Newsday: Ratner interested in Isles for Brooklyn

<<Brooklyn Arena developer has eye on Islanders
james.bernstein@newsday.com
December 9, 2009 by JAMES BERNSTEIN
 

Developer Bruce Ratner has just released a report affirming his keen interest in attracting the New York Islanders to his planned Brooklyn Arena in the borough's downtown area.

Ratner's report, prepared by Convention, Sports, Leisure International of Plano, Texas to help sell bonds to build the arena, comes a week after Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi, one of the most prominent backers of the Lighthouse Project, lost his re-election bid to Republican EdMangano.. The Lighthouse was to include a renovated Nassau Coliseum. During the campaign, Mangano was lukewarm about the Lighthouse Project.

Additionally, Lighthouse developers Charles Wang and Scott Rechler have been unhappy with what they see as the slow pace of the approval process for the Lighthouse.
 
"The New York Islanders could potentially become a tenant of the proposed area . . . moving from their current home of Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum," the report states. The area, the report says, is currently designed to house the New Jersey Nets basketball team.

The report was part of a market analysis to help Goldman Sachs sell $500 million worth of bonds to investors to build the arena. The analysis said Brooklyn was "a healthy place" to build a sports arena.

"If built as planned, the arena would need to be retrofitted to accommodate the ice-making abilities the [National Hockey League] requires for its franchises," the report says.

Wang has threatened to move the Islanders, possibly to Kansas City, if the project is not approved.

John Meindl, president of Sportsbrandmedia Inc., a sports marketing company in Rockville Centre, said Rater "sees a window of opportunity" following Suozzi's loss. On his [Ratner's] part it's a brilliant move."

But, Meindl said, the Islanders - a woeful team for years now - might have difficulty attracting fans to downtown Brooklyn from Long Island.
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 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

Only thing standing between Brodeur and shutout record: Mike Dunham

I've mentioned this a couple of times before, but with Brodeur tying Terry Sawchuk's mark of 103 shutouts on Monday night, it came up again.

From USA Today:

<<As Brodeur ties shutout mark, here's one that got away

By Mike Brehm, USA TODAY

New Jersey Devils goalie Martin Brodeur could have been crowned the NHL shutout king Monday instead of tying Terry Sawchuk's record of 103.

But he was denied a shot at a shutout in the 1996-97 season when backup Mike Dunham was inserted in a Nov. 9, 1996, game for 41 seconds in the third period of a 4-0 win against the New York Islanders. Brodeur had taken a shot off the shoulder before the coaching staff made the move. He has shut out the Islanders 10 times in his career.

Dunham needed to make 25 appearances that season or he would have become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. He appeared in 26 games, but a handful were less than a minute, including one of three seconds.

The Devils held onto Dunham's rights and withstood a players association grievance.

Shared shutouts don't count toward a goaltender's personal statistics, so Brodeur didn't get credit. At the time, he expressed disappointment, saying he didn't ask to be pulled.

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 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: Flyers 6, Isles 2.

The Flyers had lost five straight and eight of nine coming into to tonight's game vs. the Isles.  Make it eight out of ten, with both victories over their personal punching bags, the Islanders.  On to the trick:

1.  Mike Richards scored twice in the first period, Jeff Carter added a pair in the second period, and Claude Giroux added two goals in the third period for the Flyers.

2.  John Tavares had both goals for the Islanders, but it was only enough to cut a 4-0 deficit in half.  Tavares, who recorded his second two-goal game, matched his career high with his sixth two point game of the season.  Tavares is showing signs of being a streaky scorer.  He had three goals in his first five games, four goals in a three game stretch in mid November, and four goals in the last five games.  Both of Tavares' goals were scored on the power play, giving him a team leading six pp goals on the season -- only five players in the NHL have scored more power play goals.

3.  According to Versus' post-game show, it was only the fourth time in NHL history a game ended with four players each scoring twice for the only eight goals in the game.  All four games ended with a 6-2 score.

...a few more...

4.  Kimmo Timmonen, Danny Briere and Scott Hartnelll all had two assists for the Flyers while Kyle Okposo had a pair of helpers for the Islanders.

5.  The Flyers scored three power play goals after being blanked in 19 attempts over the previous five games.  Mark Streit was on ice for the other three goals and finished -3.  Tavares' two power play goals matched the Isles' power play success in their previous 37 tries, over nine games.  The Isles did allow a shorthanded goal (to Mike Richards) for the first time this season.

6. Brian Boucher made 22 saves as he beat the Islanders for the second time this season; he's 2-0 vs. the Islanders and 1-5 against the rest of the NHL. Martin Biron made 31 saves in suffering his second defeat to the Flyers this season.  He's allowed six goals in each of his last two games and has lost four straight overall.  It's the first time in his NHL career that he has allowed six goals or more in consecutive appearances.

7.  The Isles have now played 19 of their first 30 (11-12-7) games on the road.  It's the first time in club history that they've opened a season playing 19 of 30 on the road.  They'll make it 20 of 31 tomorrow night, before the schedule flips the other way

8.  Peter Laviolette wins his first game as the Flyer coach, in his third try.  Laviolette is now 168-124-34 in his career.

9.  Jeff Carter continues to terrorize the Islanders.  He now has 31 points (13-18-31) in 30 career games against the Isles.

10.  The Flyers lead the season series 2 games to 0.  They have beaten the Islanders eight straight times at the Wachovia Center (0-7-1) and haven't beaten the Flyers in their last 12 meetings (0-9-3), dating back to a 4-3 Islander win at the Coliseum on February 12, 2008.  

Up next:  The Isles visit Toronto for the second time in less than three weeks on Wednesday night.  Dwayne Roloson faced 61 shots, the most by a winning goalie in the NHL since 1981, in their first meeting.  The Isles are 2-0-2 in their last four games against Toronto.
 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: Lightning 4, Isles 0.

Mike Smith made 30 saves to record his 9th career shutout as the Lightning blanked the Isles 4-0 on Saturday night.  The Isles are winless in Saturday road games in 2009, with one final chance coming on December 26th at Madison Square Garden.  They are 1-15-5 over the last two years in Saturday road games.  On to the trick:

1.  It was clear early that this wasn't going to be the Isles' night.  Ryan Malone dug the puck out of the pads of Dwayne Roloson just 1:35 into play to give Tampa an early lead; it was his 15th goal in 20 career games against the Isles. Steve Downie and Jeff Halpern scored power play goals for Tampa and Viktor Hedman converted a beautiful pass from Vinny Lecavalier for his first NHL goal.  Malone, Downie and Halpern each extended their point streak to three games and Tampa broke a 4-game losing streak (0-3-1).

2.  The Isles had a goal disallowed for a hand pass, and couldn't legally beat Smith.  Special teams let the Isles down. The Bolts scored twice on three power plays, while the Isles failed on six power plays (including 1:21 on a 5-on-3).

3.  The Isles played twice in Tampa in 2009 and didn't score a single goal.  Mike McKenna, who is now playing for the Lowell Devils, blanked the Isles in February for the only shutout of his NHL career.

... a few more...

4. It's the second time this season that the Isles have been shutout; they were blanked in Buffalo last month.  The Isles have been shutout seven times since Scott Gordon became their head coach, with all seven occurring on the road.

5.  It's the first time in 14 games (dating back to the shutout in Buffalo) that the Isles did not lead at any point.

6.  The Isles are now 1-2-0 on this three-game road trip.  They are now twelve games into a stretch of fourteen games where they play only twice at home.  The Isles are 5-5-2 in that stretch, including 4-4-2 on the road.

7.  The Isles drop to 11-11-7 on the season.  It's the 10th time this season that the Isles have been at NHL .500.  The Isles have alternated wins and losses for the past two weeks; they have won consecutive games only once this season --when they won four straight to raise their record from 1-4-5 to 5-4-5.

8. Andrej Mezaros, Martin St. Louis and Vinny Lecavalier each had two assists for the Lightning.  St. Louis played in his 336th consecutive streak -- longest active streak for an Eastern Conference player, and 6th longest current streak overall.  Lecavalier now has 38 points in 39 career games against the Isles.

9.  The top pick in the last two NHL drafts were both held without points. Steven Stamkos is tied for the most goals in the NHL since February 17th while Tavares continues to lead all rookies in both goals and points.

10.  The Lightning lead the series 1-0-0; three meetings remain, with the next scheduled for December 21st on Long Island.  The series will conclude with a pair of games nine days apart in early February.  The Isles have now faced every Eastern Conference team at least once this season.

Up next:  The Isles travel to Philadelphia for the first time this season on Tuesday.  It's the first of two nationally-televised Islander games this season; both of them will be in Philadelphia.  The Flyers have had the Isles' number for some time.  The Isles have lost seven straight at the Wachovia Center (0-6-1) and haven't beaten the Flyers in their last 11 meetings (0-8-3), dating back to a 4-3 Islander win at the Coliseum on February 12, 2008.  The game will be telecast on Versus (unless you have DirecTV, which has still not settled their dispute with the NHL's cable network); Chris King will have a REAL radio broadcast (not a simulcast) on WMJC 94.3FM.

 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: Isles 4, Thrashers 1. Matt Moulson - first career hat trick

Matt Moulson scored three consecutive goals as the Islanders rallied from a 1-0 deficit to defeat Atlanta 4-1 at Philips Arena on Thursday niight.  On to the trick:

1. Vyasckeslav Kozlov scored Atlanta's only tally at 9:01 of the first period, and the Thrasher carried that lead into the intermission.  It was the only goal allowed by Dwayne Roloson, who made 26 saves to win his third straight start and improved to 9-2-5 on the season.  Kozlov also extended his consecutive game streak to a Thrasher-record 227 games.

2.  The rest of the game belonged to Matt Moulson, who tied the game 1:47 into the second period with a goal on a slap shot.  He gave the Islanders the lead with the game-winning goal, on the power play, later in the second period, before completing his hat trick and essentially putting the game out of reach 13:09 into the third.  Those were the only goals allowed by Ondrej Pavelec, who made 23 saves.

3.  John Tavares added an empty-netter with less than a second to play to seal the victory.  Tavares continues to lead all NHL rookies with 11 goals and 22 points.

... a few more...

4. Trent Hunter assisted on Moulson's first two goals, while Kyle Okposo assisted on the second and third tally.  Mark Streit assisted on the third goal and finished +3.

5. Moulson joins Jeff Tambellini as Islanders with hat tricks this season.  League-wide, it was the 22nd hat trick, and each has been in a winning effort for their team.  It's the first time in three seasons that the Islanders have had two hat tricks (Kozlov, Blake and Blake in 2006-07) and the first natural hat trick by an Islander since Jason Blake did so at Madison Square Garden on December 19, 2006.  It's the second hat trick that the Isles have ever had against the Thrashers; Jason Blake turned the trick against Atlanta at the Coliseum in 2003.

6.  The Islander climb back over NHL .500 at 11-10-7.  They have 29 points in 28 games; they didn't reach 29 points last season until an OT loss to the Caps on MLK Day "raised" their record to 12-29-5.

7. With 14 goals, Moulson moves into a tie for 15th place in NHL goal scoring.  He has scored 14 goals in 28 games for the Islanders after scoring just six times in 29 games for Los Angeles over parts of two seasons.  With 14 goals and 8 assists (14-8), he's also in the running for the Cy Young Award - -his last six points have all been goals.  Moulson is only four goals behind Kyle Okposo's total of 18 from last season, when Okposo led the squad the goals.

8.  It was a bad night for another superstar against the Islanders, as Ilya Kovalchuk went -3, although he did had six shots on goal.  Maxim Afinogenov also was -3 and the Islanders snapped his four game point streak.

9.  The Islanders snapped several Thrasher streaks; Atlanta had won 4 straight games, had earned points in five straight, had won all 10 games that they scored first and all seven games that they led after one period.  The Isles also outscored the Thrashers 2-0 in the third period, which is pretty impressive considering Atlanta had outscored their opponents 38-13 in the third period entering the game.

10.  The Isles have won both games of the season series and have now beaten the Thrashers in three straight games.  The Isles now own two regulation wins over Atltanta and only five other regulation wins.  With their win , the Isles moved into 3rd place in the Atlantic, two points ahead of both the Rangers and Flyers.   It's the first time that they have been ahead of the Rangers since the morning of January 24, 2008.  A Ranger win and Islander loss that evening knotted the teams with 54 points.  The Isles had not led the Rangers in points since then.

Uo next:  The Isles wwill play the middle game of this five game road trip on Satruday night in Tampa against the Lightning.  It's the first meeting of the season of the squads and will match #1 overall draft pick John Tavares and #2 overall Viktor Hedman.  The Isles won three out of four last season, including an overtime win in Tampa last October 16 (Trent Hunter had the OT goal).
 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

Today's Daily News: Dewey beats Truman!

http://bit.ly/News120409

John Tavares scores 11th goal, but New York Islanders fall to Atlanta Thrashers

 

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

Moulson

During the broadcast tonight, Howie made mention to Moulson's near hat trick in Boston 2 1/2 weeks ago.  When Moulson didn't deflect what would have been his third goal of the game, it kept alive an Islander streak -- no Islander has ever scored a hat trick in Boston.

Moulson did become the first Islander to ever record a hat trick in Atlanta against the Thrashers tonight--but he's not the first Islander to do so in Atlanta (despite what the Isles' media guide shows in one place). 

Mike Bossy had a hat trick in Atlanta on December 28, 1978.  Bossy scored three goals, all in the second period, in a 10-4 Isles win.  (It's the first of only two road games in Islander history where they've reached double digits.)  It's correct on the all-time hat trick list in the Isles guide, but incorrect on the Atlanta/Calgary page.

Moulson is the second Islander to record a hat trick this season, joining Jeff Tambellini.  It's the first time in three seasons that the Isles have had multiple hat tricks in a season; Bergenheim had the only one last year and Guerin the only one in the season before that.

Moulson's three goals were scored consecutively.  It's the first natural hat trick for the Islanders since Jason Blake did it at Madison Square Garden on December 19, 2006.

According to numbers compiled by Stats, Inc.,  Moulson is the 22nd player to score a hat trick this season.  All 22 have been in winning efforts for their team.

With their win tonight, the Isles move into 3rd place in the Atlantic, two points ahead of both the Rangers and Flyers. They also moved into eighth place in the East.  It's the first time that they have been ahead of the Rangers in the standings in the Gordon era.  You have to go back to the morning of January 24, 2008 to find the last time.  A Ranger win and Islander loss that evening knotted the teams with 54 points.  The Isles had not led the Rangers in points since then.

I'll have more on this win tomorrow.
 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