"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 44
Isles 3, Rangers 1
Brock Nelson and Nick Leddy scored goals 2:24 apart, early in the third period, as the Islanders rallied from a 1-0 deficit for a 3-1 win over the New York Rangers before a sellout crowd of 15,795 at Barclays Center.
The win broke several Ranger streaks for protecting leads. The Blueshirts had been 15-0-0 this season and 51-0-1 over the last two seasons when leading after 40 minutes. It was only the 2nd time in the last six seasons (154-2-6) that the Rangers had lost a game in regulation after leading through 40 minutes.
The Isles move two points ahead of the Rangers in the battle for second place in the Metropolitan Division.
The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
NONE
2ND PERIOD
19:14 NYR Marc Staal (2) ASST: Kevin Hayes (13), Chris Kreider (13) 1 - 0 NYR
3RD PERIOD
01:53 NYI Brock Nelson (18) ASST: Adam Pelech (1) 1 - 1 Tie
04:17 NYI PPG - Nick Leddy (2) ASST: John Tavares (16), Kyle Okposo (22) 2 - 1 NYI
19:58 NYI EN - Kyle Okposo (11) ASST: NONE 3 - 1 NYI
The Skinny:
The Isles improve to 9-3-2 in Met Division games… …The Isles are 6-7-0 in their last 13; they have outscored opponents 27-14 in the 6 wins, but have been outscored 24-6 in the 7 losses…Brock Nelson extends his team –leading goal total to 18, three more than John Tavares; he has 10 goals in the last 16 games –Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen are the only other Islanders with as many as five goals in that span…The Isles improve to 2-12-2 when trailing after two periods…Adam Pelech recorded his first NHL point with an assist on Nelson's goal; Pelech was named the game's third star…The Rangers power play is 0-18 in the last 7 games…Jaroslav Halak improved to 8-0-0 in his last 8 head-to-head matchups with Henrik Lundqvist , including 5-0-0 as an Islander. Halak last lost in a game that Lundqvist started on January 17, 2010 when Halak was still a Canadien…Lundqvist is 7-9-2 in his last 18 decisions… The Rangers fall to 17-2-2 when scoring first…Leddy's winning goal was the 19th power play goal allowed by the Rangers on the road this season (2 more than the Isles have allowed overall); the Rangers road penalty kill is ranked 29th in the league…The Rangers are 0-6-2 in the last 8 games that they have played after winning the previous game. ..The Isles' goals were scored 4-on-4, 5-on-4, and 5-on-6…Nick Leddy has two goals in the last 5 games, after not scoring in the first 39 games.
All- American(s)
Kyle Okposo's empty net goal was the 128th of his career, breaking a tie with Jason Blake for 2nd among American-born Islanders. Brock Nelson, who has 4 goals in the last two games, now had 52 career goals. He is the 9th American-born player to record at least 50 goals for the Isles.
Most Goals Since December 6th
1. Alex Ovechkin 14 (team has scored 63)
2. Brock Nelson 10 (Isles have scored 43)
Joe Pavelski 10 (team has scored 48)
Johnny Gaudreau 10 (team has scored 50)
Tyler Seguin 10 (team has scored 55 goals)
Jeff Skinner 10 (team has scored 55 goals)
Shane Doan 10 (team has scored 52 goals)
Sweet 16
The Isles have started another penalty-killing streak, going a perfect 16-of-16 over the last four games. Since Matt Read scored on Philadelphia's first power play back on November 25th, the Isles have killed 35 of 36 at home.
Home Sweet Home
The Isles are 15-7-2 on home-ice (32 points). In the past 28 seasons, the Isles have earned more than 32 points in the first 24 home games only once (36 in first 24 at home last season).
This was the fifth game of a ten game stretch in which the Isles will play eight times at home. The Isles are 3-2-0 in this stretch:
3-Jan-16 Vs Stars (Won 6-5)
7-Jan-16 Vs Capitals (Lost 4-1)
9-Jan-16 @ Flyers (Lost 4-0)
12-Jan-16 Vs Blue Jackets (Won 5-2)
14-Jan-16 Vs Rangers (Won 3-1)
17-Jan-16 Vs Canucks
22-Jan-16 @ Senators
23-Jan-16 Vs Flyers
25-Jan-16 Vs Red Wings
2-Feb-16 Vs Wild
After February 2nd, the Isles will play 20 of their final 33 games on the road.
The Shots:
Isles 10-12-10=32
Rangers 14-13-8=35
Home and Road
The Islanders are 24-15-5 overall; 15-7-2 at home and 9-8-3 on the road.
Rangers is 23-15-5 overall; 16-5-2 at home and 7-10-3 on the road.
Metropolitan Hockey Club, Inc.
The Isles are 9-3-2 in Division games and are 15-12-3 in games against other divisions. They are 3-8-2 vs. the Atlantic Division, 6-2-1 vs. Central Division, and 6-2-0 vs. the Pacific Division.
The Isles finished last season 21-6-3 against the Met and 26-22-4 against other Divisions.
In the Nets
Jaroslav Halak made 34 saves and improves to 11-8-3 on the season; he is 12-6-0 in his career against the Rangers.
Henrik Lundqvist made 29 saves but falls to 19-12-4 on the season. Lundqvist is 29-16-6 in his career against the Isles.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-2 on the power play, while the Rangers were 0-3.
The Isles are 14-3-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 10-12-2 when they do not. The Isles are 7-6-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 17-9-4 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 20-2-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 4-13-5 when they do not. The Isles were 40-8-4 when they scored at least three goals (including SO winners) last season.
One Goal Games
The Isles are 10-5-5 in games decided by a single goal including 5-5-0 in regulation. They are 2-3 in games decided in overtime and are 3-2 in shootouts. The Isles are 5-3 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.
First Goal
The Isles are 16-3-2 when they score first and are 8-12-3 when they allow the opening goal.
Second to The One
Jack Capuano, the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history, is 189-163-51 behind the Islander bench; Capuano coached his 400th career game on January 7th vs. the Caps. Among the 9 New York area teams, only the Yankees' Joe Girardi has led his team longer than Capuano.
Most games coached (Islanders):
1. Al Arbour 1,500
2. Jack Capuano 403
3. Mike Milbury 191
4. Terry Simpson 187
5. Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1. Al Arbour 740
2. Jack Capuano 189
3. Terry Simpson 81
4. Peter Laviolette 77
5. Ted Nolan 74
Capuano is the 86th coach in NHL history to coach at least 400 games. He is 75th all-time with 189 wins, five fewer than Bob Gainey and seven fewer than Cecil Hart and Fred Creighton.
They Tweeted It
@itsjakegrcic There's really nothing better than when the Islanders play the Rangers. Great game. Much needed win. #Isles
@TomUrtzJr first time since 11/29/13 that they (Rangers) lost a regulation game in which they led after 2. Second time since 2/6/10.
@itskerri I can't begin to describe the feeling of being the only #isles fan in a Rangers bar when the @NYIslanders win.
Back-to-Backs
Isles are 2-3-3 on the front-end and 5-2-1 on the back end of back-to-backs this season. The next back-to-back set is January 22nd in Ottawa and January 23rd vs. Philadelphia.
Tired vs. Rested
· The Isles are 2-1-0 when both teams played the night before.
· The Isles are 3-2-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not.
· The Isles are 3-1-1 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.
Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Calvin deHaan (21:50); Rangers: Keith Yandle (22:06)
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (14-3-3), Johnny Boychuk (4-3-0), Calvin deHaan (1-2-1), Nick Leddy (4-5-1), John Tavares (0-1-0), Tied (0-1-0)
John Tavares led the Isles forwards with 18:37 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (15-11-4), Ryan Strome (2-0-0), Kyle Okposo (0-2-1), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Frans Nielsen (3-0-0), Josh Bailey (2-0-0), Tied (1-1-0).
Face-offs
Isles 19, Rangers 32 (37%). The 19 face-off wins matched a season low for the Isles (also vs. Arizona on 11/16 and Philadelphia on 11/25).
Brock Nelson won 5 of 10 for the Isles; Dominic Moore won 8 of 10 and Derek Stepan won 16 of 21 for the Rangers. (The Isles won 6 of 7 face-offs against Kevin Hayes, but only 13 of 44 against the other Rangers.)
The Isles won less than 50% of the draws in each period, including only 2 of 12 in the third period.
The Isles won 15 of 42 draws at even strength, 2 of 3 on the power play and 2 of 6 on the penalty kill.
Heavy Hitters
Isles 21, Rangers 27. Matt Martin led the Isles with 5 hits, extending his NHL-leading total to 213. Martin has recorded at least 200 hits in six straight seasons.
Fights
There were no fights. Season total – 10 (Martin-5, Bernier, Boychuk, Leddy, Lee, Okposo).
Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 21 blocked shots; Frans Nielsen led the team with 5. It was only the second time in the last four seasons an Islander forward blocked five shots (Nielsen vs. Ottawa April 2, 2014).
For the Corsi Crowd
All situations: Isles 53, Rangers 73. Even-Strength: Isles 44, Rangers 54.
The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks).
Matt Martin and Marek Zidlicky led the Isles with a +2 even-strength Corsi rating; Martin also had a club-leading 60% Corsi For percentage. Kevin Klein led the Rangers with a +16 rating.
Ironmen
· Nikolay Kulemin -194 (68 for Maple Leafs and 126 for the Isles)
· Brock Nelson -179 (all for Isles)
· Anders Lee -120 (all for Isles)
Missing Men
Jean-Francois Berube, Eric Boulton and Johnny Boychuk are on injured reserve. Scott Mayfield, Steve Bernier and Travis Hamonic (injured) were also scratched.
The Isles have lost 94 games this season due to injury/illness.
Missing a Piece (or two)
The Isles are 11-13-1 over the last two seasons in games in which they are missing Johnny Boychuk, Travis Hamonic or Nick Leddy, including 3-3-0 this season. They are 5-4-0, including 2-1-0 this season when two of the three miss a game.
All-time Islander Leader Board:
John Tavares has:
· 189 goals (11th all-time, 17 behind John Tonelli and 22 behind Derek King)
· 243 assists (15th all-time, 6 behind Tomas Jonsson and 16 behind Billy Harris)
· 432 points (13th all-time , 11 behind Billy Harris and 56 behind Patrick Flatley)
· 473 games played (29th among Islander skaters all-time and 3 behind Gerry Hart)
Kyle Okposo has:
· 128 goals (17th all-time and 18 behind Mariusz Czerkawski )
· 210 assists (17th all-time , 1 behind Frans Nielsen and 33 behind John Tavares)
· 338 points (16th all-time, 2 behind Pierre Turgeon and 31 behind Stefan Persson)
· 492 games played (27th among Islander skaters all-time and 1 behind Ed Westfall)
Frans Nielsen has:
· 113 goals (25th all-time, 3 behind Ray Ferraro, and 5 behind Mark Parrish, Matt Moulson and Steve Thomas)
· 211 assists (16th all-time and 32 behind John Tavares)
· 324 points (19th all-time, 7 behind Ziggy Palffy, 9 behind Tomas Jonsson and 14 behind Kyle Okposo)
· 569 games played (15th among Islander skaters all-time and 25 behind John Tonelli)
Josh Bailey has:
· 150 assists (tied-27th all-time with Mariusz Czerkawski and 4 behind David Volek)
· 238 points (tied-26th all-time with Ray Ferraro and 11 behind David Volek)
· 519 games played (22nd among Islander skaters and 11 behind Pat LaFontaine)
Season Series Stats
The Isles lead the season series 2 games to 0 and 4 points to 0. The Isles have swept the two home games from the Rangers; it's the first time since 1997-98 that the Isles have swept the Rangers at home (3-0-0 that season).
The Isles also improve to 7-4-0 in the last eleven games against the Rangers.
The teams have two meetings left, in Manhattan on March 6th and April 7th. The April 7th meeting will be the Isles' final road game of the season.
On The Farm
Bridgeport is 19-16-2-1 as they head to Portland for a pair of games this weekend (Friday/Saturday). The Sound Tigers will return home to host Lehigh Valley on Sunday.
Up Next
SUNDAY, JANUARY 17th –VANCOUVER AT ISLANDERS 4:00PM
[MSG+ (Isles Pre-game at 3:30), 91.5 WNYE-FM. 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Isles look to sweep their three game homestand as they host the Vancouver Canucks in the first of two meetings between the teams this season.
The Canucks swept a pair of games last season, including the final opposition shutout in Nassau Coliseum history, a combined (Ryan Miller/Eddie Lack) 4-0 shutout on February 22nd.
The Isles' last win over the Canucks came in Vancouver on March 10th, 2014 in which the Isles rallied from a 3-0 second intermission deficit for a 7-4 victory.
And Finally…
Tonight at the Bell Centre, the Blackhawks defeated Montreal 2-1 for Coach Joel Quenneville's 783rd win, breaking a tie with Al Arbour for 2nd place on the all-time NHL list. Congrats to Coach Q – any time you beat one of Al's totals, you have really accomplished something.
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
