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The Skinny: Utah 5, Isles 4 (OT)

"The Skinny" By Eric Hornick Game 1 Utah 5, Isles 4 (OT)    Dylan Guenther became the first player in 107 years to record consecu...

Saturday, October 15, 2016

The Skinny: Washington 2, Isles 1

"The Skinny"  

 By Eric Hornick
Game 2
Washington 2, Isles 1
Daniel Winnik scored both goals for the Washington Capitals and that was enough to defeat the Isles 2-1 in the Caps' home opener before a sellout crowd of 18,506 at Verizon Center.
The Isles open the season 0-2-0 for the first time since 2006-07, when they lost their first three games before recovering to make the playoffs.

The Scoring:
1st Period
WSH 11:58       Daniel Winnik (1) Assists: John Carlson, Jay Beagle      
NYI   13:49       Ryan Strome (1) (Power Play) Assists: Brock Nelson, Johnny Boychuk
2nd Period
WSH 7:46         Daniel Winnik (2) Assists: Karl Alzner, Brooks Orpik       
3rd Period 
No scoring

The Skinny
Daniel Winnik recorded his 5th multi-goal game (2nd for Washington); all 4 of his career goals for Washington have come in 2 games…Matt Barzal made his Islander debut and took three minor penalties, including two on his first two shifts…Neither Alex Ovechkin or John Tavares has a point in his team's first two games.  It's the second time Tavares has gone pointless in his first two games of a season (also in 2011-12)…Brock Nelson celebrated his 25th birthday by assisting on Ryan Strome's goal; Nelson also earned an assist on his 24th birthday and 21 points (9-12-21) in 30 career October games….The Isles have not led at any point in their first two games…Jaromir Jagr (61) is the only player currently on an NHL roster with more career goals against the Isles than Ovechkin (32)…The Caps are 14-2-2 in home openers since moving to the building now known as Verizon Center…Braden Holtby recorded his 150th career win, all for the Caps.

Chhh, chhh Changes
The Islander 23-man roster looks quite a bit different than it did last October.

Of the 23 players on this year's roster, only 15 were on the Opening Night roster last year: Josh Bailey, Jean-Francois Berube, Johnny Boychuk, Casey Cizikas, Cal Clutterbuck, Calvin De Haan, Thomas Greiss, Jaroslav Halak, Travis Hamonic, Nikolay Kulemin, Nick Leddy, Anders Lee, Brock Nelson, Ryan Strome, and John Tavares.  Thomas Hickey started last season on Injured Reserve and is on the Opening Night Roster this year.  The seven newcomers are:   Andrew Ladd, Jason Chimera, Alan Quine, Anthony Beauvillier, Matthew Barzal, Shane Prince, and Denis Seidenberg.

Eric Boulton begins the year on Injured Reserve while Mikhail Grabovski failed his physical and is not on the roster.

The 23 players represent six nationalities: American (Leddy, Lee, Nelson, Prince), Canadian (15 players), German (Seidenberg & Greiss), Russian (Kulemin) and Slovakian (Halak)

The Shots
Isles               9-8-5=22
Washington   8-12-8=28
Home and Road
The Islanders are 0-2-0 overall; 0-0-0 at home and 0-2-0 on the road. 
Washington are 1-0-1 overall; 1-0-0 at home and 0-0-1 on the road.
By Division
The Isles are 0-2-0 in Division games and 0-0-0 in games versus other divisions.
Last season the Isles went 18-8-4 in Division games and 27-19-6 in games against other divisions. The Isles went 19-7-2 against the Western Conference, including 12-0-2 at home.
In the Nets
Thomas Greiss made 26 saves but falls to 0-1-0 on the season and 1-1-1 against Washington.
Braden Holtby made 21 saves as he improved to 1-0-1 on the season and 11-1-3 against the Isles.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-3 on the power play, while Washington was 0-5.
The Isles are 0-1-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 0-1-0 when they do not.  The Isles are 0-1-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 0-1-0 when they do not. 

Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 0-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-1-0 when they do not.  The Isles were 37-4-2 when they scored at least three goals (including SO winners) last season.

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

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

Second to The One
Jack Capuano, the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history, is 210-177-56 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 443
3.      Mike Milbury 191
4.      Terry Simpson 187
5.      Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1.      Al Arbour 740
2.      Jack Capuano 210
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. His 210 wins places him 67th all-time, 5 behind Brent Sutter and 9 behind Herb Brooks.

Back-to-Backs
This was the front end of the first back-to-back of the season, which concludes at home tomorrow vs. Anaheim.  Last season, the Isles went 5-5-5 on the front-end and 9-3-3 on the back end of back-to-backs.  
Tired vs. Rested
·        The Isles are 0-0-0 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: Nick Leddy (22:08); Washington: John Carlson (22:06)
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Nick Leddy (0-2-0).
John Tavares led the forwards with 18:38 of ice time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (0-2-0). 

Face-offs
Isles 29, Washington 27 (52%)
Brock Nelson won 8 of 12 for the Isles; Jay Beagle won 11 of 15 for Washington. 
The Isles won 22 of 40 draws in the first and third periods, but only 7 of 14 in the middle period.
The Isles won 20 of 45 draws at even strength, 2 of 3 on the power play and 7 of 8 on the penalty kill.

Hit Count
Isles 26, Washington 16.  Cal Clutterbuck led the Isles with five hits.

Fights
There were no fights. Season total – 0.
The Isles were involved in 23 fights last season, including 11 by Matt Martin.

Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 20 blocked shots, including four by Nick Leddy.

For the Corsi Crowd
(Not available tonight)

Ironmen
Jason Chimera – 107 (including 105 for Washington); Josh Bailey 69.
Scratches
Jaroslav Halak, Anthony Beauvillier, and Alan Quine.   Eric Boulton is on injured reserve (games lost to injury:1)
Missing a Piece (or two)
Since the start of the 2014-15 season, the Isles are 16-17-3 in games in which they are missing Johnny Boychuk, Travis Hamonic or Nick Leddy, including 0-0-0 this season.

All-time Islander Leader Boards:

Games Played (skaters)
1.      Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900
….
13. Kenny Jonsson 597 *** 14. Garry Howatt 596 *** 15. John Tonelli 594*** 16. Josh Bailey 559
22. Pat LaFontaine 530 *** 23. Kyle Okposo 529*** 24. Dave Lewis 514 *** 25. John Tavares 512

Goals
1.      Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310
….
9. Derek King 211 *** 10. John Tavares 207 *** 11. John Tonelli 206

Assists
1.      Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553 ***
11. Pat LaFontaine 279 *** 12. Bob Nystrom 278 *** 13. John Tavares 264
25. Ziggy Palffy 163 *** 26. Josh Bailey 158

Points
1.      Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052
10. Derek King 499 *** 11. Pat Flatley 488 *** 12. John Tavares 471
24 Jason Blake & Steve Thomas 258 *** 26. Josh Bailey 251

Season Series Stats
Washington leads the season series one game to none (and two points to none). 
Six of the last seven regular season games between the teams have been decided by one goal (2-3-2).
The Isles will return to The District to face the Caps on December 1st.  The remaining three meetings will be at Barclays Center on December 13, December 27, and January 31.  Washington is the only team to visit Brooklyn three times this season; the Isles will finish their season series before the Isles face New Jersey at all.
On The Farm
Bridgeport opened their season with a 2-1 win on Saturday vs. Providence; Ross Johnston and Bracken Kearns scored for the Tigers while Christopher Gibson made 38 saves.  Bridgeport hosts Worcester on Sunday at 3pm.
Up Next
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16h – ANAHEIM AT ISLANDERS 6:00PM
[MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 6:30), WFAN 660/101.9, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Islanders head home for their 2nd Barclays Center opener on Sunday when they entertain the Anaheim Ducks. The Isles suffered a 3-2 OT loss to Chicago last season in the first-ever regular season game in Brooklyn; all-time the Isles are 25-12-6 in home openers.
The Isles were 12-0-2 in home games vs. Western Conference opponents last season.
The Isles swept the season series last year, winning 4-1 in Anaheim and 5-2 in Brooklyn.  The Isles have won 3 of the 4 games that the teams have played the last two seasons.
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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