Comeau, not Tambellini recalled

The Islanders recalled Blake Comeau today from Bridgeport, essentially to take Chris Simon's spot on the roster.

The choice is an interesting one in that the Isles recalled the 21-year old Comeau, who has only 3 goals and six assists this season and not Jeff Tambellini, who despite his time with the Islanders leads the Sound Tigers in scoring. Tambellini continues to impress at the AHL level, and he had a hat trick Sunday, scoring at even strength, on the power play and shorthanded.
One has to wonder though how many more chances that the 23 year old Tambellini will get with the Isles.

Tambellini has been a dominant player at the AHL level --he also led the Sound Tigers last season in scoring, but has scored exactly three goals in 56 NHL games. One has to wonder if Tambellini will get it right someday on the NHL level, or will he be the hockey equivalent of a baseball AAAA player.

Time will tell.

First is worst

If the Isles are going to be a competitive team, they'll need to improve their first periods. The Isles have now been outscored 24-12 in the first period this season.

The 12 goals is by far the fewest in the NHL -- St. Louis, who has played two fewer games than the Islanders, have 17 first pd tallies.
The -12 differential is the second worst in the NHL -- Atlanta, who was outscored 3-1 by Ottawa in the first period on Saturday, is -13 in the first period.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", to the left of Howie and Billy, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

3 or less streak reaches 21

The Isles have now scored three goals or less in 21 consecutive games, yet have earned points in over half of those games, going 9-10-2. The streak started on Al Arbour night. The last time the Isles scored 4 goals was in a 4-0 win over Tampa on November 1.

The club record for scoring three goals or less is 23 games, set in 1999. The Isles went 4-14-5 during that streak, which ended with a 5-3 win over Florida on March 31, 1999.

Prior to the current streak, the 2nd longest streak was 17 straight games during the 95 lockout season.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", to the left of Howie and Billy, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

Stat Trick - Pens 3, Isles 2

1. Power play time: Isles 3:07 - Penguins 14:43. The Isles had six shots on goal while playing shorthanded.

2. Isles out-hit the Pens 31-15, and won 35 of 53 draws.

3. It's the Penguins' first regualtion win in their last seven trips to Long Island. The Isles had gone 5-0-1 in the previous six.

and one more...

4. Rookie Tyler Kennedy, who scored his first NHL goal on Al Arbour night, had a goal and two assists tonight for the first three-point game of his career. Four of Kennedy's ten career points have come at the Coliseum.

and one question...

How many games will Simon get this time? By receiving a match penalty, Simon has been "automatically suspended from further competition until the Commissioner has ruled on the issue".

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", to the left of Howie and Billy, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org

Fw: Stat trick errata

An eagle eye pointed out that Gillies' # was retired on 12/7/96. The Isles' previous victory over Phoenix was on 12/6/97. The games had one thing in common -- an Islander shutout victory.

Fw: Stat Trick: Sabres 5, Isles 3

1. The Isles have scord only 66 goals in 29 games -- third lowest total in club history at this point in the season (57 in 1999-00 and 58 in 1972-73).

2. The Isles have scored three goals in consecutive games for the first time in over a month -- they haven't scored four goals in any of their last 19 games. It's the second-longest 3 or less streak in club history. In 1999, the Isles went 23 consecutive games without scoring at least three goals.

3. The Isles have gone 2-6-2 in their last 10 games, and haven't beaten anyone in regulation time in that span. Their last win in 60 was on November 25 vs Boston.

Stat Trick: Isles 3, Coyotes 2

1. Three is a magic number. Isles score three goals for the third straight game, and a power play goal for the third straight game as well (both equal season highs). However, it's now 20 straight games that the Isles have scored three goals or less and they haven't scored two pp goals in a game since October 27th.

2. Bill Guerin had his second multi-goal game of the season but fell one goal short of becoming the first Islander captain to record a hat trick at the Coliseum since Flatley did so in February 1994. (Guerin's hat in Washington in October is the only one, home or road, by an Isles captain since Flatley did so -- Yashin had two hats as an Isle, but both were before he became the Captain). Guerin now has 372 goals, passing RIck Kehoe and tying Eric ("the lesser") Lindros on the all-time NHL list. Of course he did so against former Isle GM Don Maloney.

3. It's the Isles first home win against Phoenix since Clark Gillies night (12-6-97), stopping a 4-game home winless streak (2 losses, 2 ties) against the Coyotes. It was also the Isles first home game vs. Phoenix since 2002 -- Radek Martinek was the only Islander to play in both games.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick. Eric, who has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, celebrated his 25th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2007. Often referred to on-air as an actuary, he is one of 3,044 Fellows of the Casualty Actuarial Society and is the President of the Casualty Actuaries of Greater NY. You can find him in the "Best Seat in the House", to the left of Howie and Billy, at most Islander home games. For more on the actuarial profession, visit www.beanactuary.org