Nystrom to appear in Islander game

It's been over 21 years, but a Nystrom will play in an Islander game tonight when the Isles visit Calgary.

Eric Nystrom was only 3 years old when his father made his final NHL appearance on April 5, 1986. That was a token appearance for Bobby Nystrom, who had been injured when teammate Gerald Diduck's stick caught him in the left eye during practice on Januarry 5 1986.

The appearance in the Islanders' final home game of the 85-86 season allowed Nystrom to complete his career with 900 games played as an Islander. Ironically, or perhaps fittingly, it was done at the suggestion of Al Arbour, who wanted Nystrom to reach the milestone. Arbour was similarly honored by Ted Nolan earlier this season.

Eric Nystrom got into two NHL games in the 05-06 season but missed most of last season with a shoulder injury. he has played 34 games with Calgary this season, with one goal and four assists. The only NHL goal of his career came in his second appearance of this season, on October 30 against Nashville. Nystrom has 43 penalty minutes on the season, including seven major penalties.

A rare trip to Calgary

The Isles conclude their swing through Western Canada with their first game in Calgary in nearly 6 years. On January 15 2002, the Isles defeated the Flames 3-1 at the Saddledome, ending a 6-game losing streak in Calgary that dated back to 1992.

The teams last met on January 12, 2006 at the Coliseum. In the first game for interim coach Brad Shaw, the Isles defeated their relocated expansion cousins 3-2. Mark Parrish scored the winning goal for the Isles. The game featured two fights against Flame tough guy Chris Simon.

The two wins mentioned above are the only ones that the Isles have had in their last 12 games against the Flames (2-10-0). Seven different men coached the Isles over that 12 game stretch, and Nolan will make it eight coaches in the last 13 games against Calgary.

The Isles have scored only 27 goals in their last 15 games against Calgary (1.8 per game) and haven't scored four in any game since a 6-2 win on January 7 1994.

Of course, the Flames and Islanders began their history together, on October 7, 1972 at the Coliseum. Morris Stefaniw and Ed Westfall were the first to score for their respective teams. Westfall would go on to score 105 goals for the Isles (tied with Benoit Hogue for 22nd in club history) while Stefaniw, who is celebrating his 60th birthday on Thursday (really), would never score another NHL goal. The Flames won the game 3-2 (Billy Harris had the other Islander goal.)

Stat Trick: Vancouver 3, Isles 2 (SO)

1. It took 143:08 but Bill Guerin's strange goal ended a long Islander scoreless streak.

2. Rick DIPietro was clearly the star of the game, and the media recognized that by naming him the game's first star. He made 43 saves (third highest total of his career).

3. The Isles killed 7 Vancouver power plays and spent only 18 seconds (all in their own end) on the power play.

and a few more...

4. Who is Alexander Edler? The 21 year old Edler scored the winning goal in the shootout. He was the 91st pick in the 2004 draft. It was his first appearance of the season in the shootout

5. Where were the Sedins in the shootout? On the bench. Daniel is 0-2 in the shootout this season while Henrik does not have a shooutout attempt.

6. DiPietro is now 14-9 in his career in shootouts, having allowed 26 goals in 100 attempts.

7. Last place Rangers -- the Isles entered the night tied with the Flyers and one point behind the Rangers. With the Flyer win and the Isle point, the Flyers are now 3rd and the Isles (20-17-5) slide ahead of the Rangers (20-18-5).

8. Blake Comeau's goal was the 100th credited to the Isles this season -- they became the last team to reach 100 goals. St. Louis reached the mark earlier in the evening.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of FSN statistician Eric Hornick.

DiPietro vs. Luongo ... and Snow too!

As the Isles travel to Vancouver tonight, it sets up a possible
first meeting since 2005 between Rick DiPietro and Roberto
Luongo.

How have they done head to head? I never thought you'd ask.

If they both play, it will mark the eighth time that they
appeared in the same game. However, in the first meeting
(2/24/01), Luongo played only 53 seconds in mid-game relief of
Trevor Kidd.

They have started against each other six times (DiPietro has
finished five of them) and each team has won three of them.

03/11/01: Florda 4, Isles 1
10/18/03: Isles 2, Florida 1
11/19/03: Isles 4, Florida 1
03/17/04: Florida 6, Isles 4 (Snow played the third period,
allowed two goals and was charged with the loss)
10/10/05: Florida 3, Isles 1
11/19/05: Isles 5, Florida 3

xxxxxx

Islander GM Garth Snow played 2+ seasons for the Canucks. He
earned his first victory as a Canuck against the Islanders on
March 14, 1998, 6-2 at the Coliseum.

That was the only game he played as a Canuck against the Isles.
Overall, in Vancouver, he went 33-52-11. He appeared in a
career high 65 games in 1998-99 (no more than 43 games in any
other 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: Edmonton 4, Isles 0

1. It had to happen sooner or later and it happened tonight Edmonton recorded its first victory of the century over the Islanders and their first win in Edmonton over the Isles since a January 31, 1997 1-0 shutout by Curtis Joseph. That was the only previous shutout by the Oilers against the Islanders in regular season play. Only Quebec/Colorado has been in the league as long and shutout the Islanders only once.

2. The Isles have lost three straight (0-1-2) for the second time this season. They had a five-game losing streak (0-4-1) in late Nov/early Dec. The Isles have scored only four goals in the three games.

3. The Isles reach the season's midpoint with 44 points, three more than last season. The Isles needed 51 points in the second half of the season to make the playoffs on the season's last day.

and two more:

Shawn Horcoff recorded his 100th career goal, all as an Oiler. He is the 15th Oiler to reach 100 goals.

Rick DiPietro came into the game looking for his 107th win, which would have passed Edmonton native Kelly Hrudey for third on the all-time Islander win list. Instead, he suffered his 95th loss, and passed Tommy Salo for second place in that category. Only Billy Smith has lost more games as an Islander. Smitty lost 230.

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

Road trip continues in Vancouver

Edmonton and Calgary are only 172 miles apart, so much like the Rangers did last week, the Isles will sneak a trip to Vancouver (511 miles from Edmonton) in between when they face the Canucks on the second-half of the back-2-back.

The Islanders haven't won a game in Vancouver this century. Of course, they've had only two shots to win in Vancouver since their last victory there (3/19/1999 for one of Bill Stewart's 11 NHL wins as a coach and the Islanders' only win in seven trips to Vancouver since 1993).

This will be the teams' first meeting since the Canucks, behind a Todd Bertuzzi hat trick, slaughtered the Isles 8-1 at the Coliseum on January 14, 2006 in the Islanders' second game under interim coach Brad Shaw. (It's one of only three home losses by 7 goals in Islander history).

Overall, the Isles 4-3 with 2 ties in their last nine games against Vancouver.

How many games to 100?

Question for you stat people
Posted by: "mrbelvidear" mrbelvidear@yahoo.com mrbelvidear
Mon Jan 7, 2008 12:33 pm (PST)
What is the furthest the Islanders have gone into a season(games played) before scoring 100 goals?

This is the 6th time in Islander history that they've played 40 games without scoring 100 goals. The Isles have been credited with 98 goals this season, although that includes a goal for winning the shootout vs Ottawa in November.

The other years:
75 in 40 games in 1972-73; scored 100th goal in Game 49
93 in 40 games in 1973-74; scored 100th goal in Game 42
91 in 40 games in 1998-99; scored 100th goal in Game 45
86 in 40 games in 1999-00; scored 100th goal in Game 48
88 in 40 games in 2000-01; scored 100th goal in Game 44

The Isles have allowed only 110 goals (including shootout loss) through 40 games. That's the 7th lowest total in club history. The fewest goals the Isles allowed in the first 40 games was 99 in 1977-78. By that point, they were +66, having scored 165. (In the following season, 1978-79, the Isles stepped up the offense a bit, and scored 194 goals in the first 40 games.)