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The Skinny: Isles 5, Chicago 4

"The Skinny"  By Eric Hornick Game 31 Isles 5, Chicago 4 Simon Holmstrom scored a goal and added two assists, while Jean-Gabriel P...

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

The Skinny: Isles 4, Detroit 1

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick
 
Game 55  
Isles 4, Detroit 1
 
Brock Nelson scored his career-high 21st goal to break a scoreless tie midway through the second period and the Isles scored three second period goals as they defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 before a sellout crowd of 15,795 at Barclays Center.
Thomas Greiss recorded 27 saves as he won his fifth straight start.  It's the first time in his career that Greiss has won five straight decisions.
The win, the Isles' fourth in their last five games, pushed them back into third place in the Metropolitan Division, one point ahead of idle New Jersey.

The Scoring:

1ST PERIOD
NONE
 
2ND PERIOD
08:24    NYI       Brock Nelson (21) ASST: Ryan Strome (16), Johnny Boychuk (13)           1 - 0 NYI          
14:57    NYI       PPG - Josh Bailey (10) ASST: Johnny Boychuk (14), Brock Nelson (12)   2 - 0 NYI          
16:03    NYI       Marek Zidlicky (4) ASST: Cal Clutterbuck (6), Casey Cizikas (14)  3 - 0 NYI          
 
3RD PERIOD
09:31    DET      Pavel Datsyuk (12) ASST: Gustav Nyquist (17)   3 - 1 NYI          
12:14    NYI       Ryan Strome (7) ASST: John Tavares (25), Nick Leddy (22)         4 - 1 NYI

The Skinny:
The Isles are 12-11-1 in their last 24; they have outscored opponents 56-25 in the 12 wins (12-0-0), but have been outscored 43-15 in the 11 losses (0-11-1)… The Isles have outscored their opponents 61-44 in the third period this season, including 19-6 over the last 13 games… John Tavares extended his point streak to six games (4-6-10) …The Isles have scored  power play goals in six straight games (7 PP goals), matching their longest single season streak since an 8-game streak in March 2002…Five of the last six Isles games have been decided by at least three goals…The Isles have won four straight at home…The Isles announced their sixth sellout of the season; the Isles are 3-1-2 in those six games...Pavel Datsyuk scored Detroit's only goal, just hours after being named the NHL's First Star of the Week; it was his 310th goal, passing Brendan Shanahan for 7th play on the all-time Red Wing list. Datsyuk also tied Denis Potvin (and Petr Nedved) for 180th place on the all-time NHL goal scoring list…Josh Bailey was credited with his first game winning goal since last season's home opener…Brock Nelson, who scored for the first time in six games, is 5-3-8 in nine career games against Detroit…Marek Zidlicky's goal was his first in his last 17 games…Thomas Greiss has allowed just six goals in his last four starts, all wins.  Greiss tied career highs in both games (25) and starts (20).  His 16 wins are six more than he has won in any previous NHL season…Kyle Okposo's point streak ended at five games…Johnny Boychuk assisted on the first two Islander goals; it was his first multi-point game of the season…An Islander defenseman had a point on each of the four goals…It was the 5th time this season that Brock Nelson scored the first goal of a game…Tavares won a majority of his face-offs for the 11th straight game; he was won 64.1% of his draws in that span.  In two home games vs. Detroit this season, Tavares won 21 of 27 draws…The Isles are 4-2-0 in their last six games vs. the Atlantic Division after going 1-8-2 in the first 11 games vs. the Atlantic.
 
Most Points in The Post-Cup Era through 55 games
73 in 2014-15
66 in 2015-16
65 in 2001-02
64 in 1985-86
 
Fewest Games Needed to Win 30 Games in the Post-Cup Era
44 in 2014-15
55 in 2015-16
55 in 1984-85
 
Home Sweet Home
 
The Isles are 19-8-3 on home-ice (41 points).  In the past 28 seasons, the Isles have earned more than 41 points in the first 30 home games only twice (44 in first 30 at home last season and 42 in 30 in 2003-04).
The Isles clinched at least an NHL-.500 finish at home.  It is the first time since 2006-07 and 2007-08 that the Isles have recorded successive home seasons of NHL-.500 or better.

Road Warriors
 
This was the seventh game of a 22 game stretch in which the Isles will play 16 games on the road.  The Isles are 4-3-0 in this stretch.
 
4-Feb-16           @ Capitals (Lost 3-2)
6-Feb-16           @ Red Wings (Lost 5-1)
7-Feb-16           Vs Oilers (Won 8-1)
9-Feb-16           @ Blue Jackets (Won 3-2 (SO))
11-Feb-16         Vs Kings (Won 5-2)
13-Feb-16         @ Hurricanes (Lost 6-3)
15-Feb-16         Vs Red Wings (Won 4-1)
18-Feb-16         Vs Capitals
19-Feb-16         @ Devils
23-Feb-16         @ Wild
25-Feb-16         @ Flames
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         8-16-8=32
Detroit   8-11-10=29
 
Home and Road
The Islanders are 30-19-6 overall; 20-8-3 at home and 10-11-3 on the road. 

Detroit is 29-19-9 overall; 15-10-6 at home and 14-9-3 on the road.

Metropolitan Hockey Club, Inc.
The Isles are 10-5-2 in Division games and are 20-14-4 in games against other divisions. They are 5-10-2 vs. the Atlantic Division, 7-2-1 vs. the Central Division, and 8-2-1 vs. the Pacific Division. 
The Isles are 31-11-3 since the start of last season against the Met. 

How The West is Won
The Isles are 15-4-2 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 (The Rangers, 13-7-1, have the 2nd highest win total).  The Isles have more wins against the West than 5 Western Conference teams.

In the Nets
Thomas Greiss made 28 saves to improve to 16-6-2 on the season with his 5th straight win. Greiss, who is 7-1-0 in his last 8 games, is now 1-0-1 all-time vs. Detroit. 
Jimmy Howard made 27 saves but falls to 7-9-4 with his fifth straight loss; he is 1-4-1 in his career vs. the Isles.  Howard is 0-5-3 in his last eight decisions.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-5 on the power play, while Detroit was 0-4.
The Isles are 20-5-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 10-14-3 when they do not.  The Isles are 8-9-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 22-10-5 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 26-3-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 4-16-6 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 11-6-6 in games decided by a single goal including 5-6-0 in regulation. They are 2-3 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 20-4-2 when they score first and are 10-15-4 when they allow the opening goal.   

Second to The One
Jack Capuano, the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history, is 195-167-52 behind the Islander bench.  Among the 9 New York area teams, only the Yankees' Joe Girardi has led his team longer than Capuano.  With 195 wins, Capuano has now won more games than any Islander other than Al Arbour has coached:

Most games coached (Islanders):
1.     Al Arbour 1,500
2.     Jack Capuano 414
3.     Mike Milbury 191
4.     Terry Simpson 187
5.     Scott Gordon 181
 
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.     Al Arbour 740
2.     Jack Capuano 195
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 74th all-time with 195 wins with Bob Gainey, one fewer than Cecil Hart and Fred Creighton.

They Tweeted It
@GlennGiangrande Fitting that, on President's Day, Barack Nelson scores for the #Isles.
@Chuck_Daly4  Did you see Tavares's 3rd period, no-look behind the back spin pass to Strome 4 the snap-shot goal? Pure INSTINCT! #Isles
@Jwmlb1 MVP! MVP! MVP! Thomas Greiss! Thomas Greiss! Thomas Greiss! #isles

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 2-4-3 on the front-end and 6-2-1 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.  The next back-to-back set will be on February 18th vs. Washington and February 19th in New Jersey.

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 3-1-1 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Johnny Boychuk (25:22); Detroit: Justin Abdelkader (22:30)

Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (18-4-3), Johnny Boychuk (5-3-0), Calvin deHaan (1-3-1), Nick Leddy (5-7-2), John Tavares (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0)
John Tavares led the Isles forwards with 18:42 of ice-time.   Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (20-15-5), Ryan Strome (2-0-0), Kyle Okposo (1-2-1), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Frans Nielsen (3-0-0), Josh Bailey (2-0-0), Tied (1-1-0). 

Face-offs
Isles 32, Detroit 18 (64%). 
John Tavares won 11 of 14 for the Isles; No Red Wing won more than he lost. 
The Isles won the face-off battle in each period, including 16 of 22 in the middle period.
The Isles won 21 of 34 draws at even strength, 4 of 7 on the power play and 7 of 9 on the penalty kill.

Heavy Hitters
Isles 20, Detroit 17.  Matt Martin led the Isles with 4 hits, extending his NHL-leading total to 267.  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 no fights.  Season total – 13 (Martin-7, Bernier, Boychuk, Leddy, Lee, Okposo, Strait).

Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 22 blocked shots, including five from Calvin deHaan.

For the Corsi Crowd
All situations:  Isles 57, Detroit 61.  5-on-5: Isles 42, Detroit 47.
The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks). 
 
Mikhail Grabovski led the Isles with a +5 5-on-5 Corsi rating; Grabovoski also had a club-leading 59% Corsi For percentage. Pavel Datsyuk led Detroit with a +8 5-on-5 Corsi rating.

Ironmen
·         Nikolay Kulemin -205 (68 for Maple Leafs and 137 for the Isles)
·         Brock Nelson  -190 (all for Isles)
·         Anders Lee -131 (all for Isles)

Missing Men
Adam Pelech and Eric Boulton are on injured reserve. Cal Clutterbuck and Marek Zidlicky replaced Steve Bernier and Brian Strait in the lineup; JF Berube was scratched.
The Isles have lost 127 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 580
20. Tomas Jonsson 532 *** 21. Pat LaFontaine 530 and Josh Bailey 530 *** 23. Dave Lewis 514 *** 24. Mick Vukota 510*** 25. Rich Pilon 509 *** 26. Kyle Okposo 503 *** 27. Ed Westfall 493***28. John Tavares 484

Goals
1.     Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310
….
9. Derek King 211 *** 10. John Tonelli 206*** 11. John Tavares 195
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. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 25. Frans Nielsen 114

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 252 *** 15. Tomas Jonsson 249***16. Frans Nielsen 218 *** 17. Kyle Okposo 217
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 447 ***13. Billy Harris 443 ***14. Stefan Persson 369 *** 15. Kyle Okposo 349 *** 
16. Pierre Turgeon 340***17. Tomas Jonsson 333 *** 18. Frans Nielsen 332
24 Jason Blake & Steve Thomas 258 *** 26. David Volek 249 *** 27. Josh Bailey 243

Season Series Stats
Detroit wins the season series 2 games to 1 and 4 points to 2.
The Isles prevented Detroit from sweeping the season series for the first time since the Red Wings went 6-0-1-1 vs. the Isles in a 5-season span from 1999-2000 to 2003-2004.

On The Farm
Bridgeport came within 48 seconds of tying their franchise record with a ninth straight win, but Albany tied the game late and then defeated the Sound Tigers in a shootout on Sunday afternoon. Bridgeport is 27-19-3-1 on the season; this week the Sound Tigers visit Springfield on Tuesday and Lehigh Valley on Saturday before hosting Albany on Sunday.

Up Next
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18th –WASHINGTON AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Pre-game at 6:30), 91.5 WNYE-FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Isles begin a back-to-back set as they host Washington in the third meeting of the teams this season.  The Caps have won the first two battles of the teams this season as they have raced to the best record in the entire NHL.

It's the second straight Isles home game; that will not happen again until the Isles play six of their final eight games at home.  After Thursday's game with Washington, the Isles will play 7 straight road games and will play 12 of their next 14 games on the road.

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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