"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 11
San Jose 3, Isles 1
Logan Couture broke a 1-1 tie as he deflected in a shot by Justin Braun for the winning goal as the San Jose Sharks defeated the Islanders 3-1 before a crowd of 17,562 at SAP Center in San Jose. The Isles have lost five of their last seven games (2-5-0).
The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
08:06 NYI Kyle Okposo (4) Slapshot - ASST: Nick Leddy (3), Johnny Boychuk (7) 1 - 0 NYI
10:23 SJS PPG - Tomas Hertl (3) Slapshot - ASST: Tommy Wingels (4), Matt Nieto (5) 1 - 1 Tie
2ND PERIOD
NONE
3RD PERIOD
11:50 SJS Logan Couture (6) Deflected - ASST: Justin Braun (5), Marc-Edouard Vlasic (2) 2 - 1 SJS
15:35 SJS James Sheppard (1) Slapshot - ASST: Adam Burish (2), Andrew Desjardins (1) 3 - 1 SJS
The Skinny:
The Isles have outscored the opposition 13-8 in the first period but have been outscored 31-22 in the 2nd/3rd period …Okposo's goal was only the second the Sharks have allowed in the first period this season… The Isles have allowed at least three goals in 10 of their first 11 games, and have allowed at least three goals in a period five times… The Isles had won their first four games that were tied after one period (4-1-0)…The Sharks improve to 3-0-1 in their last four games.
November to Remember?
The Isles begin November with the final four games of this road trip. The month also includes home-and-home series with Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh and Washington. The Isles are 0-1-0 this November.
Streakers
The Isles won their first four games, lost their next two games, won the two games after that, and lost the last three games.
The Shots:
Isles 6-6-8=20
San Jose 17-5-9=31
Home and Road
The Islanders are 6-5-0 overall, 3-2-0 at home and 3-3-0 on the road.
San Jose is 7-4-2 overall; 2-2-2 at home and 5-2-0 on the road.
By Division
The Isles are 3-1-0 in Division games and are 3-3-0 in games against other divisions. They are 1-1-0 vs. the Atlantic Division, 1-2-0 vs. Central Division, and 1-1-0 vs. the Pacific Division.
The Isles won only three of their first 17 division games (3-11-3) last season.
Western Run
This was the fourth of eight consecutive games against the Western Conference. The Isles are 1-3-0 in this stretch.
In the Nets
Jarsolav Halak made 28 saves and suffers his fourth straight loss (3-4-0).
Antti Niemi made 19 saves for San Jose and improves to 6-2-1 on the season.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-3 on the power play while San Jose was 1-1.
The Isles have now allowed 12 power play goals on 34 times short (64.7% penalty killing efficiency). The power play is 3-30 (10%) over the last seven games.
The Isles are 4-3-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-2-0 when they do not. The Isles are 3-4-0 when they allow at least one power play goal and 3-1-0 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 6-1-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 0-4-0 when they do not.
One Goal Games
The Isles are 3-1-0 in games decided by a single goal including 2-0-0 in regulation. They are 0-0 in games decided in overtime and are 1-0 in shootouts. Two games have been decided by two goals in which the second goal was an empty-netter. The Isles are 1-1 in those games.
First Goal
The Isles are 4-4-0 when they score first and are 2-1-0 when they allow the opening goal.
Second to The One
Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 124-125-39 behind the Islander bench.
Most games coached (Islanders):
1. Al Arbour 1,500
2. Jack Capuano 288
3. Mike Milbury 191
4. Terry Simpson 187
5. Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1. Al Arbour 740
2. Jack Capuano 124
3. Terry Simpson 81
4. Peter Laviolette 77
5. Ted Nolan 74
They Said It
Boychuk: "Little mistakes cost us the game…We haven't been good on the PK...we need to tighten up."
Hamonic: "I had a couple of hits in my first shifts…made me feel comfortable.. We're very confident; we'll turn it around."
They Tweeted It
@alanhahn Hoped for 5 points on this trip for #Isles. Now need to finish 2-0-1 with stops in Anaheim, LA and Phoenix, to get that. #JustKeepSwimming
@ReaganKingIsles Positive from the game: Halak was solid. None of the goals against were his fault. Two defensive mistakes and an unreal redirect. #Isles
The Coach
"We played well but we need to get the puck deep… Our penalty kill let us down…Our D was real active; we had many chances…(Halak) gave us a chance to win the hockey game."
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 1-0-0 in the front-end and 1-0-0 on the back end of back-to-backs this season.
The next set of back-to-backs is on November 5th (at Anaheim) and November 6th (at Los Angeles).
Leading Ice Men
John Tavares led the Isles with 23:51 of ice-time while Brent Burns led San Jose with 26:29.
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Johnny Boychuk (4-1-0), Travis Hamonic (1-1-0), Lubomir Visnovsky (0-1-0) and John Tavares (1-2-0).
Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (3-5-0), Kyle Okposo (1-0-0), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), and Casey Cizikas (1-0-0).
In the Circle
The Islanders won 31 of 65 draws (47%). Ryan Strome won 6 of 11 for the Isles; Joe Pavelski won 8 of 14 for San Jose.
Heavy Hitters
The Isles outhit San Jose 34-25. Cal Clutterbuck had 11 hits to lead the Isles. Brent Burns had six hits for San Jose.
There were no fights, leaving the season total at two: Martin (1), Hamonic (1).
Giving Up the Body
The Isles were credited with 19 blocked shots; Travis Hamonic, Lubomir Visnovsky and Thomas Hickey led the Isles with three each.
For the Corsi Crowd
Anders Lee and Cory Conacher (+6) led the Isles in even-strength Corsi, which measures shots attempted for and against (including blocks). Conacher also had a team-leading 69% of Corsi For events.
Head of the Class
Islander Captain John Tavares has 327 career points; he is 55 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks. No other player in that draft is anywhere close. Tavares also has more goals and more assists than any other player in that draft.
All-time Winners
The Islanders fall to seven games over all-time NHL .500 (1411-1404-450 in 3,264 games).
The Isles have not been more than 1 game under NHL-.500 since January 11, 1978 and have finished every season since 1977-78 over all-time NHL .500.
Ironmen
Nick Leddy and Thomas Hickey are the Islanders' reigning ironmen. Leddy has played 263 consecutive regular season games, while Hickey has played 94 consecutive regular season Islander games.
Missing Men
Josh Bailey, Michael Grabner and Matt Carkner are on injured reserve. Eric Boulton and Matt Donovan were scratched for the 11th straight game while Travis Hamonic returned to the lineup after missing four games with an upper body injury, replacing Brian Strait.
The Isles have lost 42 games this season due to injury. This was only the second time all season that the Isles had fewer than four injured players.
All-time Islander Leader Board:
John Tavares has:
· 140 goals (16th all-time, 5 behind Mariusz Czerkawski and 7 behind Pierre Turgeon)
· 187 assists (16th all-time, 6 behind Pierre Turgeon and 62 behind Tomas Jonsson)
· 327 points (17th all-time, 4 behind Ziggy Palffy, 6 behind Tomas Jonsson and 13 behind Pierre Turgeon
· 361 games played (43rd among Islander skaters all-time, 20 behind Randy Wood)
Frans Nielsen has:
· 89 goals (35th all-time, 3 behind Travis Green)
· 173 assists (19th all-time, 2 behind Kenny Jonsson and 8 behind Ed Westfall)
· 262 points (23rd all-time and 3 behind Kyle Okposo)
· 458 games played (29th among Islander skaters all-time and 1 behind Trent Hunter)
Kyle Okposo has:
· 103 goals (26th all-time and 2 behind Ed Westfall & Benoit Hogue)
· 163 assists (tied-24th all-time with Ziggy Palffy, 3 behind Jeff Norton and 4 behind Jean Potvin)
· 266 points (22nd all-time, 22 behind Ed Westfall)
· 401 games played (37th among Islander skaters all-time, 1 behind Jean Potvin and 10 behind Wayne Merrick)
Michael Grabner has:
· 82 goals (38th all-time, 2 behind Tomas Jonsson, 3 behind Frans Nielsen and 5 behind Butch Goring)
Josh Bailey has:
· 413 games played (34th among Islander skaters all-time and 9 behind Dave Langevin)
Season Series Stats
The teams split the season series 1 game to 1 (San Jose earned three points to the Isles' 2).
This was only the second of the last six meetings of the teams to not require overtime. The Isles are 2-3-1 in those six games.
It Happened at the Coliseum … on NOVEMBER 1st
37 years ago tonight (1977) – Goran Hogosta got into a box score, but that was not the story. Bryan Trottier became the first Islander to score four goals in a game, and Mike Bossy tied an Islander rookie record with five points (1-4-5) as the Islanders pounded Atlanta 9-0 at the Coliseum.
With the game well out of reach, Hogosta replaced Billy Smith with 8:35 to play and saw his only action as an Islander. Smith, according to newspaper accounts, suggested to Al Arbour that he let Hogosta play; the result was a combined shutout, which according to NHL rules gets credited to the team but not a player.
While short, Hogosta's appearance was historic as he became the first European-trained goaltender to appear in an NHL game, setting the stage for other Europeans such as Dominik Hasek, Nikolai Khabibulin and Antti Nieti to lead their teams to the Stanley Cup.
Clark Gillies tried to explain Trottier's exploits: "He was, uh, let's see,..a superstar."
It was the first 9-0 win in club history, and matched the club record for most one-sided victory (which still stands today). The win also put the Isles all alone into first place in the Patrick Division.
Also on this date: (2005) – Shawn Bates scored late in overtime for a 4-3 win over Boston; (2007) – Rick DiPietro made 28 saves in a 4-0 win over Tampa Bay.
All-time, the Isles have played twelve November 1st games at the Coliseum and finish with a 8-3-1 record on this date at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale.
On The Farm
The Sound Tigers are 5-2-0-1 after a 4-1 win over Albany on Saturday night. Colton Gillies broke a 1-1 tie with 4:44 to play with his first goal as a Sound Tiger. Kevin Poulin made 26 saves for Bridgeport. The Sound Tigers return home to host Springfield on Sunday afternoon at 3pm. Up Next
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5th—ISLANDERS AT ANAHEIM 10:30PM
[MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 10:00pm), 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Isles will look to break their three game losing streak but to do so they will have to beat the Ducks in Anaheim.
The Ducks swept the season series last season, winning 5-2 in Anaheim and 5-3 on Long Island.
Overall, the Isles have lost three straight against the Ducks since a 3-2 win on December 16, 2010 that broke an Islander overall six-game losing streak.
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 & on his blog www.nyiskinny.com.
Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick
