents.

Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 14 blocked shots; Brian Strait led the way with 4.

For the Corsi Crowd
The Kings finished with a total Corsi advantage of 69-49, including 49-26 in the second and third periods combined. The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks).
Lubomir Visnovsky led the Isles with a +11 even-strength Corsi rating; Ryan Strome and Brock Nelson were on-ice for a team-leading 69% of Corsi For events.  Simon Despres led Anaheim with a +7 rating.

Head of the Class
Islander Captain John Tavares has 389 career points; he is 80 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.

This Team is Deep!
John Tavares has been held pointless 28 times this season and the Isles are 15-12-1 in those games.  Prior to this season the Isles were 40-89-22 in the 151 games in which Tavares was scoreless. (Thanks hockey-reference.com)

All-time Winners
The Islanders fall to 23 games over all-time NHL .500 (1449-1426-455 in 3,330 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
Nikolay Kulemin and Brock Nelson are the Islanders' reigning ironmen.  Kulemin has played 144 consecutive games (68 for Toronto and 76 for the Isles) while Nelson has played 129 consecutive Islander games. John Tavares is the only other Islander to have played every game this season. 

Missing Men
Mikhail Grabovski is on injured reserve. Lubomir Visnovsky replaced Calvin deHaan in the lineup after missing the last five games.  Matt Donovan, Michael Grabner, Colin McDonald and Eric Boulton were scratched.
The Isles have lost 265 games this season due to injury/illness.

All-time Islander Leader Board:

John Tavares has:
·         170 goals (12th all-time and 14 behind Billy Harris)
·         219 assists (15th all-time, 30 behind Tomas Jonsson and 40 behind Billy Harris)
·         389 points (13th all-time and 54 behind Billy Harris)
·         426 games played (tied-33rd among Islander skaters all-time with Jason Blake, and 18 behind Kyle Okposo)

Kyle Okposo has:
·         114 goals (24th all-time, 2 behind Ray Ferraro and 4 behind Steve Thomas, Matt Moulson and Mark Parrish)
·         186 assists (18th all-time, 7 behind Pierre Turgeon and 10 behind Frans Nielsen)
·         300 points (18th all-time, 31 behind Ziggy Palffy and 33 behind Tomas Jonsson)
·         444 games played (32nd among Islander skaters all-time, 6 behind Scott Lachance and 15 behind Trent Hunter)

Frans Nielsen has:
·         98 goals (29th all-time, 1 behind Trent Hunter and 3 behind Anders Kallur)
·         197 assists (16th all-time and 22 behind John Tavares)
·         295 points (tie-19th all-time with Mariusz Czerkawski and 5 behind Kyle Okposo)
·         522 games played (21st among Islander skaters all-time, 8 behind Pat LaFontaine and 10 behind Tomas Jonsson)

 Josh Bailey has:
·         134 assists (32nd all-time, 4 behind Greg Gilbert, 5 behind Mark Streit, and 6 behind Steve Thomas)
·         215 points (35th all-time, 4 behind Mikko Makela and 8 behind Matt Moulson)
·         470 games played (tied-28th among Islander skaters with Mariusz Czerkawski and 6 behind Gerry Hart)

Michael Grabner has:
·         89 goals (36th all-time, 3  behind Travis Green and 4 behind Garry Howatt & Greg Gilbert)

Season Series Stats
The teams split the season series 1 game to 1 (Anaheim earned 3 points to the Isles' 2). 
The Isles are 2-5-1 in their last 8 games against the Ducks.

It Happened at the Coliseum … on MARCH 28th
34 years ago tonight (1981) – Four times the Pittsburgh Penguins would take the lead; four times the Isles would answer as the teams played a 4-4 tie on Coliseum ice.
The Penguins grabbed a 2-1 lead after one period, but Butch Goring's shorthanded tally (a club record 17th for the team) evened the game early in the second period. Paul Baxter restored Pittsburgh's lead before the second session ended.
In the third period, John Tonelli tied the game at the 11:13 mark but Greg Malone, who like his son Ryan had some big games against the Isles, scored just 23 seconds later to give Pittsburgh a 4-3  lead.  However, much like they couldn't do 13 months later, the Penguins couldn't seal the deal and instead Bob Nystrom sealed the game at 18:14.
"I'm relieved and disappointed… but more relieved", Denis Potvin told Newsday's Pat Calabria  as the Isles fell two points behind St. Louis for 1st place overall.
St Louis            44-16-16            104      
NY Islanders     44-17-14            102
                       
The tie left the Isles with a 44-17-14 record; only 21 of the wins were at home, leaving the Isles as the only NHL team with more road wins than home wins.
Also on this date: (1989) – Mike Walsh scored his first two NHL goals as the Islanders defeated Washington, 5-4, stopping the Caps' eight-game win streak.  They would also be Walsh's only two NHL goals.
All-time, the Isles have played five March 28th games at the Coliseum and have compiled a 2-2-2 record on this date at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale. 

On The Farm
The Sound Tigers are 24-34-6-1, following a 4-3 loss in Syracuse on Friday.  Bridgeport visits Binghamton Saturday before hosting Hershey on Sunday (3pm).

Up Next
SUNDAY, MARCH 29th – DETROIT AT ISLANDERS 5:00PM
[MSG+ (Pre-game at 4:30), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Isles look to avoid a winless March on Coliseum ice when they host the Detroit Red Wings.  The teams have split a pair of games in the Motor City already this season but this will be Detroit's only Coliseum visit of the campaign.
The Isles have won three of the last four Coliseum match-ups between the teams and are 3-1-3 in their last 7 on Long Island against the Red Wings.

AND FINALLY…
Thanks so much to all those who have participated in our shirt sale based on the It Happened at the Coliseum theme.  We have now raised over $25,000 for Make-A-Wish® Metro NY.  If you would like to order, please visit bit.ly/IHATC.   For more about the project, see here: http://islanders.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=759550

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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