The Skinny; Leafs 2, Isles 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 61
Leafs 2, Isles 1

Phil Kessel scored an unassisted goal with less than five minutes to play and
James Reimer made 28 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs edged the Islanders 2-1
before 19,459 at Air Canada Center as they handed the Isles only their 4th loss
in twelve games since the All-Star Break. The Leafs are 7-2-2 in their last 11
games.

MacArthur Gives Leafs the Lead
Clark MacArthur scored the only goal of the opening session, beating Al Montoya
midway through the session for his 18th goal of the season. The Islanders lost
Milan Jurcina with a groin injury in the first period after he was hit by Mike
Brown. He did not return.

Moulson Gets It Back
If the first half of the month belonged to Michael Grabner, the second half has
belonged to Matt Moulson. The Islanders' leading goal scorer tallied on the
power play at 8:09 of the second period for his 27th goal of the season and
sixth in the last three games. He is the 12th player in the NHL to score 27
goals this season. Moulson also extended his point streak to four games; Andrew
MacDonald earned the only assist. The Isles have now scored 65 second period
goals, and allowed 65 goals in the middle session as well.

Kessel Wins it
Phil Kessel scored an unassisted tally with 4:41 to play in regulation for his
23rd goal of the season. It would turn out to be his 4th game-winning goal of
the season. Kessel has nine goals in 18 career games against the Islanders. The
Leafs are 7-3-2 in games tied after 40 minutes while the Isles are 5-9-3. 2-1
Final.

A Pair of Misconducts
There were no fighting majors in the game but both Travis Hamonic and Zenon
Konopka drew misconducts. Hamonic now has 87 penalty minutes, which leads all
Islander defensemen by a wide margin while Konopka's 219 penalty minutes lead
the NHL.

Two with Ten
Matt Moulson (10-3-13) joins Grabner (10-5-15) as Islanders with ten goals this
month. John Tavares is 5-11-16 in February.

Trio Grande (with Apologies to Bossy, Trottier and Gillies)
They don't even play on the same line, but Moulson (27), Grabner (25) and
Tavares (23) have combined for 75 goals – one of the highest totals for three
teammates this season:
· Vancouver: Kesler/D Sedin/Burrows 82 (entering Tuesday game with
Montreal)
· Anaheim:Perry/Ryan/Selanne 77
· Philadelphia: Briere/Carter/Giroux 76
· Isles: Moulson/Grabner/Tavares 75
· Tampa: Stamkos/St Louis/Lecavalier 73
The three have combined for 4 hat tricks (2 for Tavares, 1 for Grabner and
Moulson). It's the first time that the Isles have had four hat tricks in the
same season since they had five hat tricks in the 2002-03 season.

Streak Stopper
By scoring only once, the Isles end a 9-game streak in which they had scored at
least three goals in each game. It's their longest such streak since they
scored at least three goals in 10 straight games from February 27 to March 17,
1994.

Strange Stats of the Night
The loss is the 1,300th in Islander history (1306-1300-415). The loss ends an
Islander three-game road winning streak, with all three wins coming in either
overtime or a shootout.

Border Crossing
This was the final game outside of the US for the Islanders this season. The
Islanders were 3-4-0 in Canada this year, with all three wins coming in overtime
or shootouts.

Home and Road
The Leafs improve to 26-27-7, and are 14-11-6 at home.
The Isles are 23-31-7, and are 11-17-3 on the road. They are 19-21-4 under Jack
Capuano, including 18-13-2 in the last 33. The Isles are 8-4-0 in February with
two games to play; it's their first 8-win month since November, 2008.

In the Nets
James Reimer made 28 saves to beat the Islanders for the 2nd time this season
and improve to 9-4-2.
Al Montoya made 23 saves, but drops to 3-1. He has allowed only six goals on
110 shots in his four appearances (1.41 GAA, 94.5 save percentage). He is 5-2
in seven career starts and 6-2 overall.

Power Plays
The Isles went 1-6 on the power play while the Leafs were 0-3.

In the Circle
Continuing a recent trend, the Islanders struggled in the faceoff circle, as
they won 21 of 55 (38%) face-offs. Zenon Konopka won 6 of 10 for the Isles but
Josh Bailey went 0-7.

Missing Men
Mike Mottau, Trent Hunter, Kevin Poulin and Mark Eaton are out for the season.
Mark Streit, Doug Weight, Rick DiPietro, and Jeremy Colliton remain out. Radek
Martinek missed the game with an upper body injury. Trevor Gillies served the
six game of his nine-game suspension. The Isles have lost 410 games to injury
(the equivalent of five players missing all 82 games) and 14 games to suspension
this season. Rob Schremp was a healthy scratch.

Ironmen
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 143 games since
joining the team last season. Zenon Konopka is the only other Isle to have
played every game this season; his 73-game streak includes the final 12 games
last season for Tampa Bay. Travis Hamonic has now played 41 NHL games (all
consecutive); he has the longest consecutive game streak on defense for the
Isles.

Season Series Stats
The Leafs lead the season series two games to one, and five points to two, with
the teams splitting the season series in Toronto. The final meeting of the
season series will be at the Coliseum on March 8th.

Happy Anniversary
With Jiggs filling in for Howie this week, it seems appropriate to have an Eddie
Westfall anniversary fact.
36 years ago today (February 22, 1975): Ed Westfall scores the second (and
final) hat trick of his Islander career as the Isles beat Montreal 7-6 at the
Forum. It's the Isles' first-ever win in Montreal and their only win there in
regular season play in their first six seasons. Billy MacMillian scored the
winning goal, breaking a 6-6 tie with 5:25 to play. Buried in the agate of that
game—minor penalties to David Lewis and Billy Smith at 7:52 of the second period
for an altercation with current Ranger general manager Glen Sather (who received
a double minor on the play).
All-time, the Isles are 10-4-3 on this date with their loss in Toronto ending a
five game unbeaten streak on this date (4-0-1) that went all the way back to
1990!

Up Next
Thursday, February 24 @ Philadelphia 7:00pm
[MSG+ (Subway Islanders Game Night at 6:30), WRHU 88.7FM]
The road trip concludes on Thursday in Philadelphia. The Wachovia Center has
been an unfriendly place for the Islanders in recent years; Scott Gordon never
won there (0-6-1) and the Isles are 0-10-1 in their last 11 visits since a win
on the penultimate day of the season set up the Easter Epic in 2007.

The Flyers have won all three games this season, but both Coliseum meetings have
been one-goal games. The Flyers defeated the Islanders 6-1 in Philadelphia in
October with Frans Nielsen's shorthanded penalty shot goal being the only
Islander tally.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since
1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various
sources.

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

Grabner ice-time

Grabner led all Isles forwards with 21:34 of ice-time, including 5:54 of power
play time. Grabner has only 37:10 of pp time on the entire season.

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

The Skinny: Isles 5, Florida 1

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 60
Isles 5, Panthers 1

For the second straight game, it was the "Matt and Montoya Show". Matt Moulson
took over the club lead by tallying three times for his second career hat trick,
and Al Montoya made 20 saves and came within 9:26 of a second consecutive
shutouts as the Islanders beat the Florida Panthers before the third-largest
crowd of the season (13,729) at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The
Isles improve to 8-3-0 since the All-Star Break as they beat the Panthers for
the first time this season.

Two for Moulson in the First
Moulson scored two goals 7 ½ minutes apart in the opening session. Travis
Hamonic earned assists on both goals, while PA Parenteau and John Tavares also
had helpers. Less than a minute after Moulson's second goal, the Panthers'
Stephen Weiss was ejected for a vicious elbow against Radek Martinek.

Martinek Strikes Back
Martinek responded to the elbow by scoring with just three seconds left on the
major power play to give the Isles a 3-goal advantage early in the second
period. Josh Bailey upped the lead to 4-0 at 6:41 of the session when he beat
Tomas Vokoun.

Santorelli Breaks the Shutout
Midway through the 3rd period, Mike Santorelli scored his 17th goal of the
season to break Montoya's shutout. Montoya had not allowed a goal in his first
110:34 as an Islander starter.

MatTrick
Matt Moulson hit the empty net at 17:23 of the third to complete his hat trick
and take over the club lead in goals with 26, one more than Michael Grabner and
three more than John Tavares. The Isles are the only NHL team that has three
players with at least 23 goals. Moulson's 26 goals leave him tied for 12th in
the NHL. 5-1 Final.

Hamonic Drops the Gloves
Travis Hamonic was ruled to be the instigator of a fight with Steve Bernier in
the second period. Hamonic, who finished with 21 penalty minutes, now has 77
penalty minutes, which leads all Islander defensemen by a wide margin.

Strange Stat of the Game
Matt Moulson and John Tavares have combined for 49 goals this season after
combining for 54 a year ago. The 103 goals over two seasons are eight more than
a more heralded set of linemates (Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews) have managed
for the Hawks in the same period. (Thanks to Islander fan Neil Mairs for the
idea.)

Trio Grande (with Apologies to Bossy, Trottier and Gillies)
They don't even play on the same line, but Moulson (26), Grabner (25) and
Tavares (23) have combined for 74 goals – one of the highest totals for three
teammates this season:
· Vancouver: Kesler/D Sedin/Burrows 82
· Anaheim:Perry/Ryan/Selanne 77
· Philadelphia: Briere/Carter/Giroux 75
· Isles: Moulson/Grabner/Tavares 74
· Tampa: Stamkos/St Louis/Lecavalier 73
The three have combined for 4 hat tricks (2 for Tavares, 1 for Grabner and
Moulson). It's the first time that the Isles have had four hat tricks in the
same season since they had five hat tricks in the 2002-03 season.

It's Been a Long Time Since…
…the Isles had such a lengthy streak of scoring at least three goals in a game.
Since being blanked in Pittsburgh on February 2nd, the Isles have scored at
least three goals in each of their last nine games. The last time the Isles
managed at least three goals in 9 straight games came in a ten game streak from
February 27 to March 17, 1994.
…the Isles allowed only one goal in a two-game stretch. It last happened on
October 31-November 2, 2009 when the Isles shutout Buffalo 5-0 and beat Edmonton
3-1.

Growing Up Together
The Islanders have had four players record their 100th career point, all of them
in Islander uniforms, this season.
· Blake Comeau leads the way. His assist gives him 110 points
(47-63-110)
· Frans Nielsen's assist gives him 107 points (36-71-107)
· John Tavares' assists gives him 106 points (47-59-106). He is the
second youngest player in Islander history (Bryan Trottier) to record 100 career
points.

· Kyle Okposo has 105 points (41-64-105)
Two injured players (Trent Hunter and Mark Streit) are the only others on the
current roster to have recorded 100 points in an Islander uniform.

Passing Duchene
With his two assists tonight, Tavares now has 106 career points, four more than
Matt Duchene. No other member of the 2009 draft class has more than 60 NHL
points. He is 5-11-16 in the 11 games since the All-Star Break.

Home and Road
The Isles are 23-30-7, and are 12-14-4 at home. They are 19-20-4 under Jack
Capuano, including 18-12-2 in the last 32. The Isles are 8-3-0 in February with
three games to play; it's their first 8-win month since November, 2008.
The Panthers fall to 25-27-7, and are 13-16-1 on the road.

In the Nets
Al Montoya improves to 3-0 on the season, making 20 saves. He has allowed only
four goals on 85 shots in his four appearances (1.23 GAA, 95.3 save
percentage). Montoya has allowed only three goals in his five career wins as a
starter. He is 5-1 in six career starts and 6-1 overall. The 21 shots allowed
by the Isles are their fewest allowed at home since allowing 20 to New Jersey on
January 18, 2010.
Tomas Vokoun made 32 saves for Florida, including 14 in the first period, when
the Isles outshot Florida 16-3.

Power Plays
The Isles went 1-5 on the power play while the Panthers were also 1-5.

In the Circle
The Isles won 24 of 47 (51%) face-offs. Zenon Konopka won 9 of 14 for the
Isles.

Missing Men
Mike Mottau, Trent Hunter, Kevin Poulin and Mark Eaton are out for the season.
Mark Streit, Doug Weight, Rick DiPietro, and Jeremy Colliton remain out. Trevor
Gillies served the fifth game of his nine-game. The Isles have lost 401 games
to injury and 13 games to suspension this season. With Matt Martin back in the
lineup, Bruno Gervais and Rob Schremp were healthy scratches.

Ironmen
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 142 games since
joining the team last season. Zenon Konopka is the only other Isle to have
played every game this season; his 72-game streak includes the final 12 games
last season for Tampa Bay. Travis Hamonic has now played 40 NHL games (all
consecutive); he has the longest consecutive game streak on defense for the
Isles.

Season Series Stats
The Panthers still lead the season series two games to one, with the teams
splitting the season series on Long Island. The final meeting of the season
series will be in Sunrise, Florida on March 19th.

Happy Anniversary
17 years ago today (February 21, 1994): Ron Hextall became only the second
goaltender in Islander history to record consecutive shutouts as he blanked
Washington 4-0.
All-time, the Isles are 9-11-0 on this date. They have won their last five on
February 21st (all at home), by a combined score of 18-3.

Up Next
Tuesday, February 22 @ Toronto 7:00pm
[MSG+ (Subway Islanders Game Night at 6:30), WRHU 88.7FM]
The Islanders head to Toronto for the first game of a two-game road trip. It's
the third meeting of the teams this season; John Tavares scored in overtime to
give the Isles a 2-1 win in Toronto back on October 18th; the Leafs defeated the
Isles 5-3 two weeks ago at the Coliseum in the game in which Kevin Poulin
suffered a season-ending injury in warm-ups.

The Leafs enter the game four points ahead of the Islanders.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since
1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various
sources.

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

The Skinny: Isles 3, Los Angeles 0

"The Skinny"

By Eric Hornick

Game 59
Isles 3, Kings 0

Al Montoya made 35 saves, including 17 in the second period, to become the first

goaltender in Islander history to record a shutout in his first start with the
team; Frans Nielsen scored a shorthanded goal and Matt Moulson potted two goals
against his brother-in-law as the Islanders blanked the Los Angeles Kings 3-0
before a crowd of 13,119 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Isles'
win is their fifth in six games, as they hand Los Angeles their first regulation

loss since January 20th, ending an 11-game King streak (8-0-3).

An Early Shorty
Kyle Okposo took a hooking penalty 4:04 into play, but it was the Islanders who
would score on the ensuing power play as Nielsen converted a pass from Michael
Grabner for his 7th goal of the season. It's the league-leading 5th shorty for
Nielsen, who has scored more shorthanded goals than any Islander since Shawn
Bates potted six in 2002-03. Nielsen, who also shares the league lead in
shorthanded points, is two shorties away from the Islander club record, set 30
years ago by Bob Bourne.

Bragging Rights
Matt Moulson hit the post in the first period, but beat Jonathan Quick in both
the 2nd and 3rd periods for the game's other goals. Moulson is now tied for 2nd
place on the team with 23 goals; no other NHL team has three players with at
least 23 goals. Linemates PA Parenteau and John Tavares assisted on both goals.

Montoya Perfect
Al Montoya made 35 saves to match his uniform and record the shutout. It was
Montoya's 5th NHL start and first since April 9, 2009. Montoya, who also
recorded a shutout in his first NHL start, has allowed only two goals in his
four career wins as a starter. He is 4-1 in five career starts and 5-1
overall. 3-0 Final.

Konopka keeps on Fighting
Zenon Konopka was involved in the game's only fight, battling with Kyle
Clifford. The NHL's most penalized player now has 205 minutes. He is the first
Islander since Rich Pilon (291 in 1997-98) to reach 200 and the first forward
since Mick Vukota (237 in 1993-94). Konopka is only the 6th player in Islander
history to post a 200 penalty minute season (Ken Baumgartner - 2x, Brian
Curran-1x, Garry Howatt-3x, Pilon-2x and Vukota-6x).

Strange Stat of the Game
It's the second time this season that the attendance was 13,119. The same
attendance was announced for the January 17th game against New Jersey.

It's Been a Long Time Since…
…the Isles had such a lengthy streak of scoring at least three goals in a game.

Since being blanked in Pittsburgh on February 2nd, the Isles have scored at
least three goals in each of their last eight games. The last time the Isles
managed at least three goals in 8 straight games came March 11-25, 2004. They
have not had a longer streak since scoring at least three goals in 10 straight
games from February 27 to March 17, 1994.

Growing Up Together
The Islanders have had four players record their 100th career point, all of them

in Islander uniforms, this season.
· Blake Comeau leads the way with 109 points (47-62-109)
· Frans Nielsen's goal gives him 106 points (36-70-106)
· Kyle Okposo has 105 points (41-64-105)
· John Tavares' two assists tonight also give him 105 points (47-58-105).

He is the second youngest player in Islander history (Bryan Trottier) to record
100 career points.
Two injured players (Trent Hunter and Mark Streit) are the only others on the
current roster to have recorded 100 points in an Islander uniform.

Passing Duchene
With his two assists tonight, Tavares now has 105 career points, one more than
Matt Duchene. No other member of the 2009 draft class has more than 60 NHL
points. Tavares recorded his 5th multi-point game of February. He is 5-10-15
in the 10 games since the All-Star Break.

50-50
John Tavares now has 51 points (23-28-51) on the season. He is now tied-21st in

the league in both goals and points. Tavares is the first Islander to have
consecutive 50 point seasons since Alexei Yashin, Miro Satan and Jason Blake all

did so in 2005-06 and 2006-07. He is the first Islander to do so in his rookie
and sophomore seasons since Vladimir Malakhov did so in 1992-93 and 1993-94.

Home and Road
The Isles are 22-30-7, and are 11-14-4 at home. They are 18-20-4 under Jack
Capuano, including 17-12-2 in the last 31. The Isles are 7-3-0 in February with

four games to play; it's their first 7-win month since January, 2010.
The Kings fall to 32-23-4, and are 15-14-3 on the road. The Kings have one game

left on their lengthy road trip, after which they will play 14 of their final 22

at Staples Center. The loss ended a 9-game Kings point streak on the road,
which was the second longest streak in team history.

In the Nets
Al Montoya records the shutout in his first start as an Islander, improving to
2-0 on the season. He has allowed only three goals on 65 shots in his three
appearances (1.33 GAA, 95.4 save percentage). It's the Islanders' second
shutout of the season (DiPietro shut out New Jersey on November 26th). The
Isles' last seven shutouts have been recorded by six different goaltenders.
The Isles finally beat Jonathan Quick, who had allowed only 5 goals in beating
the Isles four straight times. Quick is 26-15-2 this season.

Power Plays
The Isles went 0-2 on the power play while the Kings were 0-3. The Isles scored

shorthanded for the 9th time this season, including three times in the last five

games and four times in the last eight games. It's the first time since early
in the 2008/09 season that the Isles have scored shorthanded goals with such
frequency.

In the Circle
The Isles won 28 of 57 (49%) face-offs. John Tavares won 9 of his first 10 and
ten of 14 overall. Michal Handzus won 10 of 15 for Los Angeles.

Missing Men
Mike Mottau, Trent Hunter, Kevin Poulin and Mark Eaton are out for the season.
Mark Streit, Doug Weight, Rick DiPietro, and Jeremy Colliton remain out. Trevor
Gillies served the fourth game of his nine-game suspension while Matt Martin
served the final game of his four-game suspension. The Isles have lost 393
games to injury and twelve games to suspension this season. With Ty Wishart back

in the lineup, Bruno Gervais was a healthy scratch.

Ironmen
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 141 games since
joining the team last season. Zenon Konopka is the only other Isle to have
played every game this season; his 71-game streak includes the final 12 games
last season for Tampa Bay. Travis Hamonic has now played 39 NHL games (all
consecutive); he has the longest consecutive game streak on defense for the
Isles.

Season Series Stats
The teams split the season series, with each team winning on home-ice. The
Isles recorded their first win at home over Los Angeles since Tommy Salo blanked

the Kings 1-0 on October 27, 1998; Joe Sacco had the game's only goal. The
Isles had gone 0-5-1 in their last six games against the Kings at home, as well
as 0-5-2 in their last seven vs LA overall. In the Isles' last win over Los
Angeles (3-2 in LA on February 15, 2003), Garth Snow was in goal and Peter
Laviolette was the Islander coach.

Happy Anniversary
32 years ago today (February 19, 1979): Mike Bossy records his 100th career
goal, in only his 129th game to set an NHL record for the fastest 100 goals as
the Islanders pounded the Kings 8-3.
All-time, the Isles are 12-4-0 on this date, including shutout wins in 1983,
1994, 2003 and now 2011.

Up Next
Monday, February 21 Florida @ Islanders 1:00pm
[MSG+ (Subway Islanders Game Night at 12:30), WRHU 88.7FM]
It's a President's Day matinee as the Islanders host the Panthers in their final

Monday game of the season (3-3-0). The teams have met twice before this season
and the Panthers have won both games. Back on October 23rd, three John Tavares
goals erased Florida leads, but Radek Dvorak had the game-winner in what was the

first game of a 14-game Islander winless streak. The Panthers also beat the
Isles, 4-1 at the Coliseum in the 12th game of that streak.
The Panthers beat Tampa in a shootout on Saturday, and will head to Long Island
six points ahead of the Islanders.

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since
1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various
sources.
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

The Skinny: Boston 6, Isles 2

"The Skinny"

 

By Eric Hornick

 

Game 58

Bruins 6, Isles 3

 

Boston scored 5 goals on 18 shots against Nathan Lawson as they rode a fast start to a 6-3 win over the Islanders before a crowd of 12,478 at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.  The Bruins' win breaks both their three-game losing streak and the Islanders' four games winning streak.

Down 3 in the First

The Bruins have been a good first period team all season, and they grabbed a 3-goal lead before the Islanders even had two shots on goal. Blake Wheeler's wrister eluded Lawson just 1:50 into play, Mark Recchi deflected a puck in off his skate and Gregory Campbell scored on a tip-in as the Bruins led 3-0 by the 9:05 mark.  Boston is now +21 in the first period while the Isles are -19.  It's the 38^th time this season that the Isles have allowed the opening goal (7-27-4).  Boston has won all 19 games that they have had a 3-goal lead this season.

Recchi's goal was his 574th career tally, passing Islander legend Mike Bossy for 19^th place all-time. Recchi, the active leader in goals, assists, points and games, scored his first goal since turning 43 earlier this month.  Chris Chelios was the last player to score a goal beyond his 43^rd birthday, on March 20, 2008.  Mark Messier was the last forward to score a goal after age 43, doing so one day Igor Larionov became the only other forward since at least 1988 to do so.

Lots of Goals in the 2nd

It seems like everything was going in early in the second.  David Krejeci made it 4-0 Boston 55 seconds into the period but John Tavares got the Isles on the board 55 seconds later.  Tyler Seguin scored at 2:48 to chase Lawson, but Josh Bailey scored for the second straight game and extended his point streak to four games, at 5:36.  Blake Comeau assisted on both Islander goals in the period; he has points in all three games since recovering from his concussion (2-2-4).

The Isles were hit with a too many men on the ice penalty at 7:10; it was their 10^th bench minor on the season – only Tampa (11) has more.  Milan Lucic made them pay with a power play tally seven seconds later.  The Isles carried the offense for most of the middle period, recording 21 shots, but trailed 6-2 after 40 minutes.

Tavares Tallies Again

 John Tavares had a chance to get the Isles within three early in the third but slid the puck across the streak; later in the session he beat Tuukka Rask for his second goal of the night.  Tavares now has 23 goals on the season, one shy of his rookie year total.  Alas, the Isles could get no closer.  6-3 Final.

Grabner Stopped

Michael Grabner, who leads all rookies in goals with 25, had his six-game goal scoring streak stopped, despite recording four shots on goal. The streak was the longest by an Islander rookie since Patrick Flatley in 1984-85 (also six games) and matched Detroit's Daniel Cleary for the longest streak in the NHL this season. Grabner's streak is the longest by a rookie since Evgeny Malkin had a 6-game stretch in 2006-07. 

Since January 15th, Grabner has 16 goals in 16 games, by far the most of any player in the NHL (Entering play Thursday, no one else had more than nine).

Milestone for Konopka

Zenon Konopka was involved in the game's only fight, battling with Adam McQuaid.  Konopka received seven penalty minutes on the play, giving the NHL's leader an even 200 minutes. He is the first Islander since Rich Pilon (291 in 1997-98) to reach 200 and the first forward since Mick Vukota (237 in 1993-94).  Konopka is only the 6th player in Islander history to post a 200 penalty minute season (Ken Baumgartner - 2x, Brian Curran-1x, Garry Howatt-3x, Pilon-2x and Vukota-6x).

Strange Stat of the Game

Micheal Haley out-hit the Bruins…all by himself.  He had 9 of the Isles' 21 hits; Boston was credited with just four hits.

It's Been a Long Time Since…

…the Isles had such a lengthy streak of scoring at least three goals in a game.  Since being blanked in Pittsburgh on February 2^nd, the Isles have scored at least three goals in each of their last seven games.   The Last time the Isles managed at least three goals in 7 straight games came March 11-25, 2004, when they scored at least three goals in eight straight games.

Growing Up Together

The Islanders have had four players record their 100^th career point, all of them in Islander uniforms, this season.

·        Blake Comeau leads the way.  His 2 assists tonight gives him 109 points (347-62-109)

·        Frans Nielsen has 105 points (35-70-105)

·        Kyle Okposo also has 105 points (41-64-105)

·        John Tavares' two goals  tonight gives him 103 points (47-56-103)

Two injured players (Trent Hunter and Mark Streit) are the only others on the current roster to have recorded 100 points in an Islander uniform. 

Passing Duchesne

With his two goals tonight, Tavares now has 103 career points, one more than Matt Duchesne.  No other member of the 2009 draft class has more than 60 NHL points.  Tavares, who scored eight goals over eight games from December 31-January 15, now has five goals in his last five games.

Home and Road

The Bruins are 32-19-7, including a sparking 17-7-4 record on the road.

The Isles are 21-30-7, and are 10-14-4 at home.  They are 17-20-4 under Jack Capuano, including 16-12-2 in the last 30.  The Isles are 6-3-0 in February with five games to play; it matches their most wins in any month this season (6-7-1 in December).

In the Nets

Nathan Lawson stopped 13 of 18 shots before being chased early in the second period.  Al Montoya allowed only one goal over the final 37:12, making 15 stops.  Each of his two appearances for the Islanders has come in relief; he has allowed three goals on 30 shots in those two games.

Tuukka Rask improved to 6-11-1 for Boston, including 2-3 in five appearances since January 13^th.

Power Plays

The Isles went 0-1 on the power play while the Bruins were 1-2. 

In the Circle

The Isles had another difficult night in the circle as they won just 17 of 53 (32%) face-offs.  No Islander center won more than he lost; Patrice Bergeron won 13 of 18 for Boston.

Missing Men

Mike Mottau, Trent Hunter, Kevin Poulin and Mark Eaton are out for the season. Mark Streit, Doug Weight, Rick DiPietro, and Jeremy Colliton remain out. Trevor Gillies and Matt Martin served the third of their nine and four game suspensions, respectively.  The Isles have lost 386 games to injury and ten games to suspension this season. With Bruno Gervais back in the lineup, Ty Wishart was a healthy scratch.

Ironmen

Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 140 games since joining the team last season.  Zenon Konopka is the only other Isle to have played every game this season; his 70-game streak includes the final 12 games last season for Tampa Bay. Travis Hamonic has now played 38 NHL games (all consecutive); he has the longest consecutive game streak on defense for the Isles.  

Season Series Stats          

The Bruins lead the season series two games to none (and four points to 0). The Isles are 2-9-1 in their last against Boston, including 1-5-0 at home.  The teams will meet again on Long Island on March 11^th before finishing the season series in Boston in early April.

Happy Anniversary

19 years ago today (February 17, 1992):   Tom Fitzgerald scored in overtime to give the Isles a 5-4 win over Winnipeg in the first-ever President's Day matinee at the Coliseum.  It's the only one of his 25 goals as an Islander to be scored in overtime.

 All-time, the Isles are 5-10-3 on this date, going 0-2-2 in four games since a 1999 win in Pittsburgh.

Up Next

Saturday, February 19 Los Angeles @ Islanders 7:00pm

It has been a long time since the Islanders beat the Kings – Eight years and four days (as of Saturday).  Los Angeles, who defeated the Isles 5-1 in November in Scott Gordon's final game, has won six straight over the Isles; New York is 0-5-2 in the last seven against the Kings.

Matt Moulson's brother-in-law (Jonathan Quick) has been in the nets for each of the last four meetings of the teams, and has won them all.

[MSG+ (Subway Islanders Game Night at 6:30), WRHU 88.7FM]

Eric Hornick has been the statistician on Islander home game telecasts since 1982. Information contained in "The Skinny" has been gathered from various sources.

              

 

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

Butch Goring; "The Seed"

A couple of people asked me about the nickname Denis ("Bear") Potvin used for Butch Goring on Tuesday night.

This story, from the archives of the LA Times explains: 

articles.latimes.com/1985-10-22/sports/sp-12424_1



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

Most goals by an Islander rookie; More Grabner Stuff

I've been mentioning for the last week or so that Grabner is closing in on
Islander royalty. With his next goal, he will have more goals than any Islander
rookie since Mike Bossy had 53 in 1977-78.

He will also have more goals than all but three rookies in Islander history.
While Bossy is safe, perhaps Harris or even Trottier is not.

1. 53 Bossy 1977-78
2. 32 Trottier 1975-76
3. 28 Harris 1972-73

T4 25 Gillies 1974-75
T4 25 Volek 1988-89
T4 25 Hunter 2003-04
T4 25 Grabner 2009-10

Grabner will be looking to extend his goal streak to 7 games on Thursday. No
player in the NHL has had a 7-game streak this season. (Dan Cleary is the only
other player who has had a 6-game streak this season.) Steven Stamkos had the
only 7-game streak last season (Feb 13-Mar 11), scoring 9 goals in the process.
Alex Ovechkin was the last rookie to have a 7-game streak (2005-06).

Since the lockout, Washington's Mike Green is the only player to have a steak
longer than 7 games (8 games from 1/27-2/14/09) which would mean a Grabner goal
on Thursday would give him a share of the longest streak by a forward since the
lockout.

Grabner is also looking to tie Mike Bossy's club rookie record of 7, set
11/13-11/26/77. Bossy scored 11 goals in the 7 games. While Elias noted that
he did it twice that season, his other seven game streak, from 2/2-2/25/78, was
a streak in which he scored in 7 straight games that he played -- however he
missed four games during that stretch, which under current scoring rules would
have interrupted the streak.

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