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The Skinny: Isles 4, Buffalo 3

"The Skinny" By Eric Hornick Game 11 Isles 4, Buffalo 3 Bo Horvat and Maxim Tsyplakov each scored a goal and added an assist, and ...

Friday, February 26, 2016

The Skinny: Isles 2, Calgary 1 (OT)

"The Skinny"  

 By Eric Hornick
 
Game 59  
Isles 2, Calgary 1
 
Calgary native Thomas Hickey scored the tying goal midway through the third period and Josh Bailey converted a John Tavares pass for the winning goal with 18 seconds remaining in overtime as the Isles rallied for a 2-1 victory over the Calgary Flames before a sell-out crowd of 19,289 at ScotiaBank Saddledome.

The Isles have won the first three games of their franchise record-tying seven game road trip and have earned points in five straight games (4-0-1).

The Isles improve to 7-1-1 in their last nine games, as they remain in third place in the Metropolitan Division, five points ahead of Pittsburgh and six ahead of New Jersey.  The Isles remain three points behind the Rangers, and still have two games in hand on the Blueshirts.

The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
04:16    CGY     Jiri Hudler (10) ASST: Sean Monahan (23), Johnny Gaudreau (37)            1 - 0 CGY         
 
2ND PERIOD
NONE
 
3RD PERIOD
09:49    NYI       Thomas Hickey (3) ASST: Matt Martin (8), Casey Cizikas (16)       1 - 1 Tie           
 
OT PERIOD
04:42    NYI       Josh Bailey (11) ASST: John Tavares (27), Travis Hamonic (11)   2 - 1 NYI
 
The Skinny:
Cizikas is 2-5-7 in the last seven games; both Cizikas and Matt Martin have points in three straight games… John Tavares is 6-8-14 in the last 10 games, with points in nine of them…Tavares won 9 of 18 draws; he has won at least half of his face-offs in 15 straight games, winning over 60% of his draws in that span… The Isles have outscored their opponents 65-44 in the third period this season, including 23-6 over the last 17 games… The Isles improve to 7-10-3 when trailing after one period and 4-16-4 when trailing after two periods… The Isles are a season-high 14 games over NHL-.500… Tavares now leads the Isles in goals (23) and points (50).  He has recorded at least 50 points in every season except the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign…Johnny Gaudreau extended his point streak to six games (1-7-8)…Josh Bailey recorded his third career overtime goal…The Flames fall to 8-2 in games decided in overtime…Thomas Hickey is 2-2-4 in five career games vs. Calgary; he has 8 goals in 237 other NHL games…The Flames had won 10 of their last 11 home games against the Eastern Conference…The game featured three fights; it's only the 3rd time in the last 5 seasons there have been three fights in an Isles game—the other two occasions were both season finales (4/7/12 in Columbus, 4/13/14 in Buffalo).

Two Strong in Net                  
Both Thomas Greiss (16) and Jaroslav Halak (16) now have at least 16 wins.  It's the first time since the 2002-03 season (Chris Osgood-17 and Garth Snow – 16) that two Isles goalies have recorded 16 wins in the same season.  St. Louis and Dallas are the only other NHL teams with two goalies with at least 16 wins this season.
 
First Time in a Long Time
Josh Bailey recorded his 3rd career overtime goal, all in road games.  It was his first overtime goal in nearly 6 years:
 
23-Nov-09    @     Toronto           4       3 Wot
27-Mar-10     @     Columbus        4       3 Wot

2 with 2 to Go
With tonight's win, Jack Capuano has 198 wins as the Islander coach and Jaroslav Halak has 198 NHL wins.
 
The Captain's Countdown
John Tavares now has 197 career goals; with three more goals he will become only the 11th player in Islander history to record 200 goals.
 
PK Islander
The Isles killed both Calgary power plays.  The NHL's top-rated penalty kill has now allowed only 22 power play goals in 174 times short (87.4%).  On the road, the Isles have allowed 12 goals in 85 times short (85.9%).

Most Points in The Post-Cup Era through 59 games
·         79 in 2014-15
·         73 in 2015-16
·         68 in 2001-02

Home Sweet Home
The Isles are 19-8-4 on home-ice (42 points).  In the past 28 years, the Isles have earned more than 42 points in the first 31 home games only twice (46 in first 31 at home last season and 44 in 31 in 2003-04).

The Isles have clinched an above NHL-.500 finish at home.  It is the first time since 2005-06 and 2006-07 that the Isles have recorded successive home seasons above NHL-.500.

Road Warriors
The Isles are 3-0-0 on their current 7-game road trip.  This is the 5th time in club history that the Isles will play seven consecutive road games, but the 2nd consecutive season:
 
·         1981-82 (1-5-1)
·         2000-01 (2-3-2)
·         2009-10 (3-2-2)
·         2014-15 (5-2-0)

This was also the third game of a stretch in which the Isles are playing 12 out of 14 games on the road for only the 2nd time in their history.  From November 11 – December 9, 2009 (John Tavares' rookie season), the Isles went 5-7-2 in a stretch in which they played 12 of 14 on the road.   However the Isles changed time zones only twice in that stretch (when they visited Calgary and St. Louis).  The Isles will change time zones seven times during these trips.

19-Feb-16         @ Devils (Won 1-0)
23-Feb-16         @ Wild (Won 4-1)
25-Feb-16         @ Flames (Won 2-1 OT)
28-Feb-16         @ Oilers
1-Mar-16           @ Canucks
3-Mar-16           @ Jets
6-Mar-16           @ Rangers
8-Mar-16           Vs Penguins
9-Mar-16           @ Maple Leafs
12-Mar-16          @ Bruins
14-Mar-16          Vs Panthers
15-Mar-16          @ Penguins
17-Mar-16          @ Predators
19-Mar-16          @ Stars

The Shots:
Isles       12-10-9-3=34
Calgary  12-11-7-2=32
 
Home and Road
The Islanders are 33-19-7 overall; 19-8-4 at home and 14-11-3 on the road. 
Calgary is 26-30-4 overall; 17-13-1 at home and 9-17-3 on the road.

By Division
The Isles are 11-5-3 in Division games and are 22-14-4 in games against other divisions. They are 5-10-2 vs. the Atlantic Division, 8-2-1 vs. the Central Division, and 9-2-1 vs. the Pacific Division. 
The Isles are 32-11-3 since the start of last season against the Metropolitan Division. 

How The West is Won
The Isles are 17-4-2 against the Western Conference, including 12-0-2 at home. The Isles have the most wins of any Eastern Conference team against the Western Conference (Tampa Bay, 15-9-2, has the 2nd highest win total).  Only 8 Western Conference teams have more wins against the West than the Isles do.

In the Nets
Jaroslav Halak made 31 saves for his third straight win; he improves to 16-12-4 on the season.  Halak, who now has 198 career wins, is 8-5-1 in his career against Calgary.  It's the first time this season that Halak has allowed only 2 goals over a three-game period.  As an Islander, Halak is 4-0-0 against Calgary, allowing a total of three goals.
Joni Ortio made 32 saves; he is 0-4-2 on the season and 1-1-1 in his career vs. the Isles.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-2 on the power play, while Calgary was 0-2.
The Isles are 21-5-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 12-14-4 when they do not.  The Isles are 8-9-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 25-10-5 when they do not. 

Three is (Usually) a Magic Number
The Isles are 27-3-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 6-16-7 when they do not.  The Isles were 40-8-4 when they scored at least three goals (including SO winners) last season.

One Goal Games
The Isles are 13-6-7 in games decided by a single goal including 6-7-0 in regulation. They are 3-4 in games decided in overtime and are 4-3 in shootouts.  The Isles are 5-4 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal
The Isles are 22-4-3 when they score first and are 11-15-4 when they allow the opening goal.   

Second to The One
Jack Capuano, the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history, is 198-167-53 behind the Islander bench.  Among the 9 New York area teams, only the Yankees' Joe Girardi has led his team longer than Capuano. 

Most games coached (Islanders):
1.     Al Arbour 1,500
2.     Jack Capuano 418
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181
 
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 198
3.     Terry Simpson 81
4.     Peter Laviolette 77
5.     Ted Nolan 74

Capuano is the 86th coach in NHL history to coach at least 400 games. He is now 72nd all-time with 198 wins. (71- Craig Hartsburg 201, Tied/69 – Gerry Cheevers and Todd Richards 204)

They Tweeted It
@SchnoorSteve Bailey from the real Johnnie hockey, JT. #Isles Win!! @NYIslanders @NHL
 
@BPsToNe3  #KingHalak last 3 games- 87 saves on 89 shots. #Isles
 
@AndrewMRizzi Missed OT for my crying teething baby, but seeing 2-1 #Islanders on my phone was almost as good as seeing Bailey score live. Go #Isles! #NYI  (Congrats on the baby—and you'll always have the "I missed the goal, but made The Skinny" story.)

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 2-4-4 on the front-end and 7-2-1 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.  The next back-to-back set will be on March 8th vs. Pittsburgh and March 9th in Toronto.

Tired vs. Rested
·         The Isles are 3-1-0 when both teams played the night before.
·         The Isles are 5-3-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not.
·         The Isles are 4-1-1 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Travis Hamonic (28:12); Calgary: TJ Brodie (30:13)  Hamonic played at least 28 minutes for the second time this season and 14th time in his career.
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (20-4-4), Johnny Boychuk (5-3-0), Calvin deHaan (1-3-1), Nick Leddy (6-7-2), John Tavares (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0)
John Tavares led the Isles forwards with 23:08 of ice-time.   Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (22-15-6), Ryan Strome (2-0-0), Kyle Okposo (1-2-1), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Frans Nielsen (4-0-0), Josh Bailey (2-0-0), Tied (1-1-0). 

Face-offs
Isles 27, Calgary 32 (46%). 
Frans Nielsen won 11 of 20 for the Isles; Sean Monahan won 15 of 21 for Calgary. 
The Isles won 25 of 41 draws in the first and third periods, but won only 4 of 14 in the second period and 0 of 4 in overtime.
The Isles won 24 of 52 draws at even strength, 2 of 3 on the power play and 1 of 4 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters
Isles 15, Calgary 13.  Cal Clutterbuck led the Isles with four hits. Matt Martin added two hits, extending his NHL-leading total to 279.  Martin has recorded at least 250 hits five times; he has five of the nine 250-hit seasons in club history. (Hits first recorded in 2005-06).

Fights
There were three fights, the most in an Islander game this season.   Casey Cizikas was involved in his first NHL fight—he fought Lance Bouma in the first period; Matt Martin fought Brandon Bollig twice.  Season total – 16 (Martin-9, Bernier, Boychuk, Cizikas, Leddy, Lee, Okposo, Strait).

Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 22 blocked shots, including five from Brian Strait.

For the Corsi Crowd
All situations:  Isles 43, Calgary 50.  5-on-5: Isles 55, Calgary 63.
The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks). 
 
Anders Lee and Thomas Hickey led the Isles with a +3 5-on-5 Corsi rating; Lee also had a club-leading 60% Corsi For percentage. Johnny Gaudreau led Calgary with a +9 5-on-5 Corsi rating.

Ironmen
·         Nikolay Kulemin -209 (68 for Maple Leafs and 141 for the Isles)
·         Brock Nelson  -194 (all for Isles)
·         Anders Lee -135 (all for Isles)

Missing Men
Adam Pelech, Calvin deHaan and Eric Boulton are on injured reserve. Mikhail Grabovski (injured) , Ryan Pulock and JF Berube were scratched as the Isles used the same 18 skaters and goaltender for the second consecutive game.
The Isles have lost 141 games this season due to injury/illness.

Missing a Piece (or two)
The Isles are 13-15-2 over the last two seasons in games in which they are missing Johnny Boychuk, Travis Hamonic or Nick Leddy, including 5-5-1 this season.  They are 5-4-1, including 2-1-1 this season, when two of the three miss a game.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:
Games Played (skaters)
1.     Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900
….
12. Kenny Jonsson 597 *** 13. Garry Howatt 596 *** 14. John Tonelli 594 *** 15. Frans Nielsen 584 *** 16. Ken Morrow 550 *** 17. Duane Sutter 547 *** 18. Lorne Henning 543 *** 19. Claude Lapointe 535***20. Josh Bailey 534 *** 21. Tomas Jonsson 532***22. Pat LaFontaine 530*** 23. Dave Lewis 514 *** 24. Mick Vukota 510*** 25. Rich Pilon 509 *** 26. Kyle Okposo 507 *** 27. Ed Westfall 493***28. John Tavares 488

Goals
1.     Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310
….
9. Derek King 211 *** 10. John Tonelli 206*** 11. John Tavares 197
16. Mariusz Czerkawski 145 *** 17. Kyle Okposo 132 *** 18. Jason Blake 127 *** 19. Duane Sutter 121 *** 20. Alexei Yashin 119 *** 21. Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas 118 ***24. Frans Nielsen 117

Assists
1.     Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553
11. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 12. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 13. Billy Harris 259 *** 14. John Tavares 254*** 15. Tomas Jonsson 249***16. Kyle Okposo 219 ***17. Frans Nielsen 218
25. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 26. David Volek 154 *** 27. Josh Bailey 152

Points
1.     Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052
10. Derek King 499 *** 11. Pat Flatley 488 *** 12. John Tavares 451 ***13. Billy Harris 443 ***14. Stefan Persson 369 *** 15. Kyle Okposo 351 *** 16. Pierre Turgeon 340 ***17. Frans Nielsen 335
24 Jason Blake & Steve Thomas 258 *** 26. David Volek 249 *** 27. Josh Bailey 244
 
Goalie Games Played
1. Billy Smith 675 *** 2. Rick DiPietro 318***3. Glenn Resch 282
9. Garth Snow   127***10. Evgeni Nabokov 123***11. Chris Osgood 103***12. Jaroslav Halak 92
 
Goalie Wins
1. Billy Smith 304 *** 2. Glenn Resch 157***3. Rick DiPietro 130
6. Glenn Healy 66***7. Tommy Salo 62***8. Evgeni Nabokov 57***9. Jaroslav Halak 54

Shutouts
1. Glenn Resch 25***2.   Billy Smith 22***3. Rick DiPietro 19***4. Tommy Salo 14***5. Evgeni Nabokov & Jaroslav Halak 9

Season Series Stats
The Isles sweep the season series 2 games to 0 and 4 points to 1. The Isles have won four straight against Calgary for only the second time since the Flames relocated to Alberta (also a 4-game span from February 2, 1992 to January 12, 1993); the Isles are 9-3-0 in their last 12 against Calgary.

On The Farm
Bridgeport saw their 11 game point streak ended on Sunday against Albany; the Sound Tigers are 28-20-3-2 on the season.  Bridgeport has a home and home series Friday and Saturday vs. Providence before again hosting Albany on Sunday.

Up Next
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28th – ISLANDERS AT EDMONTON 9:30PM
[MSG+ (Pre-game at 9:00), 91.5 WNYE-FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Isles will look for a sweep of the season series as they visit the Oilers on Sunday; the Isles walloped the Oilers 8-1 on Super Bowl Sunday in the first game of their current 7-1-1 stretch.
While the Isles have won 9 straight at home vs. Edmonton, the Isles are 0-4-1 in their last five trips to Northern Alberta.  The last Isle win was on March 13, 2003 – a 5-2 win with Garth Snow in nets.
The Isles have swept Alberta only once ever, back in 1982. The Isles defeated the Flames 5-4 on October 7 and defeated the Oilers in a Stanley Cup Final preview, 6-4, on October 8.

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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