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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, April 18, 2015

The Skinny: Washington 4, Isles 3

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick
Eastern Conference First Round Game 2
Washington 4, Isles 3 [Series Tied, 1 game to 1]
Nicklas Backstrom and Jason Chimera scored third period goals 3:53 apart as the Washington Capitals rallied from 2-0 and 3-1 deficits for a 4-3 victory over the Isles in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference First Round series before a sellout crowd of 18,506 at Verizon Center.
The Caps even the best-of-7 series at 1 game each, with game 3 set for 12 noon on Sunday at the Coliseum.

The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
05:14    NYI       Cal Clutterbuck (1) ASST: Matt Martin (1)            1 - 0 NYI          
2ND PERIOD
03:24    NYI       Ryan Strome (2) ASST: John Tavares (2), Lubomir Visnovsky (1) 2 - 0 NYI          
11:26    WSH     Karl Alzner (1) ASST: Mike Green (1), Nicklas Backstrom (1)        2 - 1 NYI          
14:09    NYI       Kyle Okposo (1) ASST: Josh Bailey (2), Calvin de Haan (1)         3 - 1 NYI          
16:09    WSH     Alex Ovechkin (1) ASST: Matt Niskanen (1), Nicklas Backstrom (2)          3 - 2 NYI          
3RD PERIOD
03:44    WSH     PPG - Nicklas Backstrom (1) ASST: John Carlson (1)      3 - 3 Tie           
07:37    WSH     Jason Chimera (1) ASST: Matt Niskanen (2)        4 - 3 WSH
The Series
·         WED APRIL 15, 2015    ISLANDERS 4,  Washington 1   
·         FRI APRIL 17, 2015      Washington 4, ISLANDERS 3                
·         SUN APRIL 19, 2015     Washington @ ISLANDERS       12:00 PM (NBC)
·         TUE APRIL 21, 2015     Washington @ ISLANDERS       7:30 PM (MSG+)          
·         THU APRIL 23, 2015     ISLANDERS @ Washington       TBA (MSG+)                
·         SAT APRIL 25, 2015     Washington @ ISLANDERS       IF NECESSARY (TBD)
·         MON APRIL 27, 2015    ISLANDERS @ Washington       IF NECESSARY (MSG+)

The Skinny
Ryan Strome has now scored in both of his career playoff games. Per Elias, he joins Jean (not Denis) Potvin, Mike Bossy and Brent Sutter as the only Islanders to have done so…Josh Bailey now has six points in 8 career playoff games… It was the first time since April 21, 2008 that the Capitals trailed a playoff game by two goals and won in regulation… Alex Ovechkin's goal snapped a 6-game streak without a playoff point… John Tavares had his first two shots of the series…With Braden Holtby sidelined due to illness, Philipp Grubauer was recalled from Hershey and earned the win in his playoff debut.  He joins Olaf Kolzig and Steve Mason as Capital goalies to win their playoff debut (in regulation).  Mason (1987) also did it against the Isles… The Isles have not led a series 2 games to 0 since the 1983 Stanley Cup Final…Jason Chimera's winning goal gave the Caps their first lead of the series… Matt Niskanen had two assists in the game; he was -4 in game 1…Nicklas Backstrom's goal was his first of the series; his last regular season goal was scored on February 19th vs. Winnipeg. Backstrom earned 15 of his NHL-leading 60 assists after scoring that goal…Each team took only one minor penalty, so there were 250 fewer penalty minutes in this game than in the Isles/Bruins game 2 played on this date in 1980.

A Familiar Playoff Foe
This is the 7th meeting of the Isles and Washington in the playoffs (Isles are 5-1 and have won 19 of 32 games)
·         1983 Patrick Division Semi-Finals  Isles won series 3-1
·         1984 Patrick Division Finals  Isles won series 4-1
·         1985 Patrick Division Semi-Finals  Isles won series 3-2
·         1986 Patrick Division Semi-Finals  Caps won series 3-0 (Arbour retired thereafter)
·         1987 Patrick Division Semi-Finals  Isles won series 4-3 (LaFontaine 4 OT; only playoff series won by anyone other than Arbour)
·         1993 Patrick Division Semi-Finals  Isles won series 4-2
·         2015 Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals.  Series tied 1-1

Playoffs All-time
The Isles fall to 137-111 in 248 all-time playoff games.  They are 78-40 at home and 59-71 on the road. The Isles were 77-32 in home playoff games from 1975 to 2002, but are only 1-8 in their last 9 home games.

Year of the Fan:
The Isles sold-out 27 of their 41 regular season home dates this season, including each of the last eleven dates. The 27 sellouts are the most for the Isles since the 1980s.  The Isles have drawn at least 15,000 fans 32 times this season.

Home Sweet Home
The Isles went 25-14-2 on Coliseum ice, equaling their most home wins since 1984-85 (they finished 25-11-4-1 in 2003-04 and went 26-11-3 in 1984-85).
The Isles went 831-610-224 in 1,665 regular season games all-time at the Coliseum.

Road Warriors
The Isles finished the regular season 22-14-5 on the road, including 6-2-4 in their last 12.  The Isles have won at least 20 road games in consecutive seasons for the second time in franchise history (1981-82 and 1982-83).

The Shots:
Isles            7-7-7=21
Washington 5-18-12=35
Washington has outshot the Isles 60-48 through two games of this series.
The Isles outshot 61 of their 82 opponents in the regular season and have outshot the Caps once in the two games of this series. The 61 times outshooting their opponent is the highest total in the NHL this season.

In the Nets
Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves but falls to 1-1 in this series. He is 11-12 all-time in playoff games.
Philipp Grubauer made 18 saves to earn the win in his first playoff start.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-1 on the power play, while Washington was 1-1.
For the series, the Isles are 0-3 while the Caps are 1-3.

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number
The Isles went 40-8-4 in the regular season when they scored at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 7-20-3 when they did not. 
In the playoffs, the Isles are 1-01 when scoring at least three goals.

One Goal Games
The Isles are 0-1 in playoff games decided by a single goal; they are 0-1 in games decided in regulation and are 0-0 in games decided in overtime. 

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

Coach Cappy
Jack Capuano is now 3-5 in playoff games 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.
Capuano is only the 4th Isles coach to lead at least 2 Islander teams to the playoffs, joining Al Arbour, Terry Simpson, and Peter Laviolette.

Most playoff wins by Islander coaches:
·         Al Arbour 123
·         Terry Simpson 9
·         Peter Laviolette 4
·         Jack Capuano 3
·         Ted Nolan 1
·         Steve Stirling 1

Most playoff games coached (Islanders):
·         Al Arbour 209
·         Terry Simpson 20
·         Peter Laviolette 12
·         Jack Capuano 8
·         Steve Stirling 5
·         Ted Nolan 5

They Said It
Jaroslav Halak: "They came out harder, we all knew it was going to happen. In the first half we responded really well, but they took it from there and outplayed us after that."
John Tavares: "In the beginning we were pretty aggressive. We got a 3-1 lead and we got a little less aggressive. The second half of that game wasn't our best."

They Tweeted It
@DanielClyne  Tough loss for the Isles, next two games at the Coliseum, let's make them good ones #isles #beLIeve #LetsMakeHistoryOneMoreTime
@Mets Hey @NYIslanders, … Good luck tonight #OrangeAndBlue #ThisIsTheTime #Mets #Isles
@kupkrazy All right, #Isles fans have to rock the Coliseum. Blow it up..  they ain't using it after this season anyway.  :)  #Isles
@IslesFan5151 I'm not that disappointed since I expected a long series, but we gotta get back to how we played the first 4 periods of this series #isles
@janefisher13 A split in Washington is not the end of the world. Now we go home #LGI #isles

The Coach
"These are the tough decisions you have to make as a staff and now it comes down to personnel. We have to make sure we put the lineup in that's going to help us win Game 3.

Leading Ice Men
Johnny Boychuk led all Isles with 23:38 of ice-time. Karl Alzner led Washington in ice-time with 22:07.
Isles playoff record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (1-1)
Kyle Okposo led Isles forwards with 19:36 of ice-time. Isles playoff record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (1-0), Kyle Okposo (0-1). 

In the Circle
The Islanders won 27 of 55 draws (49%).  Frans Nielsen won 8 of 13 draws and Brock Nelson won 4 of 6 draws for the Isles; Nicklas Backstrom won 14 of 21 for Washington. The Isles won 6 of 14 in the first period but improved to win 21 of 41 in the final 40 minutes. The Isles won the only draw on the power play and lost the only draw on the penalty kill.

Face-offs Game by Game:
·         Game 1: Isles 23, Caps 39
·         Game 2: Isles 27, Caps 28
·         Series: Isles 50, Caps 67

The Isles were out-hit by Washington 59-38. Matt Martin and Johnny Boychuk led the Isles with six hits; Alex Ovechkin had 8 hits for Washington.
There were no fights in the game.

Hits Game by Game:
·         Game 1: Isles 36, Caps 46
·         Game 2: Isles 38, Caps 59
·         Series: Isles 74, Caps 105

Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 27 blocked shots; Frans Nielsen led the team with 5.

For the Corsi Crowd
The Caps finished with a total Corsi advantage of 82-51, including 63-27 in the first two periods. The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks).
Cal Clutterbuck and Nikolay Kulemin led the Isles with a +3 even-strength Corsi rating; Clutterbuck was on-ice for a team-leading 58% of Corsi For events. Mike Green led Washington with a +17 rating.

Total Corsi Game by Game:
·         Game 1: Isles 65, Caps 55
·         Game 2: Isles 51, Caps 82
·         Series: Isles 116, Caps  137

Missing Men
Injured: Mikhail Grabovski & Travis Hamonic.
Healthy extras: Colin McDonald, Eric Boulton, Griffin Reinhart, Tyler Kennedy and Matt Donovan.
The Isles have lost 4 games this post-season due to injury/illness.

It Happened at the Coliseum … on APRIL 17th
34 years ago tonight (1981) – Only one defenseman in Islander history has ever scored a playoff hat trick, and not surprisingly it was Denis Potvin.  Potvin scored three times in a game that still dots the Islander and NHL record books- a 6-3 win over Edmonton to give the Isles a 2 game to 0 lead in the series.
Glenn Anderson gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead in the first period on a power play goal – what made the power play unusual was that it was Butch Goring in the penalty box.  Goring had gone through the entire regular season without taking a penalty.
Potvin scored two of his power play goals in the second period.  Goring also scored on the power play, but goals by Risto Siltanen and Anderson made it 3-all after two periods.
Potvin would get the winning goal, completing his hat trick, with his third power play goal at 3:47 of the third period. Mike Bossy gave the Isles a 5-3 lead with 12 minutes to play before Bryan Trottier cemented matters with a shorthanded empty-net goal.
The teams combined for four power play goals in the second period and six in the game; both are club records.  Potvin also had two assists as his 5 points tied Bryan Trottier's club mark set 9 days earlier.  Potvin is the only player in Islander history to score 3 power play goals in a playoff game (sharing the NHL record, and the only defenseman) and was the first (later joined by Mike Bossy) to score 2 power play goals in a period.
Potvin would finish the series with 5 power play goals – the only defenseman in NHL history to ever do so.
Also on this date: (1975) – The Isles threw 47 shots at Gary Inness, but it wasn't enough as Pittsburgh told a 3 game to 0 lead in the NHL Quarter-Finals with a 6-4 win.  The Penguins would not win another game.
Also on this date: (1978) – Mike Bossy and Mike Kaszycki, both playing their first playoff game, each scored a goal and added an assist as the Isles raced to a 3-0 lead and a 4-1 win over Toronto in the first game of the NHL Quarter-Finals. Kaszycki would score only one more playoff goal; Bossy on the other hand scored 84 more.
All-time, the Isles have played no regular season and four playoff games on April 17th at the Coliseum; they have compiled a 3-1 playoff record on this date at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale.

On The Farm
The Sound Tigers are 27-39-7-1, following a 3-2 loss in Hartford on Friday.  Matt Carkner scored his 2nd goal (in 17 games) for Bridgeport.
Bridgeport plays Saturday night in Syracuse, before returning home for the season finale at 3:00pm on Sunday against Hartford.

Up Next

Eastern Conference First Round – Game 2
SUNDAY, APRIL 17h –WASHINGTON AT ISLANDERS 12:00PM
[NBC-Channel 4, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The series shifts to Long Island as the Isles entertain the Caps in game 3.

The Isles have lost 7 of their last 8 games 3's, since defeating Washington on a Ray Ferraro overtime goal in 1993. All eight of those games have been played on Coliseum ice.

Fort Neverlose has not held true to its name in the Isles' last four trips to the playoffs.  The Isles have lost 8 of their last 9 home playoff games since winning all three of their home games against the Maple Leafs in 2002.

Note that this game will air on NBC – it will be the Isles' first appearance on Channel 4 since Game 3 vs. Pittsburgh.  Mike "Doc" Emrick, Eddie Olczyk, Pierre McGuire will make their first-ever appearance as a trio on Coliseum ice.

After the game, MSG+ will have a full 1-hour post-game.

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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