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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...

Friday, October 16, 2015

The Skinny: Isles 4, Nashville 3

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick
 
Game 4
Isles 4, Nashville 3
Nikolay Kulemin broke a 2-2 tie in the third period with his 100th career goal and the Islanders overcame a slow start for a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators before a crowd of 10,542 at Barclays Center.  The Isles have won two straight games and have earned points in all three games (2-0-1) in their new home. Thomas Greiss made a career-high 44 saves to improve to 2-0-1 on the season.

The Scoring:
1st Period
02:14    NSH     Austin Watson (1) ASST: NONE             1 - 0 NSH         
 
2nd Period
04:22    NSH     Filip Forsberg (2) ASST: James Neal (1) 2 - 0 NSH         
05:02    NYI       Anders Lee (1) ASST: John Tavares (3), Ryan Strome (1) 2 - 1 NSH         
11:56    NYI       Kyle Okposo (1) ASST: Mikhail Grabovski (1)       2 - 2 Tie           
 
3rd Period
06:42    NYI       Nikolay Kulemin (1) ASST: Brock Nelson (2), Mikhail Grabovski (2)            3 - 2 NYI          
11:49    NYI       John Tavares (3) ASST: Anders Lee (2), Travis Hamonic (1)           4 - 2 NYI          
14:36    NSH     James Neal (1) ASST: Filip Forsberg (2), Roman Josi (1)   4 - 3 NYI

The Skinny
John Tavares now has goals in six straight games vs. Nashville… Kyle Okposo moved into a tie for 20th on the all-time Isles goal list (with Steve Thomas, Matt Moulson and Mark Parrish) with his 118th career goal…It's the most shots the Predators have ever had in a game vs. the Isles…The Isles have now outscored their opponents 5-3 in the third period this season…John Tavares picked up a minor penalty, raising his team leading penalty total to 16 minutes…Anders Lee's goal was the first allowed by Nashville in the first two periods this season (145:02); Nashville had scored six times… Devin Berg made his NHL officiating debut in this game…The Isles had three players with multiple points…Dynasty child Eric Nystrom played 9:17 for Nashville…Mike Fisher played in his 950th NHL game.

Put It in the Books
John Tavares scored the game-winning goal for the second straight game.  It's his 10th game-winning goal since the start of last season, and the 33rd of his career. Since the start of the 2011-12 season, only Claude Giroux (302) has more points than Tavares (286, tied with Evgeni Malkin).

The Shots:
Isles                7-13-8=28
Nashville     17-17-13=47
 
First Times in a Long Time
 
It's the most shots the Isles have allowed since December 10, 2013 in San Jose (48) and the most that they have allowed at home since January 11, 2011 vs. Vancouver (51).
 
It's the first time that the Isles have been outshot by at least 19 shots since that 2013 game in San Jose (48-28) and the first time it's happened at home since March 24, 2011 when Atlanta outshot them 34-15.

Home and Road
The Islanders are 2-1-1 overall; 2-0-1 at home and 0-1-0 on the road.  
Nashville is 3-1-0 overall; 2-0-0 at home and 1-1-0 on the road. 

By Division
The Isles are 0-0-0 in Division games and are 2-1-1 in games against other divisions. They are 0-0-0 vs. the Atlantic Division, 2-1-1 vs. Central Division, and 0-0-0 vs. the Pacific Division. 
The Isles finished last season 21-6-3 against the Met and 26-22-4 against other Divisions. 

In the Nets
Thomas Greiss made 44 saves to improve to 2-0-1.  He is 3-2-0 in his career against Nashville.
Pekka Rinne made 24 saves but falls to 3-1-0.  He is 3-3-1 in his career against the Isles.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-2 on the power play, while Nashville was also 0-2. 
The Isles are 1-0-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 1-1-1 when they do not.  The Isles are 1-1-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 1-0-0 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number
Last season, the Isles went 40-8-4 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and 7-20-3 when they do not. 
This year, the Isles are 2-0-0 when they score at least three goals (including SO winners) and are 0-1-1 when they do not.

One Goal Games
The Isles are 1-0-1 in games decided by a single goal including 1-0-0 in regulation. They are 0-1 in games decided in overtime and are 0-0 in shootouts.  The Isles are 1-0 in games in which an empty-net goal is scored.

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

Second to The One
Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 167-149-47 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 363
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181
 
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 167
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74

They Tweeted It
@IslesWild #isles haven't hit their stride yet, still beating good teams with some help from Greiss. Good sign!
@SNstats #Isles John Tavares has recorded a multi-point game in each of his last 4 meetings vs the #Preds.
@heyyitsnickyy Isles beat the Predators and stopped their winning streak 😊 great night to be an Islanders fan 💙 @NYIslanders #nyisles #isles #yesyesyes

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 0-0-1 in the front-end and 0-1-0 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.  Their next back-to-back will be on October 23rd (home vs. Boston) and 24th (at St. Louis).

Tired vs. Rested
·         The Isles are 0-1-0 when both teams played the night before.
·         The Isles are 0-0-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not.
·         The Isles are 0-0-0 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Johnny Boychuk 25:01; Nashville: Roman Josi 25:59
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (1-1-1), Johnny Boychuk (1-0-0).
Ryan Strome led Isles forwards with 18:17 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (1-0-1), Ryan Strome (1-0-0), Tied (0-1-0). 

Face-offs
Isles 31, Nashville 31 (50%)
John Tavares won 7 of 12; Paul Gaustad won 12 of 15.  
The Isles won 15 of 25 in the 2nd period but only 16 of 37 in the other two periods. The Isles won 3 of 5 on the power play and 0 of 2 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters
Isles 43, Nashville 33.  Brian Strait and Casey Cizikas led the Isles with six hits.

Fights
None.  Season total - 0

Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 12 blocked shots; Calvin deHaan had 3.

For the Corsi Crowd
All situations:  Isles 48, Nashville 76
Even-Strength: Isles 40, Nashville 64. The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks). 
Brock Nelson, celebrating his 24th birthday, led the Isles with a +3 even-strength Corsi rating and a team-leading 59% of Corsi For events. Craig Smith and Colin Wilson led Nashville with a +13 rating.

Ironmen
·         Nikolay Kulemin -154 (68 for Toronto and 86 for the Isles)
·         Brock Nelson  -139 (all for Isles)
·         Marek ZIdlicky -139 (114 for New Jersey, 21 for Detroit and 4 for Isles)

Missing Men
Thomas Hickey is on injured reserve. Jaroslav Halak missed the game with an injury.  Eric Boulton and Steve Bernier were scratched as the Isles used the same roster for the fourth straight game.
The Isles have lost 8 games this season due to injury/illness.

All-time Islander Leader Board:
John Tavares has:
·         177 goals (12th all-time and 7 behind Billy Harris)
·         230 assists (15th all-time, 19 behind Tomas Jonsson and 29 behind Billy Harris)
·         407 points (13th all-time and 36 behind Billy Harris)
·         436 games played (33rd among Islander skaters all-time, and 15 behind Scott Lachance)
Kyle Okposo has:
·         118 goals (Tied-20th all-time with Steve Thomas, Matt Moulson and Mark Parrish)
·         190 assists (18th all-time, 3 behind Pierre Turgeon and 9 behind Frans Nielsen)
·         308 points (18th all-time, 23 behind Ziggy Palffy and 25 behind Tomas Jonsson)
·         454 games played (31st among Islander skaters all-time and 5 behind Trent Hunter)
Frans Nielsen has:
·         99 goals (tied-28th all-time with Trent Hunter and 2 behind Anders Kallur)
·         199 assists (16th all-time and 31 behind John Tavares)
·         298 points (19th all-time and 10 behind Kyle Okposo)
·         529 games played (21st among Islander skaters all-time, 1 behind Pat LaFontaine and 3 behind Tomas Jonsson)
 Josh Bailey has:
·         137 assists (32nd all-time, 1 behind Greg Gilbert, 2 behind Mark Streit, and 3 behind Steve Thomas)
·         219 points (tied-34th all-time with Mikko Makela and 5 behind Matt Moulson)
·         480 games played (26th among Islander skaters and 13 behind Ed Westfall)

Season Series Stats
The Isles lead the season series 1 game to 0 and 2 points to 0.  The series will conclude on March 17th in Nashville.
The Isles have won four straight from Nashville for the first time ever.

On The Farm
The Sound Tigers are 3-0-0-0 after a win over Springfield on Tuesday.  Bracken Kearns has led the offense with five points. Bridgeport travels to Providence on Friday.

Up Next
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17th –SAN JOSE AT ISLANDERS 7:30PM
[MSG+ (Pre-game at 7:00), 91.5 WNYE-FM. 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Isles entertain the Sharks in the final game of their three-game homestand.  The teams split a pair of games last season, with the Isles winning in a shootout in October on Long Island and dropping a 3-1 decision in San Jose on November 1st.
The Sharks are off to a 3-0-0 start for new coach Peter DeBoer; the Isles will catch San Jose on the back-end of back-to-backs as the Sharks play in New Jersey on Friday.
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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