Stat Trick: Kings 3, Islanders 1

It's a winless home January!

1. The Isles finish January winless at home (0-4-2). The NHL considers this a 6-game home losing streak, which is one game shy of the club record, set in the 1999-2000 season. The Isles haven't gone winless in a full month at home since going 0-6 in March 2001. The Isles have scored 3 goals or fewer in each game in this streak, and have been held to three goals or fewer in 19 of the last 21 at home. The Isles have two regulation wins in their last fourteen home games (4-8-2, but two of the 4 wins were in overtime)

2. The Kings have not lost on Long Island since October 27, 1998 (a 1-0 Isles win). The Isles are 0-3-1 vs. LA in that stretch.

3. Bryan Berard has a goal in consecutive games. That give the Isles three defensemen with at least 4 goals (Bergeron 9, Campoli/Berard 4 each). The Isles have 19 goals from their defensemen this season.

... and a few more

4. The Kings had five power plays and the Isles only one. It's the fifth time this season (and fourth time this month) that the Isles have been to one pp in a game (0-3-2). The Devils did not have a pp in their November 10th visit to the Coliseum --the only time this season the opponent has been held to fewer than 2 pp's.

5. The Isles have lost three straight in regulation time for the 2nd time this season. They have had only one regulation losing streak longer than three games under Ted Nolan -- a 6 game skein last December/January.

6. The Kings' winning goal was scored on a power play -- the sixth straight game that the Isles have allowed a pp goal (9 goals on 28 times short)

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

It's been a long time since the Islanders hosted a team from California

but that stretch will end late tonight.

The Kings haven't played at the Coliseum since Februrary 16, 2004 (1445 days ago)

On Kenny Jonsson Bobblehead Day, the Isles and Kings played to a 1-1 deadlock in a Washington's Birthday matinee in the only Isles-Kings game coached by Steve Stirling. Trent Klatt and Arron Asham were the goal scorers.

The Ducks will make their first Coliseum visit since 2003 and the Sharks will make their first Coliseum visit since 2001 in February.

The Isles haven't beaten the Kings at home in nearly a decade. On October 27, 1998 the Isles blanked the Kings 1-0 behind Tommy Salo. Joe Sacco's third period goal was the only goal of the game.

This will be only the 4th visit by the Kings since then.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Stat Trick: Ottawa 5, Isles 2

1. The Isles remain winless in January at home (0-3-2). The NHL considers this a 5-game home losing streak, which is two games shy of the club record, set in the 1999-2000 season. The Isles haven't gone winless in a full month at home since going 0-6 in March 2001. The Isles have scored 3 goals or fewer in each game in this streak, and have been held to three goals or fewer in 18 of the last 20 at home. The Isles have two regulation wins in their last thirteen home games (4-7-2, but two of the 4 wins were in overtime)

2. The Isles and Sens split the season series two games each, but the Sens win on points by a 5-4 margin.

3. Perhaps Sean Bergenheim is starting to come into his own offensively. He's scored twice in three games after scoring only twice in his first 44 appearances this season. Bergenheim now has nine NHL goals in 93 career games. He has tied his NHL-career high with 4 goals this season.

...and a few more

4. Rick DiPietro was charged with 6 giveaways in tonight's game, more than any skater on either team.

5. The Isles have lost consecutive goals by at least three goals for the first time since last March 15-17. Those were the first two games the team played following DiPietro's injury in Montreal.

6. The Sens played without Dany Heatley, and then lost Daniel Alfredsson in the 2nd period

7. The Isles pp had only two chances, but took four shots on their first attempt and got a 3rd period goal by Bryan Berard on their second try.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Stat Trick on DiPietro's first AS game

1. Career goals against average through 12 seconds of All-Star play: 300.00
2. Career goals against average through 20 minutes of All-Star play: 3.00 -- not bad at all!
3. Career points in first All-Star Game: 0 -- which is surprising since the East scored 5 goals while he was in the game

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Stat Trick: Bruins 4, Isles 1

Not much of a game tonight in Boston -- All-Star Tim Thomas was good for Boston; All-Star Rick DiPietro has had better nights.
On to the trick.

1. Mike SIllinger recorded the Islander goal--his third in two games. Sillinger now has 40 goals as an Islander -- tops among all of the teams he has played with:

In order--
Det 14
Ana 15
Van 28
Phil 11
TB 27
Fla 17
Ott 3
Colum 38
Phoe 8
Nash 27
StL 10
Isles 40
----
Total 238

2. The Bruins win the season series 3 games to 1 (6 points to 2), outscoring the Isles 10-5.

3. The Isles caught the Bruins on a bad night -- after a blowout loss. The Bruins are 7-1 in the game immediately following a loss by 3 goals or more.

Enjoy the All-Star break.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Stat Trick: Isles 6, Carolina 3

What a strange night in Carolina...with a lot of entries in the stat trick.

1. The Isles tied the following club records:
Most shorthanded goals, game (3) -- done previously in 1983 vs Washington and 2000 vs Ottawa
Most shorthanded goals, period (2) -- done numerous times
Most shorthanded goals, game, one player (2 - Sillinger) -- done numerous times

The two shorthanded goals 45 seconds apart were not a record -- Bob Bourne and Anders Kallur scored SHG's 17 seconds apart in a game vs Winnipeg in 1980.

2. The Isles recorded their fourth straight win, matching the longest streak under Nolan. They also won four straight between October 11 and November 15 last season. They have not had a five-game road winning streak since winning the first six road games of the Laviolette era.

3. Mike Sillinger recorded his 24th career two-goal game, and second this season, with his pair of shorthanded tallies. THey were his first two shorties of the season, and give 24 career SH goals.

and wait, there's more

4. The road team won all four games, and the Isles won the season series, 5 points to 4. It's the third time that they've swept the two games in Raleigh,a lso doing so in 2001-02 and 2003-04.

5. Blake Comeau's empty-netter gave the Isles their second 6-goal game of the season. They also scored 6 on Opening Night in Buffalo.

6. Wade Dubielewicz now has a three-game (NHL) win streak going back to his wins December 29 and December 31. DiPietro does not have a 3-game win streak this year.

7. The Isles continue their remarkable success on the 2nd night of back-to-backs. They are now 8-3-1 on the back-end (and 16-16-6 in all other games).

8. Blake Comeau matched his career high with two points. He has recorded points in consecutive games for the first time in his career.

9. The Isles outshot Carolina 18-17 in a wild second period, but were outshot for the game by a count of 47-31.

10. Freddy Meyer celebrated his new contract by going +3. Andy Sutton and Trent Hunter were also +3. For the Canes, Ray Whitney was -4, while Sergei Samsonov and Rob Brind'Amour were -3.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.

Stat Trick: Carolina 3, Isles 2 (OT)

1. It's a good thing for the Isles that there are loser points, because the Isles dropped their 7th of the last 10 with a 3-2 defeat at the MLK matinee. By NHL standards though the Isles are .500 in that stretch: 3-3-4.

2. It's the first time all season that the Isles haven't won a game they led after 2 periods (15-0-1). The Isles were the last team in the East to drop a point in a game they led after 40 minutes. Minnesota and Vancouver are the only remaining perfect teams. The Isles are one of 10 teams that has gotten a point in every game they've led after two periods this season. In fact, in the Nolan era, the Isles have lost only 1 game in regulation that they led after 2 pds - -the night DiPietro got hurt in Montreal.

3. The Hurricanes win both games at the Coliseum for the 2nd time in the last four seasons. This afternoon's game marked the start of the third home-and-home since the Whalers moved to Carolina. The team that has won the first game has won the second game both previous times.

and a few more..

4. Miro Satan's goal ended a 12-game goalless streak while Andy Hilbert ended a stretch of 10 straight without scoring.

5. The Isles played the first 58 1/2 minutes without allowing a pp. Of course it was the second of the back-to-back penalties that killed them in overtime.

6. The Isles have had 2-goal leads at some point in five of the last 6 games yet have blown that lead three times (Calgary - won OT, Philly - lost regulation, Carolina - lost OT). They protected a 2-goal lead for the final 13 minutes in Ottawa and added an empty-netter for the two-goal margin vs. New Jersey.

7. On the farm, Jeff Tambellini recorded his 25th goal of the AHL season in Bridgeport's 2-1 win over Portland. BTW, it looks like Okposo has been moved off of Tambellini's line.

8. Tim Jackman recorded his eighth fight of the season.

9. The Isles are 0-2-2 at home this month, matching the longest streak without a win at the Coliseum under Nolan. The last time the Isles went winless at home in a full month was in March 2001 (0-6-0) -- Butch Goring was fired after the second home game of the month.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick. Eric has worked the Stanley Cup Finals four times, and celebrated his 26th anniversary as the statistician on Islander home telecasts on January 21, 2008.