Isles head to Edmonton

The Isles are in Edmonton for the first time in nearly five years. On March 13, 2003, the Isles defeated Edmonton 5-2. Jason Blake had two goals and an assist for the Isles, who rallied from a 2-0 deficit for goaltender Garth Snow. Some guy named Ryan Smyth is the last Oiler to score against the Isles in Edmonton.

The Isles have 3 wins and 1 tie in their last four games in Edmonton since losing to the Oilers 1-0 on January 31, 1997. (Curtis Joseph had a shutout in that game)

Overall, the Isles have won their last six games against Edmonton, including a shootout win in their most recent meeting (December 10 2005 at the Coliseum). In that 2005 game, Chris Pronger's pp goal with 1:05 to play necessitated overtime and the shootout. After Rick DiPietro stopped Smyth in the fourth round of the shootout, Trent Hunter beat Jussi Markanen for the winning goal.

The six game win streak equals the longest the Isles ever have had in regular season play vs Edmonton (originally set Oct 8, 1982 - Feb 7 1984). (That steak actually was 10 games, if you include the 1983 Finals)

The Oilers' last win over the Isles came on December 14, 1999, 4-2 at the Coliseum. Every other NHL team has beaten the Islanders at least once since the Oilers last did so.

Isles history set in Colorado -- but not the type of history they'd like to set

The OT loss in Colorado marks the first time in Islander regular season history that they've ever lost consecutive games on an overtime goal.

Once last season the Isles lost consecutive games in which one game was a shootout (to Nashville on 10/16/06) and the other was in overtime (to Pittsburgh on 10/19/06), but this is the first time they've ever lost consecutive games in which there was a goal scored in overtime.

The Isles did lose consecutive playoff games in overtime in 1985 to the Caps (Haworth and Gartner) and in 1993 to the Canadiens (Lebeau and Carbonneau).

The Isles have won consecutive games, both in overtime, on multiple occasions, including earlier this season (12/23 vs Washington and 12/26 vs Toronto). They've also done it on multiple occasions in the playoffs, including three straight vs the Caps in 1993.

It's the 12th time that Ted Nolan has been beaten by an opponent's goal in overtime (Excluding shootouts) since becoming Islander coach -- only Al Arbour (24) has more regular season ot losses. Mike Milbury suffered 11.

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

Isles finish 7th in East; face Penguins in 1st game of 2007 playoffs

Well, they would have...if the NHL based the playoffs on calendar year 2007. (I won't comment further on how the NHL used point percentage to rank the teams :) (All stats below compiled by the NHL)

East

NHL STANDINGS FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2007
(Ranked by points percentage)
GP W L OT PTS PTS% GF GA
1 Ottawa Senators 80 52 16 12 116 .725 297 211
2 Pittsburgh Penguins 83 51 25 7 109 .657 270 234
4 New Jersey Devils 82 48 25 9 105 .640 207 200
5 New York Rangers 81 43 28 10 96 .593 220 186
6 Buffalo Sabres 81 44 31 6 94 .580 270 239
7 New York Islanders 83 41 31 11 93 .560 233 242
3 Florida Panthers 80 38 30 12 88 .550 234 233
8 Toronto Maple Leafs 81 38 30 13 89 .549 244 256

9 Tampa Bay Lightning 82 41 35 6 88 .537 240 268
10 Carolina Hurricanes 82 39 36 7 85 .518 241 259
11 Montreal Canadiens 83 39 36 8 86 .518 243 261
12 Atlanta Thrashers 82 39 37 6 84 .512 230 258
13 Philadelphia Flyers 81 31 38 12 74 .457 236 264
14 Boston Bruins 85 35 43 7 77 .453 210 270
15 Washington Capitals 82 27 43 12 66 .402 223 271

Tampa and Atlana made the actual 2007 playoffs, while Florida and Toronto did not.

West
NHL STANDINGS FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2007
(Ranked by points percentage)
GP W L OT PTS PTS% GF GA

Detroit Red Wings 84 55 18 11 121 .720 280 203
Vancouver Canucks 83 51 22 10 112 .675 232 191
Minnesota Wild 82 50 24 8 108 .659 228 190
Dallas Stars 82 48 23 11 107 .652 240 206
San Jose Sharks 81 47 24 10 104 .642 242 194
Colorado Avalanche 83 47 28 8 102 .614 267 253
Calgary Flames 85 43 29 13 99 .582 263 246
Nashville Predators 81 43 31 7 93 .574 245 227

St. Louis Blues 81 41 30 10 92 .568 217 228
Anaheim Ducks 82 39 30 13 91 .555 216 220
Columbus Blue Jackets 82 36 37 9 81 .494 197 224
Chicago Blackhawks 81 34 40 7 75 .463 217 253
Phoenix Coyotes 82 34 44 4 72 .439 211 255
Edmonton Oilers 84 30 45 9 69 .411 192 258
Los Angeles Kings 81 27 43 11 65 .401 217 262

One strange stat: 6 Eastern teams finished between 84 and 89 points; no team in the West finished between 82 and 90 points.

GOALS
GP G
Vincent Lecavalier 82 57
Ilya Kovalchuk 82 54
Dany Heatley 80 53
Alex Ovechkin 82 51

ASSISTS
GP A
Joe Thornton 81 90
Sidney Crosby 83 79
Pavel Datsyuk 81 73
Marc Savard 84 73

POINTS
GP G A PTS
Vincent Lecavalier 82 57 58 115
Sidney Crosby 83 35 79 114
Joe Thornton 81 24 90 114
Dany Heatley 80 53 59 112

GOALS BY DEFENSEMEN
GP G
Ryan Whitney 78 16
Sheldon Souray 59 15
Marc-Andre Bergeron 67 15
Michal Rozsival 78 15

ASSISTS BY DEFENSEMEN
GP A
Nicklas Lidstrom 82 58
Sergei Gonchar 79 54
Brian Rafalski 84 53
Sergei Zubov 78 52

POINTS BY DEFENSEMEN
GP G A PTS
Sergei Gonchar 79 14 54 68
Nicklas Lidstrom 82 8 58 66
Brian Rafalski 84 12 53 65
Sergei Zubov 78 9 52 61

PENALTY MINUTES
GP PIM
Daniel Carcillo 51 246
Ben Eager 57 205
Chris Neil 80 197
Zack Stortini 54 169

POWER PLAY GOALS
GP PP
Tomas Holmstrom 75 22
Michael Cammalleri 76 20
Daniel Sedin 83 19
Henrik Zetterberg 60 18
Ilya Kovalchuk 82 18
Alex Ovechkin 82 18

SHORTHANDED GOALS
GP SH
Patrick Sharp 77 9
Mike Richards 67 8
Daniel Alfredsson 79 5
Vincent Lecavalier 82 5

GAME-WINNING GOALS
GP GW
Henrik Zetterberg 60 10
Milan Michalek 77 10
Daniel Sedin 83 10
Marian Gaborik 75 9
Bill Guerin 77 9
Dany Heatley 80 9
Vincent Lecavalier 82 9

SHOTS ON GOAL
GP SOG
Alex Ovechkin 82 397
Vincent Lecavalier 82 347
Olli Jokinen 80 339
Jason Blake 84 332

PLUS/MINUS RATING
GP +/-
Dany Heatley 80 57
Daniel Alfredsson 79 50
Nicklas Lidstrom 82 44
Pavel Datsyuk 81 43

NHL GOALTENDING LEADERS FOR CALENDAR YEAR 2007
GAMES PLAYED
GP
Miikka Kiprusoff 79
Martin Brodeur 76
Henrik Lundqvist 75
Roberto Luongo 72

MINUTES PLAYED
GP MINS
Miikka Kiprusoff 79 4660
Martin Brodeur 76 4568
Henrik Lundqvist 75 4435
Roberto Luongo 72 4334

WINS
GP W
Roberto Luongo 72 45
Martin Brodeur 76 45
Miikka Kiprusoff 79 41
Henrik Lundqvist 75 40

SHUTOUTS
GP SHO
Henrik Lundqvist 75 10
Evgeni Nabokov 69 9
Martin Brodeur 76 9
Roberto Luongo 72 8

POINTS PERCENTAGE (minimum: 25 decisions)
GP W L OT PTS%
Chris Osgood 35 24 3 6 .818
Martin Gerber 39 28 6 3 .797
Niklas Backstrom 54 34 12 5 .716
Marc-Andre Fleury 58 34 13 6 .698

GOALS-AGAINST AVERAGE (minimum: 1500 minutes)
GP MINS GA GAA
Chris Osgood 35 2043 67 1.97
Pascal Leclaire 29 1622 55 2.03
Henrik Lundqvist 75 4435 151 2.04
Roberto Luongo 72 4334 149 2.06

SAVE PERCENTAGE (minimum: 1500 minutes)
GP MINS SOG GA SV%
Roberto Luongo 72 4334 2103 149 .929
Pascal Leclaire 29 1622 720 55 .924
Henrik Lundqvist 75 4435 1943 151 .922
Niklas Backstrom 54 3106 1438 112 .922
Martin Gerber 39 2258 1135 89 .922

SHOTS ON GOAL
GP SOG
Miikka Kiprusoff 79 2214
Roberto Luongo 72 2103
Martin Brodeur 76 2060
Ryan Miller 69 1981

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: Panthers 4, Isles 3 (OT)

1. The Isles pp connected for two goals in the second period, giving them five power play goals (all in the 2nd period) of the last two games. It's the second time this season that the Isles have scored 5 pp goals in a 2 game stretch.

2. Jasen Cullimore's winning goal ended two long streaks -- it was his first goal in 80 games (dating back to October 31, 2006 against the Islanders) and was the first time in the last 11 overtime games between the teams that the Panthers beat the Isles. The Islanders had won three overtime games, and two shootout games and there had also been five ties since Ray Sheppard scored in overtime to beat the Isles on December 22, 1996.

3.Sure looks like Marc Andre Bergeron is back in the Isles' good graces. He played 21:18 (buoyed by 8:22 of pp time) and had a game high eight shots on goal. Comrie's goal came off a play that Bergeron started -- Sillinger and Hunter batted at the rebound before Comrie put it in. Overall, the Isles defense combined for 17 shots.

and a few more...

4. Craig Anderson picked up his first victory of the season and first in three career appearances vs. the Isles. He had been beaten by the Isles twice in 2003 -- Alexei Yashin had a four goal game against Anderson and Steve Passmore in March, and the Isles beat him in the blizzard game in December.

5. If you thought Jay Bouwmeester was on the ice the entire game... he was. He played 35:48 as Jacques Martin used four defensemen for most of the game. (Mezei played 7:39 and Montador only 5:25).

6 Bill Guerin now has six goals in the last 6 games and nine goals in the last 12 games. He had only 5 in the previous 27 games, and they all game in a 4 game span.

7. Comrie's goal gave him a season-high five game point streak (4-4-8)

8. After missing his first game as an Islander, Sillinger had a goal and two assists. He now has five points (1-4-5) in his last two games. It was his first three point game since recording four points at Florida on March 17th.

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

Who su**?

Chris Botta caused some commotion over the weekend on his blog regarding fans chanting "You suck" after Islander goals.
http://nyipointblank.blogspot.com/2008/01/for-your-consideration.html

Tonight, at the Coliseum, the word "Sucks" was heard twice on the PA system.

In the first period, a clip of Denis Potvin's speech at the 25th anniversary was shown. "How many Cups" "Four" "Who Sucks" "the Rangers".

In the second period, Game Show host Pat Sajak appeared and suggested when he resumes taping of "Wheel of Fortune", a new puzzle could be "Rangers Suck", drawing a large roar from the crowd.

Personally, I always liked the collegiate "It's all your fault" chant aimed towards the opposing goalie.

Jiggs and DiPi

If you were at the game tonight, you saw a press box shot of Jiggs McDonald. As Howie mentioned on the telecast, Jiggs will be at the microphone for the upcoming road trip as Howie takes some time off. Jiggs will do all five games of the trip; Versus will have the Isles-Montreal on 1/15 before Howie rejoins Billy on 1/16 at New Jersey.

Who will be in goal in Denver on Saturday and Edmonton on Monday is certainly a question. DiPietro broke out new pads for the first period but was forced to remove them before the second period. I'm fairly certain that that directive came from the "War Room" in Toronto which was watching one of the telecasts.

From what I've put together, Ricky may have violated a section of rule 11.8, which notes
"A goalkeeper who plays with equipment that has not been inspected and approved by the League's Hockey Operations
Department, or who tampers with equipment after it has been inspected and approved by the League's Hockey Operations,
Officiating and or Security departments will be suspended for the next two (2) League games, his Club will be fined $25,000.00 and his
Equipment Manager will be fined $1000.00 (to be deducted from his pay), regardless of whether or not such equipment previously
complied with League standards. Each additional violation will result in all game suspensions and fines being doubled."

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

Happy New Year Stat Trick

I've been on vacation (if you've been watching Isles tv carefully, you know that it was in Montreal) but with the strong post-Xmas play I figured that I'd share a few (okay, many) notes...

1.The Isles end 2007 with a 20-16-2 record. It's the first time since the 1987-88 season that the Isles won 20 of their first 38 (20-14-4).

2. The Isles rallied to finish December at .500 (7-7-1). It's the second straight season they've gotten through December without a losing month -- that hadn't happened at all prior to Nolan since 1983-84 through 1985-86.

3. The 42 points in 38 games is one more than the 03-04 and 06-07 squads managed. It's the second-best total at this stage of the season since 1988. (45 in 2001-02)

4. The Isles recorded three PP goals in the 2nd period at Carolina tying the club record. It was the first time the Isles have done that since 1996. The three pp goals in the game equaled a season high --all three times are on the road (in Buffalo and Washington, both in October).

5. The 4 second period goals in Carolina marked the first time all season that the Isles had scored 4 goals in one period. They last scored four goals in a period on February 27th vs. Philly.

6. The Isles are now 9-7 on 12/31 games, including three straight wins. The Isles have played at home only twice on New Year's Eve, defeating Washington 6-4 to end 1988 and Quebec 6-3 to end 1990.

7. The Isles were off on New Year's Day...and that's a good thing. The Isles are 0-7 on New Year's Day. It's the only day (besides 12/24 and 12/25, two days that the Isles have never played) between October 3 and April 18 that the Isles have never earned a point.

8. The Isles lost their fifth straight game in Ottawa on Dec 27. They are 0-6, with one tie in Ottawa since winning there on 3/15/03. The Isles have won twice in Ottawa since 1996. (regular season only)

9. The Isles defeated the Devils for the 4th straight time this season (5th overall) on December 29th. In their last 16 games vs NJ, the Isles have won 5 straight, lost 6 straight, and won 5 straight) The Devils have earned 4 loser points in that stretch (6-6-4) while the Isles have earned one (10-5-1).

10. The New Year's Eve win in Carolina ended a four-game losing streak in Raleigh and a 3-game losing steak to the Hurricanes overall.

11. The 9 goals the Isles scored in the last two games equaled a season high. They haven't scored 10 goals over two games since January 9-11, 2007.

12. The New Year's Eve win was the 199th December win in Islander history. They've won 200 January games and 202 March games (which is the most in any month).

13. Mike Sillinger sat out his first game as an Isle on Monday, ending a streak of 119 consecutive Isles games. Last season was the first time in his career that he played in 82 games.

14. Dubie earned six points in the four games since he replaced Rick DiPietro after one period on Wednesday.

15. Bill Guerin ends 2007 with a flourish: 5 goals in 5 games and 8 goals in 11 games.

16. Mike Comrie went 3-4-7 in the four post-Xmas games.

17. Bergeron had 2 goals and an assist vs Carolina. The three points equals his career high, set two other times. It's the third time he's scored at least two goals (2 vs SJ on 3/21/04 and 3 vs Ottawa on 1/14/06).