Rolston ties Yashin... and Glen Murray too!

Career goals:

141. Phil Housley 338

142. Brian Rolston 337

142. Alexei Yashin 337

142. Glen Murray  337

 

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

Big night for Strome as Team OHL rallies to beat Team Russia

Ryan Strome broke a 6-6 tie with an even strength goal, and then added a power play tally as Team OHL rallied from a 6-4 third period deficit to defeat Team Russia 10-7 in game 3 of the Subway Super Series.  Strome also had a first period assist.

The Isles #1 draft pick this past June also has at least one point in all 11 games that he has played in since returning to Junior.

This was the first of two games between the OHL Stars and Russia.  The Russian team beat the QMJHL squad twice (once in a lengthy shootout) and have two games to play with the WHL next week.

 

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

Late note on PA's Late Goal

From Saturday:

<<

LATE TIEBREAKING GOAL BY P.A. PARENTEAU

From Elias: The Islanders, who had scored only two goals in their previous three home games, overcame a 2-0 deficit at the end of the first period to beat the Capitals, 5-3, at Nassau Coliseum. P.A. Parenteau scored the game-winner for the Islanders when he broke a 3-3 tie with 1:46 left in the third period. It was the first time that an Islanders player scored a tiebreaking goal in the final two minutes of the third period since Feb. 19, 2007, when Mike Sillinger did so at the 19:33 mark against Pittsburgh in Uniondale.>>

 

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

The Skinny: Bruins 6, Isles 2

"The Skinny"
 By Eric Hornick

Game 12
Boston 6, Isles 2

Nathan Horton scored two goals and added one assist while Tuukka Rask made 24 saves as the Stanley Cup Champion Bruins jumped on the Islanders early and then went on to a 6-2 victory
before a sellout crowd of 17,565 at TD Garden in Boston.

Another Slow Start
For the fourth straight game, the Islanders fell behind early as Benoit Pouliot's first goal in 33
games beat Evgeni Nabakov just 1:32 into play.  It's the third time in that stretch that the opposition has scored on their first shot of the game.  Matt Moulson's third goal of the season evened matters before the first TV timeout, but the Bruins would respond with two goals in a 29 second span later in the session.  Nathan Horton scored on a power play and then Tyler Seguin chased Nabakov to the bench with his 8th goal of the season.  John Tavares and Michael Grabner connected on a nice play with 1:24 left in the session to cut the deficit to 3-2, but that was as close as the Isles would get. The Bruins outshot the Isles 15-8 in the opening session.

Strong 2nd Period for Montoya
Al Montoya had not been in a game for over two weeks, but he relieved Nabakov late in the first period and then was a major factor in the 2nd period, stopping all 16 Bruins shots.  Rask made 12 saves of his own in the scoreless middle period.

All B's in the 3rd
The Bruins scored twice in a 39 second span early in the third period to essentially put the game out of reach.  Horton assisted on a Milan Lucic goal before scoring one of his own.  The goals came shortly after Bruins forward Daniel Paille left the game after taking a Steve Staios slap shot in his face.   David Krejci hit the empty net at 17:12 to remove all doubt.  6-2 Final.

Home and Road
The Islanders are 4-6-2 overall and 0-3-1 on the road.  The Isles are 0-6-1 in their last seven on the road, dating back to a 5-2 win in Tampa last March 22nd.
The Bruins are 6-7-0 overall and 4-5-0 at home. The Champs have won three straight  (their longest regular season win streak since winning seven straight last Feb 17-March 3) and now have four players (Seguin, Lucic, Patrice Bergeron and Zdeno Chara) with point streaks of at least four games.

Pacesetters
With one point in the first four road games, the Isles are 4 points behind last season's pace; with 10
points in 12 games, the Isles are even with last season's pace.

In the Nets
Evgeni Nabakov allowed three goals on 12 shots in his first game action since removing himself before the shootout in Pittsburgh 11 days ago as he falls to 1-3-0.  Al Montoya stopped 22 of 24 in relief.
Tuukka Rask made 24 saves for the Bruins for his first win since April 2nd. He is 1-3-0 this season, and 4-1-0 in his career against the Isles.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-4 on the power play while the Bruins were 1-1.   The Isles are now 7-42 on the power play and 32-39 on the penalty kill this season. They are 2-17 in the last five games on the power play and 8-13 in the same stretch on the penalty kill.

They Tweeted It 
@NESN "Tuukka Rask Gets First Win of Season, As Bruins Finally Come Up Big in Front of Young Goaltender"

Head of the Class
Tavares' assist on the Grabner goal is his 134th career point, one more than fellow-2009 draft pick Matt Duchene.  No other player in that draft is anywhere close.   Tavares has scored 8 of the Islanders' 25 goals this season (32.0%), by far the highest percentage of a team's goals of any team in the NHL.

The Hit Leader
Matt Martin fought AdamMcQuaid after the early Bruin goal and then added 4 hits to extend his
NHL-leading total to 56.  Blake Comeau is 2nd on the club in hits; he now has 26.

Hitting the Empty Net
There have been 6 empty-net goals in the first 12 Islander games (2 for and 4 against).

Leading Ice Men
Mark Streit led the Isles with 23:52.  Dennis Seidenberg led all players with 24:30.

101 to Go
The Isles have scored 9,899 goals in their history (excluding 39 shootout winners), leaving the club 101 shy of 10,000.

Still Searching
The Isles have two regular forwards (Blake Comeau and Jay Pandolfo) who have yet to record a point.

25 in 12
The Isles have scored 25 goals in the first 12 games; only Butch Goring's 1999-2000 club (24 goals in 12 games) scored fewer.  The Isles have scored 16 goals in their four wins (4.00 per game) and nine goals in their other eight games (0-6-2; 1.13 per game).

Best D since the Lockout
The Isles have allowed only 34 goals (does not include 1 in a shootout) in 12 games (2.83 goals per
game).  It's the fewest goals that the Isles have allowed in the first 12 games since 2003-04, when they allowed 29.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 20 of 49 (41%) face-offs.  No Islander center won more than he lost; Chris Kelly won 6 of 9 for the Bruins as he played his 500th NHL game.

Missing Men
Mike Mottau and Rick DiPietro were scratched. Nino Niederreiter is in Bridgeport on a conditioning
assignment.  The Isles have two players on injured reserve: Rhett Rakhshani and Mark Katic.  The Isles have lost 50 man-games to injury so far this season.

Ironmen
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 176 games since joining the team. Travis Hamonic has now played 74 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 one game to none (two points to none).   The series will continue at the Coliseum on November 19th when Original Islander Captain (and two-time Bruin Cup-winner) Ed Westfall will be inducted into the Isles Hall of Fame. The other two games of the season series will be played in March.

The Isles have lost three straight in Boston and are 3-11-1 in their last 15 games against the Bruins.

Happy Anniversary
11 years ago tonight: November 7, 2000.  On the night George W. Bush is elected President, the Islanders get two goals from Brad Isbister and defeat Nashville 2-1.   While the game is not
particularly memorable, Howie Rose's call, interspersing election results with the play-by-play certainly was.

Overall the Islanders are now 6-7-2 on this date, including a Rich Kromm overtime winner vs. Detroit in 1987.

On The Farm
Bridgeport dropped a 3-2 decision to St. John's on Sunday, dropping their record to 6-5-1-0.   The Sound Tigers are off until Friday, when they will begin a 3-game in 3-day road trip with a Veterans Day matinee in Worcester.  Justin DiBenedetto (8-4-12) continues to lead Bridgeport in goals and points, while David Ullstrom is second in goals with 7. Casey Cizikas and Tim Wallace share the club lead in assists and are tied for second in points with identical 3-7-10 totals; defenseman Dylan Reese also has seven assists.  Anders Nilsson is off to a solid start in nets with a 4-1 record and a 2.79 GAA; his 4 wins rank 2nd among AHL rookies.

Up Next
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10TH ISLANDERS
AT COLORADO 9:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders Game Night at 8:30pm), WRHU (88.7FM)]
Perhaps the Mile High City will be the elixir as the Islanders will look for their first road victory on
Thursday as they face the Avs for the only time this season.  Jiggs McDonald will handle the play-by-play as he fills in for Howie Rose.

The Avs are over NHL .500 (7-6-1), but are a league-worst 1-5-0 at home.

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

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

Isles 40 in 40 -- #35

Isles 40 in 40 -- #35

In honor of the Isles 40th anniversary year, I've put together a list of the Top 40 moments in club history.  I'll go through them throughout the season, bit by bit.

January 6,1981-- With Bossy Chasing 50, Tonelli Lights Up the Leafs

January 1981 was a memorable month in Islander history.  Mike Bossy's chase of 50 goals in 50 games was a huge story not only in New York but all through Canada and the rest of the hockey world.

When the Toronto Maple Leafs reached the Coliseum on January 6th, Bossy had recorded 40 goals in the Isles' first 41 games so he needed ten goals over the next nine to reach 50 in 50.

If the Leafs' goal that night was to keep Bossy off the scoreboard, it worked.  However, John Tonelli would have a most memorable night...and Mike Bossy would have a night unmatched in Islander history.


A Czech netminder named Jiri Crha was the Leafs' #1 goalie that season and Crha was in nets at the Coliseum that night as Tonelli and Bryan Trottier scored first period goals to give the Isles a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.  Tonelli scored his second goal 1:43 into the second period and it looked like the Isles would carry the 3-0 lead into the 2nd intermission but Rick Vaive scored with 1 second to play to break Chico Resch's shutout.


1:53 into the third Tonelli completed his first professional hat trick by scoring the opening goal of the period, just like he had done in the first two.  Toronto veteran Ron Ellis scored the 332nd (and final goal) of his career midway through the third and Vaive scored 6 minutes later to make it a one-goal game with 3:54 to play.

Last than a minute later, Tonelli tallied his 4th goal of the night and with Crha on the bench in the final minute, (the original) JT hit the empty net for his 5th goal.

With that goal, Tonelli tied Bryan Trottier's club record of 5 goals in a game, set in

Moment #38 -- December 23, 1978.  (Trottier would score five goals again in 1982), increasing his goal total on the season from 9 to 14 in just one night.   Trottier would end up with a 3-point night (1 goal, 2 assists).

As for Bossy, who now stood at 40 in 42, he assisted on all six Islander goals, setting an Islander club record that stands today.  Only Billy Taylor of Detroit (in 1947) and Wayne Gretzky (in 1980, and later in 1985 and 1986) ever had a seven assist game.

In the history of the NHL, a player has recorded six assists or more only 28 times (it hasn't been done since 1997).  When you look back at the Islander dynasty, perhaps it shouldn't surprise you that the goal scorer (Bossy) holds the assists record, and the three times an Islander scored five goals in a game, it wasn't Mike Bossy.

Tonelli would go on to score three of the most important goals in the Dynasty: the goal that gave the Isles their 15th straight win, and the tying and winning goals against Pittsburgh in game 5.  Not surprisingly, those moments will be spotlighted later in this series.  But Moment #35 is Tonelli's 5 goal, Bossy's 6 assist game.

Postscript:  As Bossy neared 50 in 50, teams almost seemed to be more concerned with holding Bossy off the board than winning the game themselves.  Games 48 and 49 were both games in which Bossy was held without a goal, but the Islanders would win by shutout.

Postscript 2: Crha would face the Islanders in all three games of the first round series between the teams, which would be swept by the Isles.  He would never play in North America again.

The List to Date:
#35 -- January 6,1981 -- With Bossy Chasing 50, Tonelli Lights Up the Leafs
#36 -- January 18, 1973 -- Expansion Isles Beat the Champs
#37 -- November 28, 1979 -- Billy Smith is credited with a goal
#38 -- December 23, 1978 -- Trottier re-writes the record book
#39 -- February 11, 2011 -- Isles pound Pens 9-3
#40 -- Summer 2001 -- Isles hire Laviolette, trade for Peca and Yashin, claim Osgood.

Honorable Mention:

March 16, 2010 -- Tavares' 5-point game.

February 13, 2011 -- Grab-Trick. 

March 31, 1990 -- Uwe, Uwe. 

Like any of these lists, my #2 may be your #20...

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

Isles-Bruins on Versus

As Chris Botta noted earlier, Monday's Isles- Bruins game on Versus will feature Dave Strader on play-by-play with Mike Milbury as his analyst.

Milbury of course is a former Bruin who coached both teams and "managed" the Isles as well.

He also was the central figure in starting a brawl between the teams at the end of the first period of Game 2 in Boston in the 1980 playoffs.

Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3-zXsjM4YQ   It's Fred Cusick on the call.

 

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

The Skinny: Isles 5, Washington 3

"The Skinny"
 By Eric Hornick

Game 11
Isles 5, Washington 3

New linemates PA Parenteau and Frans Nielsen each scored a goal and added two assists as the Islandersrallied from a 2-0 deficit for a 5-3 win over the Washington Capitals before 14,812
at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.   The loss ends the Isles' winless streak at six games (0-4-2).

Caps Score Twice in the First
The Capitals grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first period.  Joel Ward beat Rick DiPietro at 5:24 of the first period and Alex Ovechkin made it a 2-goal deficit with his 307th career goal, coming in a 4-on-4 situation. The Isles were outshot 12-11 in the opening session.

Another Solid Second
The Islanders dominated thesecond period for the second straight game but the difference was in this game, they were able to score two goals and tie the game.  Frans Nielsen ended the club's scoreless
streak at 111:20 when he beat Tomas Vokoun for his 3rd goal of the season at 1:41 of the second.  Brian Rolston then tied the game with his first goal as an Islander and 336th career goal, coming at 16:55.  The Isles outshot Washington 15-7 and have outshot their opponents 34-13 over the last
two games in the middle session.

Matt Martin Gives the Isles the Lead
Matt Martin played less time than any other Islander (9:16) but it was his goal off
a rebound of a Steve Staios shot that gave the Isles the lead at 6:28 of the
third. Josh Bailey earned an assist for his first point of the season The Caps
would re-tie the game less than three minutes later as Brooks Laich tallied a
power play goal.

PA Wins It
The Islanders hadn't beaten Washington in regulation in over four years (10/18/2007) and for 58 minutes it looked like this game would follow the pattern. However, Vokoun could not control a blast from the point from former Capital Milan Jurcina and Parenteau swooped in at 18:14 for the winning
goal.  The Capitals pulled Vokoun in search of the tying goal but John Tavares hit the empty-net from center ice to give the Isles their third goal of the period after scoring only four goals in their first ten third periods this season.  5-3 Final.

Home and Road
The Islanders are 4-5-2 overall and 4-3-1 at home.  The win breaks a three-game home winless streak (0-2-1).  With nine points in the first eight home games, the Isles are 3 points ahead of last season's pace; with 10 points in 11 games, the Isles are even with last season's pace.
The Caps are 9-3-0 overall and 3-3-0 on the road.  They have lost three of the last four road games (1-3-0).

Attendance Soaring
The Islanders have attracted 100,897 for their eight home games this season (12,612).  The average attendance is up 17.2% compared to this point last season and 14.0% compared to last season's final average.

In the Nets
Rick DiPietro appeared in his fourth straight game for the first time in 11 months and made 25 saves to improve his record to 1-1-2.  DiPietro, who recorded his first win since March 19th in Florida, is 10-4-1 in his career against Washington.  It was his first win vs. Washington since 2007-08 when he beat the Caps three times:once in regulation, once in overtime and once in a shootout.

Tomas Vokoun made 30 saves for Washington.

Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-2 on the power play while the Caps were 1-2.   The Isles are now 7-38 on the power play and 32-38 on the penalty kill this season. They are 2-13 in the last four games on the power play and 8-12 in the same stretch on the penalty kill.

They Tweeted It 
@BComptonNHL: Best period for the #Isles in quite some time. 2-2 after 40 minutes.  (Note to
Bryan- the third wasn't too bad, either!)

Head of the Class
Tavares' empty-netter gives him 133 career points, one more than fellow-2009 draft pick Matt Duchene.  No other player in that draft is anywhere close.  There have been 5 empty-net goals
in the first 11 Islander games (2 for and 3 against).  Tavares has scored 8 of the Islanders' 23
goals this season (34.8%), by far the highest percentage of a team's goals of any team in the NHL).

Four +3
The Isles had four players who were +3 tonight.  Nielsen, Parenteau and Rolston were all +3 as was Mark Eaton.  The last Islander to be +3 against Washington was Oleg Kvasha, who had a
3-assist, +3 game in Washington on October 13, 2005. It's the second time this season that both Parenteau and Eaton were at least +3; they also both did it on October 13, 2011 vs. Tampa Bay.

Coming From Behind
It's the Isles first win this season after allowing the opening goal (1-4-1) and after trailing in the
first intermission (also 1-4-1).  The Caps had been a perfect 4-0-0 in games they led after 20 minutes prior to the Isles' comeback.  It was the first time since March 11, 2011 vs Boston that the Isles have rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win.

Those Teams to the West Won Too
Both the Isles and Rangers recorded home victories tonight- it's the first since December 16, 2010 that both teams won at home on the same day.  The Devils also won at home tonight, marking the first time since February 28, 2009 that all three Metro Area teams won at home.

Leading Ice Men
Mark Streit led the Isles with 22:43.  John Carlson led all players with 24:09.

Holy Howe II
For the second straight game, a player had a goal, assist and major penalty as Parenteau was assessed a first period major for boarding.  It was the first major penalty of Parenteau's NHL career.  It's not a "Gordie Howe Hat Trick" because the major was not for fighting.  Evander Kane had a Gordie Howe Hat on Thursday for Vancouver.

103 to Go
The Isles have scored 9,897 goals in their history (excluding 39 shootout winners), leaving the club 103 shy of 10,000.

 23 in 11
The Isles have scored 23 goals in the first 11 games, matching the club record set in 1999-2000 for
fewest goals in the first 11 games.  The Isles have scored 16 goals in their four wins (4.00 per game) and seven goals in their other seven games (0-5-2; 1.00 per game).

Best D since the Lockout
The Isles have allowed only 28 goals (does not include 1 in a shootout) in 11 games (2.52 goals per
game).  It's the fewest goals that the Isles have allowed in the first 11 games since 2003-04, when they also allowed 28. It's the 10th time in their history that they have allowed 28 or fewer over the first 11.  The club record for Fewest Goals Allowed, First 10 Games is 22, set in 1974-75 and equaled in 1977-78.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 25 of 49 (51%) face-offs.   John Tavares won 12 of 18 (making it 23 of 38
in the last two games), while Brooks Laich won 8 of 12 for the Caps.

Missing Men
Mike Mottau and Evgeni Nabakov were scratched. Nino Niederreiter is in Bridgeport on a conditioning assignment and earned an assist in Bridgeport's win tonight.  The Isles have two players on injured reserve: Rhett Rakhshani and Mark Katic.  The Isles have lost 48 man-games to injury so far this season.

Ironmen
Matt Moulson, the Isles' reigning ironman, has played in all 175 games since joining the team. Travis Hamonic has now played 73 NHL games (all consecutive); he has the longest consecutive
game streak on defense for the Isles.

Season Series Stats
The Isles lead the season series one game to none (two points to none).   The series will continue in Washington on January 17th and February 28th before facing each other at the Coliseum on March 12th.  It was the Isles first win over Washington since October 30, 2009 (0-4-2) when a Mark Streit overtime goal was the difference and their first win in regulation over the Caps since October 18,
2007 (3-6-5) when a Bill Guerin hat trick was the difference. The Isles scored only five goals vs. Washington last season, losing each game by one goal.

Happy Anniversary
23 years ago tonight: November 5, 1988.  A year-and-a half after they combined to win the longest overtime game in Islander history, Kelly Hrudey and Pat LaFontaine did it to the Capitals again as LaFontaine's goal 10 seconds into overtime gave Hrudey the 34-save victory in the shortest overtime game in club history. 
Overall the Islanders are now 4-8-3 on this date, with tonight's win ending a 0-5-1 stretch dating back to that 1988 win.

On The Farm
Anders Nilsson made 27
saves to improve to 4-1-0 on the season and David Ullstrom had the winning goal
as the Sound Tigers beat Norfolk 3-2 at Harbor Yard on Saturday.   Bridgeport
is 6-4-1-0, including 3-0-1-0 on their five-game homestand, which concludes on
Sunday afternoon vs. St. John's.
 
Up Next
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7TH ISLANDERS
AT BOSTON 7:00PM
[Versus (NHL Live at 6:30pm), WRHU(88.7FM)]
MSG Networks will televise
81 Islander games this season.  Game #82
is on Monday in Boston as the Isles will face the Stanley Cup Champion Bruins.  It will be the Isles first regular season trip to Boston to face the Stanley Cup Champion Bruins since January 18, 1973
when the Original Isles beat Boston 9-7 for the most significant win of their first season.
The Bruins won both games in Boston between the teams last season; the Isles split the two Coliseum games, including a 4-2 win over the Bruins on March 11th.

It will be the Isles' 72nd game in Boston; no Islander has ever recorded a hat trick in Beantown.

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

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