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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, October 31, 2015

The Skinny: New Jersey 3, Isles 2 (SO)

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick
 
Game 11
New Jersey 3, Isles 2 (SO)
Mike Cammalleri scored in the fourth round of the shootout for the deciding tally as the New Jersey Devils defeated the Islanders 3-2 before a crowd of 11,605 at Prudential Center.  The Isles, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit despite playing without captain John Tavares (ill), extended their point streak to four games (2-0-2) with their second consecutive OT/SO loss. The Isles are 6-1-1 in their last nine games and their overall 6-2-3 record matches their 2nd best through 11 games in the Post-Cup era (8-0-1-1 in 2001-02 and 7-3-1 in 1987-88).

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD
02:51    NJD      John Moore (1) ASST: Lee Stempniak (6), Bobby Farnham (1)     1 - 0 NJD         
14:36    NJD      Bobby Farnham (1) ASST: Stephen Gionta (1), Damon Severson (4)        2 - 0 NJD         
 
2ND PERIOD
01:39    NYI       PPG - Anders Lee (3) ASST: Marek Zidlicky (3), Nick Leddy (4)   2 - 1 NJD         
10:26    NYI       SHG - Frans Nielsen (5) ASST: Brian Strait (1)     2 - 2 Tie           
 
3RD PERIOD
NONE
 
OT PERIOD
NONE
 
The Shootout:
ROUND            ISLANDERS                  DEVILS
1                      Frans Nielsen (G)           Adam Henrique (NG)
2                      Kyle Okposo (NG)         Jacob Josefson            (G)
3                      Cal Clutterbuck  (NG)     Lee Stempniak  (NG)
4                      Josh Bailey (NG)           Mike Cammalleri (G/ GDG)
 
Frans Nielsen is 39/73 all-time in shootouts.  Only Jonathan Toews (40) has more career shootout goals…The Isles have lost six straight shootouts (and 7 of their last 8).
 
The Skinny:
 
The Isles' penalty killers are 26-26 over the last eight games and have now killed 92.3% of opponents' opportunities…Frans Nielsen now goals in three straight games (4 goals) and points in four straight games (4-2-6)… The Isles allowed only 17 shots (fewest by an opponent since Buffalo had only 10 last February 8th); the Devils did not have a shot on goal in the first 19 minutes…The Isles have scored power play goals in 5 straight games (5/12, 42%) for the first time since October 15-25, 2013….The Devils scored first for only the third time all season (3-0-0)…John Moore and Bobby Farnham both scored their first goals as Devils; Farnham's goal was also his first NHL goal as he became the first player to score his first NHL goal in his first Devils game since Zach Parise (10/5/05 vs. Pittsburgh)…Nielsen's shorty was the 14th of his career, breaking a tie with Shawn Bates for 6th place on the Isles' all-time list.

First Time in a Ridiculously Long Time
In each of the last five games, the Isles have scored a power play goal and killed all of the penalties against them.  They last did that in five consecutive games from February 13-23, 1993.
 
The Shots:
Isles        7-9-6-4=26
New Jersey   6-6-2-3=17
The Isles have been held to 26 or fewer shots on goal in five of their last six games. 

Home and Road
The Islanders are 6-2-3 overall; 4-1-2 at home and 2-1-1 on the road.  It's only the third time in the Post-Cup era that they have earned at least 15 points in their first 11 games (18 in 2001-02 and 15 in 1987-88).
 
New Jersey is 6-4-1 overall; 2-3-1 at home and 4-1-0 on the road.  The Devils are 6-1-0 in their last seven games.

By Division
The Isles are 1-0-2 in Division games and are 5-2-1 in games against other divisions. They are 0-1-0 vs. the Atlantic Division, 3-1-1 vs. Central Division, and 2-0-0 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
Jaroslav Halak made 15 saves.  He is 3-1-1 this season, with a 1.79 GAA.  Halak is 7-4-2 in his career against New Jersey and 24-24 all-time in shootouts.
Cory Schnieder made 24 saves as he improves to 6-2-1.  He is 2-2-1 in his career against the Isles and 11-18 all-time in shootouts.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-2 on the power play, while New Jersey was 0-3.  The Isles began the day with the best penalty killing in the NHL; they have now killed 36 of 39 this season.
The Isles are 4-1-2 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-1-1 when they do not.  The Isles are 1-1-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 5-1-2 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 6-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-1-3 when they do not.  The Isles were 40-8-4 when they scored at least goals (including SO winners) last season.

One Goal Games
The Isles are 2-0-3 in games decided by a single goal including 1-0-0 in regulation. They are 1-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-1 in shootouts.  The Isles are 1-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal
The Isles are 4-0-1 when they score first and are 2-2-2 when they allow the opening goal.   

Second to The One
Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 171-150-49 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 370
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181
 
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 171
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74

They Tweeted It
@jonzella #isles continue to collect points. Have done so in all but two games so far.
@K_Dexter Frans Nielsen, sniper. 4 goals in his last 3 games. Tied with Tavares for the team lead (5). #Isles
@WaltRuffTV Frans Nielsen is the most underrated shootout participant in the entire NHL to me.  Always lethal.  #Isles

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 0-1-2 in the front-end and 1-1-0 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.  This back-to-back set will conclude Sunday as they host Buffalo.

Tired vs. Rested
·         The Isles are 0-1-0 when both teams played the night before.
·         The Isles are 2-0-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not.
·         The Isles are 1-0-0 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

Ice-time Leaders
Isles Nick Leddy (25:00); New Jersey: Andy Greene (24:36).
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (4-1-1), Johnny Boychuk (2-1-0), Calvin deHaan (0-0-1), Nick Leddy (0-0-1)
Kyle Okposo led Isles forwards with 21:13 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (3-1-2), Ryan Strome (2-0-0), Frans Nielsen (1-0-0), Kyle Okposo (0-0-1), Tied (0-1-0). 

Face-offs
Isles 22, New Jersey 27 (45%)
Mikhail Grabovski won 6 of 9 for the Isles; Adam Henrique won 13 of 18 for New Jersey.
The Isles won 8 of 15 in the first period but only 14 of 34 the rest of the way. The Isles won 2 of 4 on the power play and 3 of 6 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters
Isles 15, New Jersey 12.  Steve Bernie led the Isles with 3 hits.

Fights
There were no fights.  Season total – 2 (Boychuk, Martin).  

Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 11 blocked shots; Steve Bernier led the team with three.

For the Corsi Crowd
All situations:  Isles 49, New Jersey 33.
Even-Strength: Isles 30, New Jersey 23. The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks). 
Nick Leddy led the Isles with a +8 even-strength Corsi rating; Calvin deHaan had a team-leading 69% of Corsi For events. Damon Severson led New Jersey with a +4 rating.

Ironmen
·         Nikolay Kulemin -161 (68 for Toronto and 93 for the Isles)
·         Brock Nelson  -146 (all for Isles)
John Tavares was scratched due to illness, heading his 92-game streak.

Missing Men
Eric Boulton and Thomas Hickey are on injured reserve; John Tavares missed the game due to illness.  Taylor Beck was recalled from Bridgeport but did not play.
The Isles have lost 21 games this season due to injury/illness.

All-time Islander Leader Board:
John Tavares has:
·         180 goals (12th all-time, 4 behind Billy Harris and 26 behind John Tonelli)
·         232 assists (15th all-time, 17 behind Tomas Jonsson and 27 behind Billy Harris)
·         412 points (13th all-time and 31 behind Billy Harris)
·         442 games played (33rd among Islander skaters all-time, and 9 behind Scott Lachance)
Kyle Okposo has:
·         120 goals (19th all-time and 2 behind Duane Sutter)
·         194 assists (17th all-time and 8 behind Frans Nielsen)
·         314 points (18th all-time, 17 behind Ziggy Palffy and 19 behind Tomas Jonsson)
·         460 games played (30th among Islander skaters all-time and 8 behind Mariusz Czerkawski)
Frans Nielsen has:
·         104 goals (27th all-time, and 1 behind Ed Westfall)
·         202 assists (16th all-time and 30 behind John Tavares)
·         306 points (19th all-time and 8 behind Kyle Okposo)
·         534 games played (tied-18th among Islander skaters all-time with Claude Lapointe)
 Josh Bailey has:
·         140 assists (tied-29th all-time with Steve Thomas and 5 behind Travis Green)
·         224 points (tied-33rd all-time with Matt Moulson and 5 behind Trent Hunter and Benoit Hogue)
·         487 games played (26th among Islander skaters, 6 behind Ed Westfall and 22 behind Mick Vukota and Rich Pilon)

Season Series Stats
The Devils lead the season series 1 game to 0 and 2 points to 1.  The season series will continue in Brooklyn on Tuesday and again on December 13th before concluding February 19th in Newark.
The Isles are 6-0-1 in the last seven vs. New Jersey.  Five of the seven games have been decided in either overtime or shootouts.  The Isles are 7-3 all-time in shootouts against New Jersey.

On The Farm
The Sound Tigers are 7-3-0-0 after a 3-2 win in Albany on Friday.  Bracken Kearns and Alan Quine each scored their sixth goal for Bridgeport.
Bridgeport returns home to play Utica on Sunday.

Up Next
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 1st – BUFFALO AT ISLANDERS 7:30PM
[MSG+ (Pre-game at 7:00), 91.5 WNYE-FM. 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Isles went 2-0-1 against Buffalo last season, with the Sabres winning only by shootout. The Isles are 5-0-3 in their last eight against Buffalo, with each Sabre win coming in the shootout.

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

Friday, October 30, 2015

Thursday, October 29, 2015

The Skinny: Carolina 3, Isles 2 (OT)

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick
 
Game 10
Carolina 3, Isles 2 (OT)
Ron Hainsey scored 2:21 into overtime as the Carolina Hurricanes won a game that they never led, defeating the Islander 3-2 before a crowd of 11,494 at Barclays Center.  The Isles do earn a point, their 14th, tying the Rangers for first place in the Metropolitan Division with identical 6-2-2 records. The Isles are 6-1-1 in their last eight games and their overall 6-2-2 record is their 2nd best through ten games in the Post-Cup era (8-0-1-1 in 2001-02).

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD
08:56    NYI       Matt Martin (1) Tip-in - ASST: Nick Leddy (2), Casey Cizikas (3)   1 - 0 NYI          
15:00    CAR     Brock McGinn (2) Snap shot - ASST: Jay McClement (2), Nathan Gerbe (2)1 - 1 Tie         
 
2ND PERIOD
12:50    NYI       PPG - Frans Nielsen (4) Backhand - ASST: Nick Leddy (3), Thomas Greiss (1) 2 - 1 NYI   
 
3RD PERIOD
14:56    CAR     Chris Terry (2) Snap shot - ASST: Jordan Staal (1), Eric Staal (3) 2 - 2 Tie
 
OVERTIME
02:21    CAR     Ron Hainsey (2) Backhand shot - ASST: Jordan Staal (2)            3 - 2 CAR

The Skinny:
 
The Isles' penalty killers are 23-23 over the last seven games and have now killed 91.7% of opponents' opportunities… Matt Martin's goal, his 33rd in 368 NHL games (and his first since February 24th) came on the 5th anniversary of his first NHL goal (10/29/10 vs. Alex Auld of Montreal)…Frans Nielsen now has three goals in the last two games…Thomas Greiss recorded his first career assist…Brock McGinn's goal was only the second scored by Carolina in the 1st period this season and ended an 88:09 Islander shutout streak …Jordan Staal recorded his first point of the season on the tying goal…The Isles had been 4-0-0 when leading after two periods…The 19 shots are the fewest for the Isles in a home game against Carolina since November 5, 1998...Ron Hainsey's goal was the first allowed by the Isles 3-on-3; Chicago's Patrick Kane has the other overtime goal vs. the Isles, but that came on a power play…Carolina captain Eric Staal celebrated his 31st birthday (he was born on Denis Potvin's 31st birthday); Staal recorded his 748th point on the tying goal—69 points more than any other player drafted in 2003…The Isles have scored power play goals in 4 straight games (4/10, 40%) for the first time since January 16-27, 2015.
 
First Time in a Long Time
In each of the last four games, the Isles have scored a power play goal and killed all of the penalties against them.  They last did that in four consecutive games in March 2012 and have not had a longer streak of scoring PP goals while being perfect on the penalty kill since a 5-game stretch in February 1993.
 
The Shots:
Isles        8-6-4-1=19
Carolina   4-8-13-4=29
The Isles have been held to 26 or fewer shots on goal in four of their last five games.  The 19 shots are the fewest for the Isles since December 9, 2014 in Minnesota (also 19) and their fewest in a home game since they also had 19 on March 1, 2014 vs. New Jersey. 

Home and Road
The Islanders are 6-2-2 overall; 4-1-2 at home and 2-1-0 on the road.  It's only the second time in the Post-Cup era that they have earned at least 14 points in their first ten games (18 in 2001-02).
 
Carolina is 4-6-0 overall; 0-2-0 at home and 4-4-0 on the road.  The Canes concluded their season-long 7-game road trip with a 4-3-0 record.

By Division
The Isles are 1-0-1 in Division games and are 5-2-1 in games against other divisions. They are 0-1-0 vs. the Atlantic Division, 3-1-1 vs. Central Division, and 2-0-0 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 26 saves to earn a point in his fifth straight star (3-0-2).  He is 1-1-1 in his career against Carolina.
Eddie Lack made 17 saves as he improves to 1-2-0 for his first win as a Hurricane.  He is 2-1-0 in his career against the Isles.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-2 on the power play, while Carolina was 0-2.  The Isles began the night as the only NHL team that had killed at least 90% of their penalties; they have now killed 33 of 36 this season.
The Isles are 4-1-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-1-1 when they do not.  The Isles are 1-1-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 5-1-1 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 6-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-1-2 when they do not.  The Isles were 40-8-4 when they scored at least goals (including SO winners) last season.

One Goal Games
The Isles are 2-0-2 in games decided by a single goal including 1-0-0 in regulation. They are 1-2 in games decided in overtime and are 0-0 in shootouts.  The Isles are 1-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal
The Isles are 4-0-1 when they score first and are 2-2-1 when they allow the opening goal.   

Second to The One
Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 171-150-48 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 369
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181
 
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 171
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74

They Tweeted It
@Isles24Seven Points are points. Collect as many as you can. #isles
@justincusano With that said I'll take 6-2-2 in the first ten. 14/20 points keep that pace up and it's gonna be a great year #isles #YesYesYes
@tbone31592 I'll take the 6-2-2 start, probably should be better than that, but it's a marathon, not a sprint. All teams have issues that pop up. #Isles

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 0-1-1 in the front-end and 1-1-0 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.  Their next back-to-back set will be next weekend, when they visit New Jersey on Saturday and host Buffalo on Sunday.

Tired vs. Rested
·         The Isles are 0-1-0 when both teams played the night before.
·         The Isles are 2-0-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not.
·         The Isles are 1-0-0 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Calvin deHaan (23:15); Carolina: John Michael-Liles (22:30).
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (4-1-1), Johnny Boychuk (2-1-0), Calvin deHaan (0-0-1).
John Tavares led Isles forwards with 19:54 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (3-1-2), Ryan Strome (2-0-0), Frans Nielsen (1-0-0), Tied (0-1-0). 

Face-offs
Isles 30, Carolina 24 (56%)
Frans Nielsen won 12 of 16 for the Isles; Victor Rask won 6 of 8 for Carolina.
The Isles won at least 50% of the draws in all three periods and in the overtime. The Isles won 2 of 4 on the power play and 1 of 4 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters
Isles 30, Carolina 22.  Cal Clutterbuck led the Isles with 6 hits.

Fights
There were no fights.  Season total – 2 (Boychuk, Martin).  

Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 11 blocked shots; Calvin deHaan led the team with three.

For the Corsi Crowd
All situations:  Isles 39, Carolina 50 (including 42-24 Carolina after the first period).
Even-Strength: Isles 33, Carolina 42. The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks). 
Kyle Okposo led the Isles with a +3 even-strength Corsi rating; and a team-leading 58% of Corsi For events. Noah Hanifan and Kris Versteeg led Carolina with a +7 rating.

Ironmen
·         Nikolay Kulemin -160 (68 for Toronto and 92 for the Isles)
·         Brock Nelson  -145 (all for Isles)

Missing Men
Eric Boulton and Thomas Hickey are on injured reserve; Jaroslav Halak and Ryan Strome both missed the game due to illness.
The Isles have lost 18 games this season due to injury/illness.

All-time Islander Leader Board:
John Tavares has:
·         180 goals (12th all-time, 4 behind Billy Harris and 26 behind John Tonelli)
·         232 assists (15th all-time, 17 behind Tomas Jonsson and 27 behind Billy Harris)
·         412 points (13th all-time and 31 behind Billy Harris)
·         442 games played (33rd among Islander skaters all-time, and 9 behind Scott Lachance)
Kyle Okposo has:
·         120 goals (19th all-time and 2 behind Duane Sutter)
·         194 assists (17th all-time and 8 behind Frans Nielsen)
·         314 points (18th all-time, 17 behind Ziggy Palffy and 19 behind Tomas Jonsson)
·         459 games played (tied 30th among Islander skaters all-time with Trent Hunter and 9 behind Mariusz Czerkawski)
Frans Nielsen has:
·         103 goals (27th all-time, and 2 behind Ed Westfall)
·         202 assists (16th all-time and 30 behind John Tavares)
·         305 points (19th all-time and 9 behind Kyle Okposo)
·         533 games played (19th among Islander skaters all-time and 1 behind Claude Lapointe)
 Josh Bailey has:
·         140 assists (tied-29th all-time with Steve Thomas and 5 behind Travis Green)
·         224 points (tied-33rd all-time with Matt Moulson and 5 behind Trent Hunter and Benoit Hogue)
·         486 games played (26th among Islander skaters, 7 behind Ed Westfall and 23 behind Mick Vukota and Rich Pilon)

Season Series Stats
The Hurricanes lead the season series 1 game to 0 and 2 points to 1.  The season series will continue in Carolina on February 13th and conclude with a home-and-home series in late March.
The Isles are 4-1-1 in the last six vs. Carolina, but are 1-5-1 in their last 7 at home against Carolina.

On The Farm
The Sound Tigers are 6-3-0-0 after a 5-1 loss to Springfield on Wednesday.  Justin Vaive scored Bridgeport's only goal.
Bridgeport visits Albany on Friday before coming home to play Utica on Sunday.

Up Next
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31st – ISLANDERS AT NEW JERSEY 1:00PM
[MSG+ (Pre-game at 12:30), 91.5 WNYE-FM. 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Isles travel to New Jersey for their first meeting of the season with the Devils on Saturday.
The Isles won all four games last season (including one in overtime and another in a shootout and have won 9 of the last 11 meetings between the teams. The Isles have won every game played in New Jersey the last three seasons, winning six straight games (with four of the six wins coming in overtime/shootouts).

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