Featured Post

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 ...

Sunday, March 12, 2017

The Skinny: St. Louis 4, Isles 3

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick
Game 67
St. Louis 4, Isles 3
Vladimir Tarasenko scored two goals and a late Islander rally fell short as the St. Louis Blues defeated the Isles 4-3 before a sellout crowd of 19,505 at Scottrade Center.
The Islanders end their franchise-record 9-game road trip with a 5-3-1 record.
With the loss, the Isles fall one point behind Toronto for the 2nd Wild Card.
The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
07:23    St. Louis  PPG - Vladimir Tarasenko (31) ASST: Jaden Schwartz (29), Alex Steen (29)            0-1
2ND PERIOD
04:58    St. Louis    Alexander Steen (13)            0-2
11:37    New York   Brock Nelson (16) ASST: Joshua Ho-Sang (1), Scott Mayfield (5)       1-2
15:28    St. Louis    Vladimir Tarasenko (32) ASST: Carl Gunnarsson (5)  1-3
18:06    St. Louis    Patrik Berglund (19) ASST: David Perron (23), Magnus Paajarvi (2)    1-4
3RD PERIOD
02:11    New York   Anthony Beauvillier (8) ASST: Thomas Hickey (14)    2-4
18:31    New York   PPG - Nick Leddy (11) ASST: Andrew Ladd (7), John Tavares (33)    3-4
The Skinny:
The Isles are 15-7-3 (.660) under Interim Coach Doug Weight …Since opening the season 6-10-4, Isles are 26-14-7 in their last 47 games…The Isles are 6-3-1 in the last ten games…... The Isles' top line has 25 goals (and 41 assists) in 25 games under Weight…Nick Leddy established a new career high with his 11th goal of the season… Joshua Ho-Sang recorded his first career assist; actually he did it twice, assisting on an Andrew Ladd goal that was reversed on video review due to an offside before assisting on Brock Nelson's goal… Carter Hutton is 3-1-0 in his last 4, allowing only one goal in his only loss…In their last 15 games, the Blues have won six straight, lost five straight and then won four straight…Jaden Schwartz have an assist in 4 straight games…Scott Mayfield earned an assist in his first game ever in his hometown arena…John Tavares earned an assist on the late Leddy goal, extending his point streak to four games…The Blues improve to 17-5-5 in one-goal games (10-5 in regulation) while the Isles fall to 10-9-11 (5-9 in regulation)…Thomas Greiss appeared in his career-high 42nd game; he has played more games/minutes than any other goalie this month…The Isles are 2-7-4 on Saturdays (including 1-6-3 on the road); they are 30-17-7 the rest of the week.  The Isles have three Saturday games remaining, including two (March 18 and March 25) at home....Anthony Beauvillier scored his 3rd goal of the trip; only John Tavares (4) had more…
Road Trip Leaders (last 9 games)
Goals:  Tavares 4, Nelson/Lee/Ladd/Beauvllier 3
Assists: Bailey 9, Tavares 5, Nelson/Leddy 4
Points: Bailey 10, Tavares 9, Nelson 7, Leddy 6
+/-:  Bailey +6. Seidenberg +3 Leddy/Lee/Strome +2
Shots: Tavares 33, Ladd 23, Nelson 21, Bailey 20
Faceoffs: Tavares 47.9%, Strome 43.4%, Nelson 40.3% Beauvillier 37.2%
Moving On Up
Josh Bailey played in his 623rd Isles game, passing Billy Harris for 10th place among skaters on the all-time club list. 
The 300 Club
Josh Bailey remains one point shy of becoming the 6th player from his draft class to reach 300 points:
(Stamkos, Karlsson, Eberle, Doughty, and Stepan have already done so.)  His next point will also be his 50th point of the season.

Most points in NHL since January 19th (Weight’s First Game)
1
Ottawa
16
7
2
34
2
Pittsburgh
15
5
3
33

ISLES
15
7
3
33
4
Minnesota
15
7
1
31
5
Washington 
15
7
1
31
6
NY Rangers
15
7
1
31
7
San Jose
13
4
5
31




Most consecutive games without consecutive regulation losses - new coach
25 - DOUG WEIGHT (and counting)
23 - Brad Shaw
15 - Peter Laviolette
13- Steve Sterling
Overall, the Isles have gone 37 games without losing consecutive games in regulation; it's the longest streak by an Islander team in 35 years!
Most consecutive games without consecutive regulation losses (one season)
56     November 12, 1977 --March 18, 1978
48     October 12, 1978 -- January 27, 1979 (start of season)
43     January 2, 1982 -- April 4, 1982 (end of season)
37     CURRENT
35     December 2, 1979 -- February 16, 1980
Playoff Chase:

Metropolitan
GP
PTS
1.   Washington
67
95
2.   Pittsburgh
67
94
3.   Columbus
67
92
Atlantic
GP
PTS
1.      Ottawa
67
84
2.      Montréal
68
84
3.      Boston
68
78
Wild Card
GP
PTS
1.      NY Rangers
68
88
2.      Toronto
67
76
3.      ISLANDERS
67
75
4.      Tampa Bay
67
73
5.      Philadelphia
67
70
6.      Florida
67
69
7.      Buffalo
69
68

The Isles Magic Number to clinch a playoff berth is 32 (over Toronto and Boston).
Sunday's games:
Rangers @ Detroit 7:00
Montreal @ Edmonton 7:00
Washington @ Anaheim 9:30
Monday's games:
Carolina @ Isles 7:30
Tampa Bay @ NY Rangers 7:00
Columbus @ Philadelphia 7:00
Pittsburgh @ Calgary 9:00
Boston @ Vancouver 10:00
The Isles can move back into a playoff spot with a win on Monday.
Tuesday's games:
Isles @ Carolina 7:00
Minnesota @ Washington 7:00
Chicago @ Montreal 7:30
Tampa Bay @ Ottawa 7:30
Toronto @ Florida 7:30
Buffalo @ San Jose 10:30
Wednesday's games:
Pittsburgh @ Philadelphia 8:00
Boston @ Calgary 9:00
Thursday's games:
Winnipeg @ Isles 7:30
Nashville @ Washington 7:00
Philadelphia @ New Jersey 7:00
Florida @ Columbus 7:00
Chicago @ Ottawa 7:30
Toronto @ Tampa Bay 7:30
Boston @ Edmonton 9:00
Buffalo @ Los Angeles 10:30
Friday's games
Florida @ NY Rangers 7:00
New Jersey @ Pittsburgh 7:00
Buffalo @ Anaheim 10:00
Saturday's games
Columbus @ Isles 1:00
NY Rangers @ Minnesota 7:00
Washington @ Tampa Bay 7:00
Chicago @ Toronto 7:00
Montreal @ Ottawa 7:00
Last 36
The Isles are now 21-10-5 in their last 36 games (since December 20th vs. Boston).  In those games, the PP is 19-104 (18.3%) and the penalty kill is 14-82 (82.9%).   
#1 is #1 (aka The Greiss is Right)
Thomas Greiss has started 9 straight games (5-3-1), 27 of the last 32 games (15-9-4 with three shutouts) and 30 of the last 37 games (17-9-4 with three shutouts).
Weight Lifted
Isles leading scorers since Doug Weight became the Isles' interim coach:
Games
Goals
Assists
Points
+/-
1
John Tavares
25
9
17
26
+4
2
Anders Lee
24
10
10
20
+3
Josh Bailey
25
6
14
20
+9
4
Nick Leddy
25
4
12
16
+5
5
Ryan Strome
25
6
9
15
+2
Brock Nelson
25
7
8
15
0
7
Andrew Ladd
22
11
3
14
-1
8
Jason Chimera
25
8
3
11
+4
End of the Road
The franchise-record 9-game road trip has come to an end. The Isles went 5-3-1 on the trip, despite being outscored 26-25 (and 1-0 in the shootout
·        2/21 at Red Wings (Won 3-1)
·        2/23 at Canadiens (Won 3-0)
·        2/25 at Blue Jackets (Lost 0-7)
·        3/2 at Stars (Won 5-4)
·        3/3 at Blackhawks (Lost 1-2 SO)
·        3/5 at Flames (Lost 2-5)
·        3/7 at Oilers (Won 4-1)
·        3/9 at Canucks (Won 4-3 OT)
·        3/11 at Blues (Lost 3-4)
Following this stretch, the Isles will have 15 games left, including seven at home.
A Different Road
The Isles are 10-10-2 in their last 22 road games, after winning only 2 of their first 11 road games (2-6-3).
Four Games, Four Time Zones
This was the third of four games the Isles will play in 7 days in four different time zones:
·        Tuesday @Edm Oilers (Mountain Standard Time)
·        Thursday @Van Canucks (Pacific Standard Time)
·        Saturday @Stl Blues (Central Standard Time)
·        Monday Home vs Car Hurricanes (Eastern Daylight Time – clocks change at 2am Sunday)
The Isles have only one game remaining outside the Eastern Time Zone – in Nashville on April 4th.
Home is Where the Heart Is
The Isles have earned points in their last 11 home games (9-0-2).  It's their longest point streak at home in the post-Cup era.  The last time the Isles had a longer streak was in 1982; the Isles ended the 1981-82 season with a 23-game unbeaten streak (21-0-2).  That streak began on January 2, 1982 and was extended to 30 games over two seasons (28-0-2).
The last time that the Isles had a point streak of at least ten home games in a single season was in 1989-90, when they also earned points in ten straight games (12/16/1989 – 1/28/1990). 
Longest Point Streaks in Post -Cup Era
11 – CURRENT (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      10-8-6=24
St. Louis 8-10-6=24
The Isles are 15-7-5 when they outshoot their opponents and 3-3-0 when the shots are even but are 14-15-5 when they are outshot.
Home and Road
The Islanders are 32-24-11 overall; 20-8-6 at home and 12-16-5 on the road. 
St. Louis is 35-27-5 overall; 20-11-4 at home and 15-16-1 on the road.  
By Division & Conference
The Isles are 9-8-4 in Division games and 23-16-7 in games versus other divisions (9-9-3 vs. Atlantic, 6-3-2 vs. Central and 8-4-2 vs. Pacific).   The Isles are 18-17-7 against the East and 14-7-4 against the West.
In the Nets
Thomas Greiss made 14 saves before being replaced after two periods.  Greiss falls to 23-14-4 on the season and 5-2-0 in his career against St. Louis. JF Berube made six saves in relief.
Carter Hutton made 21 saves to improve to 10-8-2 on the season and 1-0-0 in his career against the Isles.

Power Plays
The Isles went 1-4 on the power play, while St. Louis was 0-1.
The Isles are 14-7-6 when they score at least one power play goal and 18-17-5 when they do not.  The Isles are 12-12-5 when they allow at least one power play goal and 20-12-6 when they do not.    
Three is (Usually) a Magic Number
The Isles are 31-6-3 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 1-18-8 when they do not.
One Goal Games
The Isles are 10-9-11 in games decided by a single goal including 5-9-0 in regulation. They are 4-7 in games decided in overtime and are 1-4 in shootouts.  The Isles are 4-1 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 22-6-7 when they score first and are 10-18-4 when they allow the opening goal.
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 5-6-1 on the front-end of back-to-backs and 4-3-5 on the back-end. 
The Isles will play 16 sets of back-to-backs this season. The next back-to-back set is a home-and-home series with Carolina on March 13th in Brooklyn and March 14th in Raleigh.
Tired vs. Rested
·        The Isles are 3-1-3 when both teams played the night before.
·        The Isles are 5-4-2 when they are rested and their opponents are not.
·        The Isles are 1-2-2 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.
·        The Isles are 23-17-4 when both teams are rested.
Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Nick Leddy (24:16); St. Louis: Alex Pietrangelo (28:55)
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (6-0-0), Nick Leddy (13-18-8), John Tavares (2-1-0), Johnny Boychuk (7-4-1), Dennis Seidenberg (1-1-1), Calvin de Haan (2-0-1), Tied (1-0-0).
John Tavares led the Isles forwards with 23:42 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (25-16-9), 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 20, St. Louis 37 (35%). 
No Islander won more than he lost: Patrik Berglund won 14 of 19 for St. Louis.
Face-offs by period: 1st period- 7/22; 2nd period 5/16; 3rd period 8/19
Face-offs by strength: Even strength: 18/51; Power play 1/5; Penalty kill 1/1.

For the road trip, the Isles won 213/483 (44.1%).
  
Hit Count
Isles 38, St. Louis 19.  Cal Clutterbuck led the Isles with seven hits; Ryan Reaves had four for St. Louis.
Fights
There were no fights.  Season total – 11: (Hamonic 3, Mayfield 2, Strome 2, Boychuk 1, Chimera 1, deHaan 1, Hickey 1).
Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 5 blocked shots; Travis Hamonic had two.
For the Corsi Crowd
All situations: Isles 59, St. Louis 35 (including 16-0 in the final 11:45 of the first period and 12-1 in the final 10 minutes of the game)
5-on-5 Isles 50, St. Louis 30
5-on-5 leaders:
Isles: John Tavares +20; John Tavares 80%
St. Louis:  Jordan Schmaltz & Jaden Schwartz -1
Ironmen
Jason Chimera – 173 (including 106 for the Capitals); Josh Bailey 134, Brock Nelson 81, Calvin deHaan 70, John Tavares 67
Scratches
Adam Pelech, Johnny Boychuk (injured), Alan Quine (injured), Shane Prince (injured)
Injured Reserve: Casey Cizikas
Total games lost: 140
All-time Islander Leader Boards:
Games Played (skaters)
1.      Bryan Trottier 1123 *** 2. Denis Potvin 1060 *** 3. Bob Nystrom 900
….
8.      Brent Sutter 694 *** 9. Derek King 638 *** 10. Josh Bailey 624
15 Garry Howatt 596 *** 16. John Tonelli 594 *** 17. John Tavares 577
Goals
1.      Mike Bossy 573 *** 2. Bryan Trottier 500 *** 3. Denis Potvin 310
7. Bob Bourne 238 *** 8. Bob Nystrom 235 **** 9. John Tavares 232
25. Ray Ferraro 116 *** 26. Ed Westfall, Benoit Hogue and Josh Bailey 105
Assists
1.      Bryan Trottier 853 *** 2. Denis Potvin 742 *** 3. Mike Bossy 553
8. Stefan Persson 317 *** 9. Bob Bourne 304 *** 10. John Tavares 297
16. Frans Nielson and Kyle Okposo 230 ***18. Josh Bailey 194
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 528
18. Tomas Jonsson 333 *** 19. Ziggy Palffy 331 *** 20. Josh Bailey 299
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 been tied in the third period in 12 of their 24 regulation losses (and 23 of their 35 overall losses) but 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 12 of their 16 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 1-3-0 in day games (0-0-0 at home and 1-3-0 on the road) this season with two games 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
·        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
The teams split the season series one game to one (and 2 points to 2).
The loss ended an Isles three game winning streak vs. St. Louis; however, the Isles have not won in regulation in St. Louis since December 6, 2005 (6-3), having gone 1-5-0 in the six games since.
On The Farm
Bridgeport fell to 36-21-2-1 on the season (and 18-6-1-0 in their last 25) with a loss in Utica (2-1) on Friday and at home to Albany (4-1) on Saturday.
Kellan Jones had Bridgeport's goal on Friday while Bracken Kearns scored his 20th goal on Saturday. Jaroslav Halak suffered both losses; he was pulled after allowing three goals in the first period on Saturday.
Kearns leads Bridgeport in goals (20) and points (20-22-42). Rookie Devon Toews leads the team in assists with 31   Ryan Pulock leads the defense with 12 goals (12-22-34 in only 39 games) while Halak leads the team in wins (15-5-3).
Bridgeport, who fell to 2-3-1 since Joshua Ho-Sang's NHL recall, hosts Hartford at 3pm on Sunday before beginning another 3-in-3 weekend on Friday in Providence.
Up Next
MONDAY, MARCH 13th – CAROLINA AT ISLANDERS – 7:30PM
[NBCSN (NHL Live begins at 6:30), WFAN 660/101.9FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
With the long road trip finally over, the Isles return home to face Carolina in the front-end of an old-fashioned home-and-home series.
The Isles swept a home-and-home from Carolina last season (but the games were 3 days apart); they last played the Canes on back-to-back days in October 2014, sweeping the first two games of that regular season from Carolina.
Carolina has had the Isles' number so far this season.  Their 7-4 victory over the Isles on January 14th was Jack Capuano's last loss; Ron Hainsey was the overtime hero in a 5-4 Carolina win on February 4th at Barclays.
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

No comments: