Two visits to the same opponent

On Wednesday night, the Isles will look to avoid tying the club record for consecutive games without a win to start a season -- the record is seven, and is held by the 1973-74 squad (0-3-4).

 

On Thursday, the Isles will begin something almost as rare, when they make the first of two visits to Montreal in a five day period.  It's only the 8th time in club history that the Isles will play consecutive road games against the same opponent. 

It's the third time in club history that the Isles will sandwich a home game with road games against the same opponent.

 

The list:

12/31/86-1/9/87 @ NYR  (the Isles played two home games in between)

2/8/96-2/22/96 @ NYR (the Isles played four home games in between)

10/17/01-10/26/01 @ Carolina  (two home games in between)

3/19/02-3/28/02 @ Toronto (four home games in between)

4/6/06-4/11/06 @ NYR  (one home game in between)

11/28/06-12/2/06 @ Pittsburgh (one home game in between)

1/26/07-2/1/07 @ Atlanta (two home games in between)

10/22/09-10/26/09 @ Montreal (one home game in between)

 

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Line changes

Chris Botta reporting on Point Blank that the Moulson-Tavares-Okposo trio has been broken up.  They've accounted for 8 of the Isles' 13 goals this season.  Weight takes Okposo's spot; Kyle is expected to be teamed with Bergenheim and the returning Frans Nielsen.
 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Stat Trick: Sharks 4, Isles 1

For nearly a period and a half, the team that finished with the fewest points in the NHL last season had the team that won the President's Trophy on their heels.  That all changed on a Brendan Witt penalty, and the Sharks took command on their way to a 4-1 victory.   On to the trick...
 

1. Matt Moulson deflected in a Kyle Okposo shot in the first period for the Isles' only goal.  Moulson now leads the team with four goals.  Okposo has earned a point in all six games this season.

 

2.  Following the Witt penalty, Joe Thornton (first overall pick in 1997) then took over, assisting on two goals before scoring a third.

 

3. John Tavares (first overall pick in 2009) assisted on the Moulson goal, and had a strong game on draws, winning eight of thirteen face-offs.  Tavares, with seven points in his first six NHL appearances,  is the only NHL rookie to be averaging over one point per game.

 

and a few more...

 

4.  The Isles are 0-3-3 to start the season.  It's the second time in club history that they have gone winless in the season's first six games--they went 0-3-4 to open the 1973-74 season.  Toronto, at 0-6-1, is the only other winless team in the league.

 

5.  The Sharks connected on two power-plays in three opportunities.  After holding their first three opponents without a power-play goal, the Isles have allowed four power play goals in the last three games.

 

6.  Moulson's goal was only the second that the Isles have scored in the first period this season.  The Moulson-Tavares-Okposo line have combined for eight of the Islanders' thirteen goals this season.

 

7. Marty Biron made 25 saves for the Isles and remains stuck on 199 NHL wins.  Evgeni Nabokov made eighteen saves in the first period and finished with 31 overall.

 

8. Cornell alumni had reasons to be proud.  Not only did Moulson play for the Big Red, but Ryan Vesce scored his first NHL goal for San Jose.  Vesce is a native of Lloyd Harbor, Long Island but grew up following the Rangers -- he was 12 when Lord Stanley was "bought", and "brought" to Broadway.

 

9.  Going back to last season, the Islanders have lost ten straight (0-7-3), including five in a row on Long Island (0-3-2).

 

10.  The Islanders beat the Sharks in each of San Jose's first five visits to Long Island.  However, since 1996, the Sharks has lost just once in their eight trips to the Coliseum.

 

Up next:  The Hurricanes visit the Coliseum on Wednesday.  Carolina dominated the series last season, winning all four games in regulation, including a 9-0 win on April 7th -- the most one-sided loss in Islander history.

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Rolson and the penalty shots

• Roloson has now stopped seven of ten career penalty shots, including four striaght before tonight.
• Stopped penalty shot (Rob Blake), April 13, 1998.
• Allowed penalty shot goal (Petr Sykora), January 6, 2000.
• Stopped penalty shot (Brad Isbister), February 10, 2002.
• Stopped penalty shot (Pavel Datsyuk), November 15, 2003.
• Allowed penalty shot goal (Ladislav Nagy), October 8, 2005.
• Stopped penalty shot (Niklas Sundstrom), December 17, 2005.
• Stopped penalty shot (Jarome Iginla), October 5, 2006.
• Stopped penalty shot (Rick Nash), November 26, 2007.
• Stopped penalty shot (Jonathan Toews), March 20, 2009.
• Allowed penalty shot goal (Clarke MacArthur), October 16, 2009.

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Stat Trick: Sabres 6, Isles 3

One of these the Isles will win a game.  It just wasn't today.  On to the trick...

 

1.  The Isles drop to 0-2-3 on the young campaign with a 6-3 defeat in Buffalo.  The Isles now have a 9-game losing streak (0-6-3) dating back to last season.  It's the third time in club history that they have opened winless in the season's first five games, going 0-3-4 to open 1973-74 (with a rookie star named Denis Potvin and a rookie coach named Al Arbour) and 0-4-1 to open

1995-96 (with a first year coach named Mike Milbury).

 

2.  Dwayne Roloson hasn't stopped a shot on a shootout this season (one shot hit a post) and now he's allowed a penalty shot goal as Clarke MacArthur scored tonight.  Roloson, who has never beaten the Sabres (0-5-2), allowed four goals on twelve shots before he was pulled.  It was the first time that the Sabres have ever scored on a penalty shot against the Islanders; Kevin Weekes stopped Miro Satan in 2000 in the only other Sabre penalty shot against the Isles.

 

3. Tyler Myers scored his first NHL goal to open the scoring.  Myers was the 12th pick overall in 2008.  Jason Pominville had his 100th career goal to finish the scoring.

 

...and a few more...

 

4.  John Tavares could have had a hat trick, but he did convert on one of the chances for his 3rd goal in five NHL games. He led all players with seven shots.

 

5.  Matt Moulson and Andy Sutton had the other goals for the Isles, who trailed 3-0 and weren't ever able to get closer than two.

 

6. Dumb penalty of the night went to Joel Rechlicz. He crosschecked Jason Pominville after the whistle and it led to ex-Isles Tim Connolly scoring a power-play goal to make it 3-0. It was Rechlicz' only shift of the second period and he didn't play at all in the third period.

 

7.Martin Biron replaced Rolosn had made twenty saves.  Ryan Miller had thirty-six saves for the winning Sabres, who had points from twelve different players.
 

8. Brendan Witt blocked four shots, but otherwise had a rough night, going -3.

 

9. No offense, but.... the Isles have now scored three goals or fewer in sixteen straight games, going back to last season.

 

10. Matt Moulson continues his strong play.  He now has six points in the season's first five games after recording a goal and an assist tonight.

 

Up next:  The Isles return home to face San Jose on Saturday.  The Isles beat San Jose on President's Day 2008 in the Sharks' first visit to Long Island since Bryan Trottier's uniform was retired before the eighth game of the Peter Laviolette era in 2001.

 

Trivia: Besides the Sabres, who is the only other NHL team that Roloson has not beaten in his NHL career?

 

Answer: The Devils.  Roloson is 0-6-2 against New Jersey.

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Wang: LI Press report BOGUS

Wang:  It's Bogus! 

Link to Newsday below:
http://bit.ly/ItsBogus
 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Wang pulls plug?

http://bit.ly/1jJev 
 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick