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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...

Friday, April 15, 2016

The Skinny: Isles 5, Florida 4

"The Skinny"  

By Eric Hornick
 
Eastern Conference First Round Game 1
Isles 5, Florida 4 (Isles lead 1-0)
Kyle Okposo celebrated his son's birth the best way possible. Odin's dad scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period as the Isles rallied from 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 deficits for a 5-3 win over the Florida Panthers in the first game of the Eastern Conference Playoff Series before a crowd of 17,422 at BB&T Center.
 
John Tavares had a goal and two assists for the first three-point playoff game of his career.
 
Game 2 of the series is Friday night in Sunrise.
 
The Scoring:
 
1ST PERIOD
01:55    FLA      Teddy Purcell (1) Tip-in - ASST: Jiri Hudler (1), Dmitry Kulikov (1)            1 - 0 FLA     
06:39    NYI      Brock Nelson (1) Snap shot - ASST: Ryan Strome (1)     1 - 1 Tie           
13:51    FLA      PPG - Jussi Jokinen (1) Tip-in - ASST: Brian Campbell (1), Reilly Smith (1) 2 - 1 FLA  
16:46    NYI      PPG - Frans Nielsen (1) Wrist shot - ASST: John Tavares (1), Nick Leddy (1) 2 - 2 Tie 
 
2ND PERIOD
01:31    FLA      Reilly Smith (1) Wrist shot - ASST: Alex Petrovic (1), Jussi Jokinen (1)     3 - 2 FLA     
19:38    NYI      John Tavares (1) Wrist shot - ASST: Kyle Okposo (1), Frans Nielsen (1)  3 - 3 Tie      
 
3RD PERIOD
02:33    NYI      Kyle Okposo (1) Wrist shot - ASST: John Tavares (2)     4 - 3 NYI          
06:01    NYI      Ryan Strome (1) Wrist shot - ASST: Alan Quine (1), Travis Hamonic (1)   5 - 3 NYI     
06:56    FLA      Reilly Smith (2) Wrist shot - ASST: Jussi Jokinen (2), Nick Bjugstad (1)    5 - 4 NYI     

The Series
Game 1: Isles 5, Florida 4
Game 2 @ Florida Friday 7:30
Game 3 @ Isles Sunday 8:00
Game 4 @ Isles Wednesday 8:00
Game 5 @ Florida (if necessary) April 22
Game 6 @ Isles (if necessary) April 24
Game 7 @ Florida (if necessary) April 26
 
The Skinny
No Islander had a three-point game in last year's playoffs… Reilly Smith tied the Florida record, becoming the 9th Panther to score twice in a playoff game.  Smith also became the first Panther since Robert Svehla (4/17/97 at NYR) to record three points in a game…The Panthers fired 46 shots on Thomas Greiss, just two short of the Isles record for a regulation playoff game(48 by Buffalo in 1977)…The Isles scored five goals in the first game of a playoff series for the first time since a 5-3 win vs. Boston in the 1983 Wales Conference Finals in Boston on April 26, 1983…The Isles are 10-19 all-time in game 1's played on the road and 27-23 in game 1's overall…The Isles have won consecutive game 1's for the first time since 1983 (Stanley Cup Final vs. Edmonton) and 1984 (Patrick Division Semi-Final vs. NYR)…Ryan Strome scored the game-winning goal in game 1 for the second consecutive series; he did not have a game-winning goal in the regular season.…Travis Hamonic returned to the lineup and played his first post-season game since 2012…The Isles improve to 69-3 when scoring at least 5 goals in playoff games…The Isles held Jaromir Jagr without a point; Jagr has 16 assists, but no goals, in his last 32 playoff games…Brock Nelson scored the Isles' first playoff goal for the second straight year.
 
From The Geniuses at Elias Sports Bureau
It's the first time in Isles playoff history that they have erased three one-goal leads and won the game.

Playoffs All-time
The Isles improve to 140-114 in 254 all-time playoff games.  They are 80-41 at home and 60-73 on the road. The Isles were 77-32 in home playoff games from 1975 to 2002, but won only three of their last 12 home games at Nassau Coliseum.

Home Sweet Home
The Isles went 25-11-5 on home-ice (55 points).  It's the first time since 1983-84 and 1984-85 that the Isles have earned at least 52 points at home in consecutive seasons.
 
Road Warriors
The Isles finished their road schedule with a record of 20-16-5. It's the 10th time in franchise history that the Isles have won 20 road games in a season. 
 
The Shots
Isles     12-8-6=26
Florida 16-16-16=46
 
By Division (Regular Season)
The Isles are 18-8-4 in Division games and are 27-19-6 in games against other divisions. They are 8-12-4 vs. the Atlantic Division, 9-4-1 vs. the Central Division, and 10-3-1 vs. the Pacific Division. 
 
How The West Was Won
The Isles went 19-7-2 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 and are guaranteed to finish with the record of an Eastern team vs. the West. 

In the Nets
Thomas Greiss made 42 saves in his first career playoff start.
Roberto Luongo made 21 saves but lost his 5th straight playoff game.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-2 on the power play, while Florida was 1-3.
In the regular season, the Isles were 27-5-4 when they score at least one power play goal and 18-22-6 when they do not.  The Isles are 13-13-3 when they allow at least one power play goal and 32-14-7 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 1-0 in the playoffs when scoring at least 3 goals and are 0-0 when they do not.
In the regular season, the Isles were 37-4-2 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 8-23-8 when they did not. 

One Goal Games
The Isles are 1-0 in playoff games decided by a single goal.
The Isles went 21-6-10 in regular season games decided by a single goal including 10-6-0 in regulation. They were 6-5 in games decided in overtime and are 5-5 in shootouts.  The Isles are 6-5 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.

First Goal
The Isles are 0-0 in playoff games when they score first and are 1-0 when they allow the opening goal.
The Isles were 29-7-5 in the regular season when they scored first and were 16-20-5 when they allowed the opening goal.   

Coach Cappy
Jack Capuano is now 6-8 in playoff games behind the Islander bench.  Among the 9 New York area teams, only the Yankees' Joe Girardi has led his team longer than Capuano. 

Capuano is only the 2nd coach to lead three Islander teams to the playoffs, joining Al Arbour.

Most playoff wins by Islander coaches:
·        Al Arbour 123
·        Terry Simpson 9
·        Jack Capuano 6
·        Peter Laviolette 4
·        Ted Nolan 1
·        Steve Stirling 1

Most playoff games coached (Islanders):
·        Al Arbour 209
·        Terry Simpson 20
·        Jack Capuano 14
·        Peter Laviolette 12
·        Steve Stirling 5
·        Ted Nolan 5

Most playoff series wins:
·        Al Arbour 29
·        Terry Simpson 1

Most overtime wins/overtime record:
·        Al Arbour 26 (26-9)
·        Terry Simpson 3 (3-0)
·        Jack Capuano 1 (1-3)
·        Peter Laviolette 0 (0-1)
·        Steve Stirling 0 (0-1)

Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Nick Leddy (25:21); Florida: Brian Campbell (24:25)
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Nick Leddy (1-0)
John Tavares led the forwards with 20:46 of ice time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (1-0) 

Face-offs
Isles 34, Florida 32 (52%)
John Tavares won 9 of 13 for the Isles; Aleksander Barkov won 14 of 19 for Florida. 
The Isles won at least 50% of the draws in each period.
The Isles won 28 of 53 draws at even strength, 1 of 5 on the power play and 5 of 8 on the penalty kill.

Face-offs Game by Game:
·        Game 1: Isles 34, Florida 32

Heavy Hitters
Isles 40, Florida 39.  Matt Martin led the Isles with seven hits.

Hits Game by Game:
·        Game 1: Isles 40, Florida 39

 Most Hits in a Season (since 2005-06):
1          Matt Martin       2014-2015        NYI      382
2          Matt Martin       2011-2012        NYI      374
3          Matt Martin      2015-2016        NYI      365
4          Matt Martin       2013-2014        NYI      359
5          Cal Clutterbuck 2008-2009        MIN      356
6          Cal Clutterbuck 2014-2015        NYI      343
7          Cal Clutterbuck 2010-2011        MIN      336
8          Cal Clutterbuck 2009-2010        MIN      318
 
Fights
There were no fights in the game and there have been no fights in the series.
Regular season total – 23 (Martin-11, Lee-3, Bernier, Boychuk, Cizikas, Hamonic, Leddy, Mayfield, Okposo, Pulock, Strait). 

Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 18 blocked shots, including three by Josh Bailey and Brock Nelson.

Most Blocked Shots by an Islander (since 2005-2006)
1              Brendan Witt                    2006-2007    207
2              Sean Hill                          2006-2007    202
3              Calvin de Haan                2015-2016    198
3              Andrew Mac Donald          2013-2014    198
5              Andrew Mac Donald          2011-2012    185

For the Corsi Crowd
All situations:  Isles 42, Florida 77.  (Including 55-24 Florida in the final two periods)
5-on-5: Isles 37, Florida 68
The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks). 
No Islander had a positive 5-on-5 Corsi rating. Brian Campbell led Florida with a +20 5-on-5 Corsi rating.

Missing Men
Anders Lee
Brian Strait
Mikhail Grabovski
Christopher Gibson
Jaroslav Halak
Steve Bernier
Marek Zidlicky
 
On The Farm
Bridgeport is 39-27-4-3 and enters the final weekend of the regular season with a magic number of 2 to clinch a playoff spot.
 
The Sound Tigers begin a 3-game in 3-day weekend in Portland on Friday.
 
Up Next
ISLANDERS VS PANTHERS
 
GAME 2: FRIDAY, APRIL 15th – ISLANDERS AT FLORIDA 7:30PM
[MSG/MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 7:00), WCBS 880, 88.7 WRHU-FM]
 
GAME 3: SUNDAY, APRIL 17th – FLORIDA AT ISLANDERS  8:00PM
[MSG/MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 7:30), WFAN 660, 88.7 WRHU-FM]
 
GAME 4: WEDNESDAY, APRIL 20th – FLORIDA AT ISLANDERS  8:00PM
[MSG/MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 7:30), WCBS 880, 88.7 WRHU-FM]
 
GAME 5: IF NECESSARY: FRIDAY, APRIL 22ND – AT FLORIDA Time TBD
GAME 6: IF NECESSARY: SUNDAY, APRIL 24TH – AT ISLANDERS Time TBD
GAME 7: IF NECESSARY: TUESDAY, APRIL 26TH – AT FLORIDA Time TBD
 
The Isles will look to take a 2-0 lead in the series on Friday night as they play playoff games on consecutive days for the first time April 16 -17, 2003 (Game 4 and 5 vs. Ottawa).
 
The Isles have not led a series 2-0 since the 1983 Stanley Cup Final, when they swept Edmonton in 4 games. Since then, they have led a series 1-0 five times but lost game two on all five occasions, including last year.
 
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 http://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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