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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 ...

Tuesday, March 28, 2017

The Skinny: Nashville 3, Isles 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick
 
Game 75
Nashville 3, Isles 1
Viktor Arvidsson scored his 29th goal early in the second period to give Nashville a 2-0 lead and the Preds made it stand up as they defeated the Islanders 3-1 before a crowd of 11,671 at Barclays Center.
 
Josh Bailey scored the only goal for the Isles; it was his first goal since February 21st and extended his career-best point total to 52.
 
With the loss, the Isles remain two points behind Boston for the 2nd Wild Card spot; however, with Tampa Bay's come-from-behind win, the Isles are now also a point behind Tampa Bay.  All three teams have seven games to play.
 
The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
10:17    Nashville          Kevin Fiala (9) ASST: Calle Jarnkrok (15), Anthony Bitetto (5)     1-0
 
2ND PERIOD
03:15    Nashville          Viktor Arvidsson (29) ASST: Filip Forsberg (26), Mattias Ekholm (20)            2-0
17:20    New York         Josh Bailey (13) ASST: Nick Leddy (30) 2-1
 
3RD PERIOD
19:39    Nashville          EN - Ryan Johansen (13) ASST: Ryan Ellis (21) 3-1

The Skinny:
The Isles are 18-11-4 (.606) under Interim Coach Doug Weight …Since opening the season 6-10-4, Isles are 29-18-8 in their last 55 games…The Isles are 9-7-2 in the last 18 games... John Tavares' point streak was stopped at six games… This was the first meeting of the season between the teams; it is the final season series to get started in the NHL this season…. Viktor Arvidsson tied Filip Forsberg for the Preds' lead in goals (29); both players have one goal more than the Isles' co-leaders: Anders Lee and John Tavares (28)…The Isles power play is now 2-21 in the last eight games (9.5%), with both goals scored against the Rangers on March 22nd.  The power play is 0-15 at home during the five game winless streak (0-4-1)... The Isles killed all three Nashville power plays, improving to 7-7 in the last 3 games and 28-31 (90.3%) in the last 13 games…Josh Bailey's goal was his 106th as an Islander, breaking a tie with Ed Westfall and Benoit Hogue for 26th place on the all-time team list…Former Islander PA Parenteau was a healthy scratch.
 
This Generation's Mr. Islander Is Tied with Mr. Islander
John Tavares now 235 career goals, tying him with Bobby Nystrom for eighth place on the club's all-time list.
 
Career goals as an Islander:
7. Bob Bourne 238
8. Bobby Nystrom 235
8. John Tavares 235

Experience Counts … 17 Times
Jason Chimera is only the second Islander age 36 or over to score 17 goals in a season; Bill Guerin, who turned 37 early in the 2007-08 season, scored 23 times that season.  Guerin also scored 16 times the next season, before being dealt to Pittsburgh.
 
One Goal Games
The Isles are 13-10-12 in one-goal games, winning only 13 of the 35 games (.371).  That .371 percentage of 1-goal games won is the second lowest in the NHL –ahead of just Toronto (.353).  (The Isles were 21-6-10 in one-goal games last season.)
 
The Stretch Run
The Isles are playing their final 11 regular-season games in a span of 19 days.  The Isles are 2-2-0 in this stretch (0-2-0 at home and 2-0-0 on the road), with all four games decided by empty net or less:
 
·        March 22 @ Pittsburgh (Won 3-2)
·        March 24 @ Penguins (Won 4-3 OT)
·        March 25 Vs Bruins (Lost 2-1)
·        March 27 Vs Predators (Lost 3-1)
·        March 30 @ Flyers
·        March 31 Vs Devils
·        April 2 @ Sabres
·        April 4 @ Predators
·        April 6 @ Hurricanes
·        April 8 @ Devils
·        April 9 Vs Senators
 
Playoff Chase
 
Metropolitan
GP
PTS
1.      X-Washington
74
106
 
2.      X-Columbus
74
103
 
3.      X-Pittsburgh
75
103
 
 
Atlantic
GP
PTS
 
1.      MontrĂ©al
75
93
 
2.      Ottawa
74
90
 
3.      Toronto
74
85
 
 
 
 
 
Wild Card
GP
PTS
 
1.      NY Rangers
76
96
 
2.      Boston
75
84
 
3.      Tampa Bay
75
83
 
4.      ISLANDERS
75
82
 
5.      Carolina
74
80
 
6.      Philadelphia
75
78
 
7.      Florida
75
77
 
8.      Buffalo
76
76
 
 
Tuesday's games
Nashville @ Boston 7:00
Detroit @ Carolina 7:00
Buffalo @ Columbus 7:00
Ottawa @ Philadelphia 7:00
Florida @ Tampa Bay 7:30
Dallas @ Montreal 7:30
Washington @ Minnesota 8:00
NY Rangers @ San Jose 10:30
 
Wednesday's games
Chicago @ Pittsburgh 8:00
Washington @ Colorado 10:00
 
Thursday's games
Isles @ Philadelphia 7:00
Columbus @ Carolina 7:00
Dallas @ Boston 7:30
Florida @ Montreal 7:30
Detroit @ Tampa Bay 7:30
Toronto @ Nashville 8:00
Ottawa @ Minnesota 8:00
 
Friday's games
New Jersey @ Isles 7:30
Pittsburgh @ NY Rangers 7:00
Columbus @ Chicago 8:30
Washington @ Arizona 10:00
 
Saturday's games
Florida @ Boston 1:00
Ottawa @ Winnipeg 7:00
Toronto @ Detroit 7:00
Montreal @ Tampa Bay 7:00
New Jersey @ Philadelphia 7:00
Dallas @ Carolina 7:00
 
Sunday's games
Isles @ Buffalo 3:00
Boston @ Chicago 12:30
Carolina @ Pittsburgh 5:00
Dallas @ Tampa Bay 6:00
Washington @ Columbus 6:00
Philadelphia @ NY Rangers 7:30
 
54 in 44
The Isles are now 24-14-6 in their last 44 games (since December 20th vs. Boston). In those games, the PP is 21-125 (16.8%) and the penalty kill is 16-104 (84.6%).
 
In Goal, #1
Thomas Greiss has played in 16 of the last 17 games (7-7-2), in 35 of the last 40 games (17-13-5 with three shutouts) and 37 of the last 44 games (19-13-5 with three shutouts). Greiss has already appeared in a career high 49 games, and set career highs for both wins (25) and shutouts (3).
 
Let's Hear It for the Ladd
Andrew Ladd has reached the 20-goal mark for the 4th straight season and the sixth straight full season (he had 18 goals in the lockout year).  He is one of 21 players to reach 20-goals in each of the last four seasons and one of only 14 to do so six times in the last seven seasons.  He is six points shy of 500 for his career (230-264-494) and his next goal will tie him with two Original Islanders: Ed Westfall and Billy Harris on the all-time NHL goal list.
 
Weight Lifted
Isles leading scorers since Doug Weight became the Isles' interim coach:
 
 
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
+/-
1
John Tavares
33
12
21
33
+5
2
Anders Lee
32
13
11
24
+2
3
Josh Bailey
33
7
16
23
+6
4
Nick Leddy
33
4
16
20
+1
5
Brock Nelson
32
8
9
17
-5
6
Andrew Ladd
30
12
4
16
-6
 
Ryan Strome
30
7
9
16
-3
8
Jason Chimera
33
9
4
13
+3
 
A Different Road
The Isles are 13-10-2 in their last 25 road games, after winning only 2 of their first 11 road games (2-6-3). They are 8-3-1 in their last 12 road games after going 7-13-4 in their first 24 on the road.
 
Home Winless Streak Hits Five
The Isles are 0-4-1 in their last five home games and have not won in Brooklyn since February 19th.
 
Longest Home-Ice Point Streaks in Post -Cup Era
11 – 1/19/17 - 2/19/17 (9-0-2)
10 -  12/16/89 - 01/28/90 (9-0-1)
10 – 3/24/13 - 10/17/13 (7-0-3 – Multi-season Streak)
 
The Shots
Isles       9-6-10=25
Nashville 9-13-9=31
 
The Isles are 17-9-5 when they outshoot their opponents and 3-3-0 when the shots are even but are 15-17-6 when they are outshot.
 
Home and Road
The Islanders are 35-28-12 overall; 20-12-7 at home and 15-16-5 on the road. 
Nashville is 39-25-11 overall; 23-8-7 at home and 16-17-4 on the road.  
 
By Division & Conference
The Isles are 12-9-5 in Division games and 23-19-7 in games versus other divisions (9-10-3 vs. Atlantic, 6-5-2 vs. Central and 8-4-2 vs. Pacific).   The Isles are 21-19-8 against the East and 14-9-4 against the West.
 
In the Nets
Thomas Greiss made 28 saves but falls to 25-18-5 on the season and 3-4-0 in his career against Nashville.
Juuse Saros, facing the Isles for the first time in his career, made 24 saves to improve to 9-7-3 on the season.
 
Power Plays
The Isles went 0-2 on the power play; Nashville was 0-3.
The Isles are 15-7-6 when they score at least one power play goal and 20-21-6 when they do not.  The Isles are 13-13-5 when they allow at least one power play goal and 22-15-7 when they do not.    
 
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 34-7-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-21-9 when they do not.  The lone Islander win was on November 28th vs. Calgary (2-1 in OT).

One Goal Games
The Isles are 13-10-12 in games decided by a single goal including 6-10 in regulation. They are 5-8 in games decided in overtime and are 2-4 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-2 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game (including one game that they allowed a goal after scoring an empty-netter).
 
First Goal
The Isles are 22-9-8 when they score first and are 13-19-4 when they allow the opening goal.

Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 6-7-1 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 5-4-5 on the back-end. 
The Isles will play 16 sets of back-to-backs this season. Two back-to-back sets remain on the schedule: March 30/31 (@ Flyers, vs. Devils) and April 8/9 (@ Devils, vs Senators)
 
Tired vs. Rested
·        The Isles are 4-1-3 when both teams played the night before.
·        The Isles are 7-4-2 when they are rested and their opponents are not.
·        The Isles are 1-3-2 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.
·        The Isles are 23-20-5 when both teams are rested.
 
Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Nick Leddy (21:00); Nashville: Roman Josi (25:17)
 
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (7-0-0), Nick Leddy (14-21-9), John Tavares (2-1-0), Johnny Boychuk (7-4-1), Dennis Seidenberg (1-1-1), Calvin de Haan (3-1-1), Tied (1-0-0).
 
John Tavares led the Isles forwards with 20:04 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (27-20-10), Josh Bailey (4-5-2), Casey Cizikas (1-0-0), Cal Clutterbuck (0-1-0), Brock Nelson (1-2-0), Shane Prince (1-0-0).
 
Face-offs
Isles 23, Nashville 35 (40%). 
 
Brock Nelson won 4 of 6 for the Isles; Ryan Johansen won 12 of 18 for Nashville.
 
Face-offs by period: 1st period- 8/19; 2nd period 8/21; 3rd period 7/18
Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 19/49; Power play 2/4; Penalty kill 2/5.
 
Hit Count
Isles 28, Nashville 16.  Dennis Seidenberg led the Isles with six hits; Colton Sissons led Nashville with three.
 
Fights
There were no fights.  Season total – 13: (Hamonic 3, Mayfield 3, Strome 2, Boychuk 1, Chimera 1, deHaan 1, Hickey 1, Ladd 1).
 
Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 9 blocked shots; Travis Hamonic and Adam Pelech led the Isles with two.
 
For the Corsi Crowd
All situations: Isles 50, Nashville 53
5-on-5 Isles 44, Nashville 38
 
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: Anders Lee +10; Josh Bailey 71%
Nashville: Viktor Arvidsson +5
 
Ironmen
Jason Chimera – 181 (including 106 for the Capitals); Josh Bailey 142, Calvin deHaan 78, John Tavares 75
 
Scratches
Scott Mayfield, Shane Prince, JF Berube, Nikolay Kulemin (injured), Johnny Boychuk (injured), Ryan Strome (injured)
 
Total games lost: 164
 
All-time Islander Leader Boards:
 
Games Played (skaters)
1.      Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900
….
9.      Brent Sutter 694 *** 9. Derek King 638 *** 10. Josh Bailey 632
15 Garry Howatt 596 *** 16. John Tonelli 594 *** 17. John Tavares 585
 
Goals
1.      Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310 *** 4. Clark Gillies 304***
5. Pat LaFontaine and Brent Sutter 287 *** 7. Bob Bourne 238 *** 8. Bob Nystrom and John Tavares 235
25. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 26. Josh Bailey 106
 
Assists
1.      Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553
8. Stefan Persson 317 *** 9. Bob Bourne 304 *** 10. John Tavares 301
16. Frans Nielson and Kyle Okposo 230 ***18. Josh Bailey 196
 
Points
1.      Bryan Trottier 1353 *** 2. Mike Bossy 1126 *** 3. Denis Potvin 1052
6. Pat LaFontaine 566 *** 7. John Tonelli 544 *** 8. Bob Bourne 542 *** 9.  John Tavares 535
18. Tomas Jonsson 333 *** 19. Ziggy Palffy 331 *** 20. Josh Bailey 302
 
Late Heroes
The Isles have scored three times in the final two minutes of regulation to either tie or win a game:
·        11/25 – SJ Sharks -- Nick Leddy (19:02); tied game, but Isles lost in regulation
·        11/30 – Pit Penguins – Anders Lee (19:33); Game Winning goal
·        2/6 – Tor Maple Leafs – Andrew Ladd (18:31); Isles won in overtime
 
Late Losses
The Isles have allowed the lead goal in the final 3 minutes of regulation seven times (including one game they rallied to win):
 
·        10/18 – SJ Sharks - Joe Pavelski (17:49)
·        10/26 – Mtl Canadiens - Shea Weber (17:03)
·        10/27 – Pit Penguins - Sidney Crosby (17:35)
·        11/23 – LA Kings – Dwight King (17:07)
·        11/25 – SJ Sharks – Patrick Marleau (19:37)
·        2/3 – Det Red Wings – Danny DeKeyser (19:32)
·        2/6 – Tor Maple Leafs – Michael Nylander (17:59) (Isles won game in OT)
 
Fit to Be Tied
The Isles have allowed the final goal of regulation in 13 of their 19 games that have gone to overtime this season, including four in the final minute:
 
·        10/16 – Ana Ducks – Ryan Getzlaf (19:00); Isles won in OT
·        11/3 – Phi Flyers – Jakob Voracek (19:02/PP); Flyers won in SO
·        11/12 – Fla Panthers – Jonathan Marchessault (19:46); Panthers won in OT
·        3/10 – Van Canucks – Troy Stecher (19:40); Isles won in OT
 
Better at Night
The Isles are 1-3-1 in day games (0-0-1 at home and 1-3-0 on the road) this season with one game to play:
 
·        11/25 - at SJ Sharks (lost 2-3)
·        1/16 – at Bos Bruins (won 4-0)
·        2/11 – at Ott Senators (lost 0-3)
·        3/5 -  at Cal Flames (lost 2-5)
·        3/18 – vs Col Blue Jackets (lost/OT 2-3)
·        4/2 – at Buf Sabres
 
The Isles went 3-4-2 in day games last season (3-1-1 at home and 0-3-1 on the road).
 
Season Series Stats
Nashville leads the season series one game to none (and 2 points to 0).  The teams will meet again on April 4th in Nashville.
 
The Preds' win tonight ended an Islander three-game win streak vs. Nashville at home; the Isles are still 4-2-0 in their last six vs Nashville overall.
 
On The Farm
Bridgeport is 39-24-3-1 on the season following a 4-3 overtime loss to Lehigh Valley on Sunday.
 
Ryan Pulock and Jon Landry each had two assists, but the Sound Tigers allowed the tying goal with 2:42 to play, and the winning goal in overtime (both by Andy Miele).
 
Bracken Kearns leads the Sound Tigers in goals (22) and points (22-25-47). Rookie Devon Toews leads the team in assists with 35.  Ryan Pulock leads the defense with 13 goals (13-26-39 in only 46 games, including five game-winning goals – which is tied for the AHL lead among defensemen) and is tied with Toews for the point lead among defenders.
 
The Sound Tigers will play the fourth game of their six game road trip on Wednesday in Springfield.
 
Up Next
THURSDAY, MARCH 30th –ISLANDERS AT FLYERS – 7:00PM
[MSG+/MSG GO (Isles Pre-Game begins at 6:30), WNYM 970, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
 
The Isles look for their fourth straight road win as they conclude the season series with Philadelphia.  The road team has won the first 3 games of the season series, with the Isles earning points in all three games (1-0-2).
 
The Isles defeated the Flyers 3-1 back on February 9th for their first victory in Philadelphia in regulation time since January 19, 2012.
 
Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since January 21, 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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