"The Skinny"
By Eric Hornick
Game 9
Isles 4, Calgary 0
Mikhail Grabovski broke a scoreless tie with a 2nd period power play goal and the Islanders broke the game open with three 3rd period goals as they defeated the Calgary Flames, 4-0 before a crowd of 11,582 at Barclays Center. Jaroslav Halak recorded his 2nd shutout of the season and 38th career shutout. The Isles are 6-1-0 in their last seven games and their overall 6-2-1 record is their 2nd best through nine games in the Post-Cup era (7-0-1-1 in 2001-02).
The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
NONE
2ND PERIOD
14:01 NYI PPG - Mikhail Grabovski (2) Snap - ASST: Josh Bailey (3), Johnny Boychuk (4) 1 - 0 NYI
3RD PERIOD
05:26 NYI Frans Nielsen (2) Wrist shot - ASST: Nikolay Kulemin (4), Kyle Okposo (5) 2 - 0 NYI
11:33 NYI Cal Clutterbuck (3) Wrist shot - ASST: Casey Cizikas (2) 3 - 0 NYI
18:10 NYI Frans Nielsen (3) Wrist shot - ASST: Kyle Okposo (6), Nikolay Kulemin (5) 4 - 0 NYI
The Skinny:
The Isles have outscored their opponents 15-7 in the third period and they lead the NHL in 3rd period goals…The Isles' penalty killers are 21-21 over the last six games and have now killed 91.2% of opponents' opportunities… Frans Nielsen recorded his 8th career multi-goal game, and his first since his only career hat trick, which came one year and one day ago…John Tavares' point streak ended at six games…Josh Bailey has points in three straight games and five points in five games…Kyle Okposo now has 9 points (3-6-9) in the last seven games…Nikolay Kulemin has six points (2-4-6) in his last six games…Cal Clutterbuck didn't score his 3rd goal last season until November 29th…The Isles have recorded two shutouts in October for the first time since 2001…Calgary has been outscored 28-7 in the second & third periods this season…The Flames scored on their first shot against the Rangers on Sunday and then went scoreless in their final 116:54 in New York.
First Time in a Ridiculously Long Time:
The Isles shutout the Flames for the first time since the day Ronald Reagan was inaugurated for his first-term as US President, January 20, 1981. The Isles won that game, the 48th of Mike Bossy's 50 in 50 season, by a 5-0 score with Chico Resch in the nets. The teams had played 61 times since then; the Isles have blanked every other NHL team besides Anaheim and Nashville in the interim.
The Shots:
Isles 14-10-11=35
Calgary 8-10-11=29
The 35 shots were the most for the Isles in the last six games, and ended a streak of three straight games in which they had 26 or fewer shots on goal.
Home and Road
The Islanders are 6-2-1 overall; 4-1-1 at home and 2-1-0 on the road. It's only the second time in the Post-Cup era that they have earned at least 13 points in their first nine games (16 in 2001-02).
Calgary is 2-7-0 overall; 1-4-0 at home and 1-3-0 on the road.
By Division
The Isles are 1-0-0 in Division games and are 5-2-1 in games against other divisions. They are 0-1-0 vs. the Atlantic Division, 3-1-1 vs. Central Division, and 2-0-0 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 29 saves to improve to 3-1-0 and lower his goals against average to 1.77. He is 7-5-1 in his career against Calgary and has allowed only two goals in his last four games against the Flames.
Joni Ortio made 31 saves but falls to 0-1-0. He is 1-1-0 in his career against the Isles.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 1-3 on the power play, while Calgary was 0-3.
The Isles are 4-1-0 when they score at least one power play goal and 2-1-1 when they do not. The Isles are 1-1-1 when they allow at least one power play goal and 5-1-0 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 0-1-1 when they do not. The Isles were 40-8-4 when they scored at least goals (including SO winners) last season.
One Goal Games
The Isles are 2-0-1 in games decided by a single goal including 1-0-0 in regulation. They are 1-1 in games decided in overtime and are 0-0 in shootouts. The Isles are 1-0 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.
First Goal
The Isles are 4-0-0 when they score first and are 2-2-1 when they allow the opening goal.
Second to The One
Jack Capuano is the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history. Capuano is 171-150-47 behind the Islander bench. Among the 9 New York teams, only the Giants' Tom Coughlin and the Yankees' Joe Girardi have led their respective teams longer than Capuano.
Most games coached (Islanders):
1. Al Arbour 1,500
2. Jack Capuano 368
3. Mike Milbury 191
4. Terry Simpson 187
5. Scott Gordon 181
Most wins by Islander coaches:
1. Al Arbour 740
2. Jack Capuano 171
3. Terry Simpson 81
4. Peter Laviolette 77
5. Ted Nolan 74
They Tweeted It
@BRI_NYC74 classy move by @NYIslanders wearing NYPD hats for post game interviews #Isles #AllLivesMatter
@nyillini311 That's one (heck) of a nice shot by Frans Nielsen. There's a reason he plays on the point on the PP.
@MissToni_Tone Another shut out! WOOOO!! JARO! #ISLES 💙🔶💙🔶
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 0-1-1 in the front-end and 1-1-0 on the back end of back-to-backs this season. Their next back-to-back set will be next weekend, when they visit New Jersey on Saturday and host Buffalo on Sunday.
vs. Rested
· The Isles are 0-1-0 when both teams played the night before.
· The Isles are 2-0-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not.
· The Isles are 1-0-0 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.
Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Travis Hamonic (21:13); Calgary: Dennis Wideman (28:21).
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (4-1-1), Johnny Boychuk (2-1-0).
John Tavares led Isles forwards with 20:33 of ice-time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (3-1-1), Ryan Strome (2-0-0), Frans Nielsen (1-0-0), Tied (0-1-0).
Face-offs
Isles 31, Calgary 28 (53%)
John Tavares won 14 of 23 for the Isles; Matt Stajan won 4 of 6 for Calgary.
The Isles won 22 of 38 in the first and third periods but only 9 of 21 in the 2nd period. The Isles won 3 of 5 on the power play and 3 of 7 on the penalty kill.
Heavy Hitters
Isles 33, Calgary 38. Matt Martin led the Isles with 6 hits.
Fights
There were no fights. Season total – 2 (Boychuk, Martin).
Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 12 blocked shots; Calvin deHaan and Johnny Boychuk led the team with three.
For the Corsi Crowd
All situations: Isles 66, Calgary 52 (including 29-18 in the first period).
Even-Strength: Isles 55, Calgary 48. The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks).
Travis Hamonic led the Isles with a +9 even-strength Corsi rating; Anders Lee had a team-leading 70% of Corsi For events. David Jones led Calgary with a +5 rating.
Ironmen
· Nikolay Kulemin -159 (68 for Toronto and 91 for the Isles)
· Brock Nelson -144 (all for Isles)
Missing Men
Eric Boulton and Thomas Hickey are on injured reserve; Jean-Francois Berube and Steve Bernier were scratched.
The Isles have lost 14 games this season due to injury/illness.
All-time Islander Leader Board:
John Tavares has:
· 180 goals (12th all-time, 4 behind Billy Harris and 26 behind John Tonelli)
· 232 assists (15th all-time, 17 behind Tomas Jonsson and 27 behind Billy Harris)
· 412 points (13th all-time and 31 behind Billy Harris)
· 441 games played (33rd among Islander skaters all-time, and 9 behind Scott Lachance)
Kyle Okposo has:
· 120 goals (19th all-time and 2 behind Duane Sutter)
· 194 assists (17th all-time and 8 behind Frans Nielsen)
· 314 points (18th all-time, 17 behind Ziggy Palffy and 19 behind Tomas Jonsson)
· 458 games played (31st among Islander skaters all-time, 1 behind Trent Hunter and 10 behind Mariusz Czerkawski)
Frans Nielsen has:
· 102 goals (27th all-time, and 3 behind Ed Westfall)
· 202 assists (16th all-time and 30 behind John Tavares)
· 304 points (19th all-time and 10 behind Kyle Okposo)
· 532 games played (19th among Islander skaters all-time and 2 behind Claude Lapointe)
Josh Bailey has:
· 140 assists (tied-29th all-time with Steve Thomas and 5 behind Travis Green)
· 224 points (tied-33rd all-time with Matt Moulson and 5 behind Trent Hunter and Benoit Hogue)
· 485 games played (26th among Islander skaters, 8 behind Ed Westfall and 24 behind Mick Vukota and Rich Pilon)
Season Series Stats
The Isles lead the season series 1 game to 0 and 2 points to 0. The season series will conclude in Calgary on February 25th.
The Isles have won three straight from Calgary, and 8 out of the last 11.
On The Farm
The Sound Tigers earned a 9-round shootout win on Sunday in St. John's, Newfoundland to improve to 6-2-0-0 on the season. Connor Jones scored the deciding goal in the shootout in his first game as a Sound Tiger.
Bridgeport visits Springfield on Wednesday and Albany on Friday before coming home to play Utica on Sunday.
Up Next
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29th – CAROLINA AT ISLANDERS 7:00PM
[MSG+ (Pre-game at 7:00), 91.5 WNYE-FM. 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
[MSG+ (Pre-game at 7:00), 91.5 WNYE-FM. 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Isles remain home and will entertain the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night in the first of their four Metropolitan Division meetings this season. Carolina is off to a 2-6-0 start; they will visit Detroit on Tuesday before heading to Brooklyn for the final game of their seven game road trip.
The Isles won three out of four games last season and have won 4 of the last 5 meetings between the teams
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
