By Eric Hornick
Thomas Hickey scored the winning goal with 7:05 to play as the Islanders improved to 5-1-1 in their last seven games with a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks before a sellout crowd of 18,264 at Rogers Arena.
The Isles are 8-2-1 in their last eleven games, as they remain in third place in the Metropolitan Division, three points ahead of Pittsburgh. The Isles are once again five points behind the Rangers, and still have two games in hand on the Blueshirts.
The Scoring:
1ST PERIOD
04:20 NYI Travis Hamonic (5) Wrist shot – ASST: Matt Martin (9), Casey Cizikas (17)1 – 0 NYI
10:42 VAN PPG – Linden Vey (3) Wrist shot – ASST: Ben Hutton (18) 1 – 1 Tie
2ND PERIOD
14:29 NYI Anders Lee (10) Deflected shot – ASST: Thomas Hickey (7), Kyle Okposo (32) 2 – 1 NYI
3RD PERIOD
10:52 VAN Daniel Sedin (24) Wrist shot – ASST: Henrik Sedin (38) 2 – 2 Tie
12:55 NYI Thomas Hickey (4) Slapshot – ASST: NONE 3 – 2 NYI
The Skinny:
The Isles improve to 24-2-2 in games that they led after two periods…Casey Cizikas is 4-5-9 in the last nine games; Cizikas now has points in five straight games… This was the Isles’ final game of the season against the Pacific Division; the Isles were 10-3-1 vs. the Pacific this season…An Islander defenseman has a point on each of the last six goals…Thomas Hickey has two goals in the last three games; 5 of his 11 career goals have come against Canadian opponents…Jack Capuano recorded his 199th win as Islander coach…The Isles are 3-0-0 when getting goals from multiple defensemen in the same game…Vancouver has been outscored 72-55 in the third period…Matt Martin’s fight with Derek Dorsett was his 10th of the season, tying Colorado’s Cody McLeod for the NHL lead…The Canucks are 2-6-0 in their last 8 games…Thomas Greiss’ save percentage improved to .931, best in the NHL. No Islander goalie has ever appeared in at least 25 games and finished the season with a save percentage of over .919 (Jaroslav Halak is also at .919 this season).
Two Strong in Net
Both Thomas Greiss (17) and Jaroslav Halak (16) and now have at least 16 wins. It’s the first time since the 2002-03 season (Chris Osgood-17 and Garth Snow – 16) that two Isles goalies have recorded 16 wins in the same season. St. Louis and Dallas are the only other NHL teams with two goalies with at least 16 wins this season.
The Captain’s Countdown
John Tavares now has 197 career goals; with three more goals he will become only the 11th player in Islander history to record 200 goals.
PK Islander
The Isles killed 1 of 2 Vancouver power plays. The NHL’s top-rated penalty kill has now allowed only 23 power play goals in 177 times short (87.0%). On the road, the Isles have allowed 13 goals in 87 times short (85.1%).
Most Points in The Post-Cup Era through 61 games
· 80 in 2014-15
· 75 in 2015-16
· 70 in 2001-02
Home Sweet Home
The Isles are 19-8-4 on home-ice (42 points). In the past 28 years, the Isles have earned more than 42 points in the first 31 home games only twice (46 in first 31 at home last season and 44 in 31 in 2003-04).
The Isles have clinched an above NHL-.500 finish at home. It is the first time since 2005-06 and 2006-07 that the Isles have recorded successive home seasons above NHL-.500.
Road Warriors
The Isles are 4-1-0 on their current 7-game road trip. This is the 5th time in club history that the Isles are playing seven consecutive road games, but the 2nd consecutive season:
· 1981-82 (1-5-1)
· 2000-01 (2-3-2)
· 2009-10 (3-2-2)
· 2014-15 (5-2-0)
This was also the fourth game of a stretch in which the Isles are playing 12 out of 14 games on the road for only the 2nd time in their history. From November 11 – December 9, 2009 (John Tavares’ rookie season), the Isles went 5-7-2 in a stretch in which they played 12 of 14 on the road. However the Isles changed time zones only twice in that stretch (when they visited Vancouver and St. Louis). The Isles will change time zones seven times during these trips.
The Shots:
Isles 2-9-13=24
Vancouver 6-13-14=33
Home and Road
The Islanders are 34-20-7 overall; 19-8-4 at home and 15-12-3 on the road.
Vancouver is 24-26-12 overall; 11-15-5 at home and 13-11-7 on the road.
By Division
The Isles are 11-5-3 in Division games and are 23-15-4 in games against other divisions. They are 5-10-2 vs. the Atlantic Division, 8-2-1 vs. the Central Division, and 10-3-1 vs. the Pacific Division.
The Isles are 32-11-3 since the start of last season against the Metropolitan Division.
How The West is Won
The Isles are 18-5-2 against the Western Conference, including 12-0-2 at home. The Isles have the most wins of any Eastern Conference team against the Western Conference (Tampa Bay is 15-9-2 and the Rangers are 15-8-2). Only 8 Western Conference teams have more wins against the West than the Isles do.
In the Nets
Thomas Greiss made 31 saves to improve to 17-6-3 on the season. Greiss, who improved to 6-0-1 in his last seven decisions, is 1-2-0 in his career against Vancouver.
Jacob Markstrom made 21 saves but falls to 9-8-4 on the season and 1-3-0 in his career vs. the Isles.
Power Plays
The Islanders were 0-1 on the power play, while Vancouver was 1-2.
The Isles are 21-5-3 when they score at least one power play goal and 13-15-4 when they do not. The Isles are 9-9-2 when they allow at least one power play goal and 25-11-5 when they do not.
Three is a Magic Number
The Isles are 28-3-0 when they score at least three goals (including shootout winners) and are 6-17-7 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 14-6-7 in games decided by a single goal including 7-6-0 in regulation. They are 3-4 in games decided in overtime and are 4-3 in shootouts. The Isles are 5-4 in games in which an empty-net goal turns a 1 goal game into a 2-goal game.
First Goal
The Isles are 23-5-3 when they score first and are 11-15-4 when they allow the opening goal.
Second to The One
Jack Capuano, the 2nd winningest coach in Islander history, is 199-168-53 behind the Islander bench. Among the 9 New York area teams, only the Yankees’ Joe Girardi has led his team longer than Capuano.
Back-to-Backs
The Isles are 2-4-4 on the front-end and 7-2-1 on the back end of back-to-backs this season. The next back-to-back set will be on March 8th vs. Pittsburgh and March 9th in Toronto.
Tired vs. Rested
· The Isles are 3-1-0 when both teams played the night before.
· The Isles are 5-3-0 when they are rested and their opponents are not.
· The Isles are 4-1-1 when their opponents are rested and the Isles are not.
Ice-time Leaders
Isles: Calvin deHaan (25:46); Vancouver: Ben Hutton (25:03)
Isles record by ice-time leaders: Travis Hamonic (20-4-4), Johnny Boychuk (5-3-0), Calvin deHaan (2-3-1), Nick Leddy (6-7-2), John Tavares (0-2-0), Tied (0-1-0)
Kyle Okposo led the forwards with 18:06 of ice time. Isles record by Forward ice-time leaders: John Tavares (22-16-6), Ryan Strome (2-0-0), Kyle Okposo (2-2-1), Brock Nelson (1-0-0), Frans Nielsen (4-0-0), Josh Bailey (2-0-0), Tied (1-1-0).
Face-offs
Isles 32, Vancouver 25 (56%).
John Tavares won 13 of 19 for the Isles; Markus Granlund won 9 of 14 for Vancouver.
The Isles won 13 of 18 in the second period and 13 of 23 in the third period after winning only 6 of 16 in the first period.
The Isles won 30 of 53 draws at even strength, 0 of 1 on the power play and 2 of 3 on the penalty kill.
Heavy Hitters
Isles 29, Vancouver 13. Cal Clutterbuck and Calvin deHaan led the Isles with four hits while Matt Martin added three, extending his NHL-leading total to 290. Martin has recorded at least 250 hits five times; he has five of the nine 250-hit seasons in club history. (Hits first recorded in 2005-06).
Fights
Travis Hamonic fought Emerson Etem while Matt Martin battled Derek Dorsett, both in the second period. Season total – 18 (Martin-10, Bernier, Boychuk, Cizikas, Hamonic, Leddy, Lee, Okposo, Strait).
Blocked Shots
The Isles were credited with 17 blocked shots, including three from Calvin deHaan.
For the Corsi Crowd
All situations: Isles 44, Vancouver 59. 5-on-5: Isles 43, Vancouver 48.
The Corsi stat measures shots attempted, both for and against (including blocks).
Anders Lee, Brock Nelson and John Tavares led the Isles with +6 5-on-5 Corsi ratings; Nelson also had a club-leading 62% Corsi For percentage. Jake Virtanen led Vancouver with a +14 5-on-5 Corsi rating.
Ironmen
· Nikolay Kulemin -211 (68 for Maple Leafs and 143 for the Isles)
· Brock Nelson -196 (all for Isles)
· Anders Lee -137 (all for Isles)
Missing Men
Adam Pelech and Mikhail Grabovski are on injured reserve. Calvin deHaan returned to the lineup, replacing Brian Strait. Shane Prince made his Islander debut, replacing Eric Boulton in the lineup; Steve Bernier, Marek Zidlicky and Jaroslav Halak were scratched.
The Isles have lost 146 games this season due to injury/illness.
Missing a Piece (or two)
The Isles are 13-15-2 over the last two seasons in games in which they are missing Johnny Boychuk, Travis Hamonic or Nick Leddy, including 5-5-1 this season. They are 5-4-1, including 2-1-1 this season, when two of the three miss a game.
Season Series Stats
The teams split the season series 1 game to 1 with the Isles earning 3 points to Vancouver’s 2.
This was the Isles’ first win in four games against the Canucks, and their first since they scored seven goals in the third period in March of 2014.
On The Farm
Bridgeport is 29-22-3-2 on the season. The Sound Tigers hosts Hartford in a key Atlantic Division matchup on Wednesday.
Up Next
THURSDAY, MARCH 3rd– ISLANDERS AT WINNIPEG 8:00PM
[MSG+ (Pre-game at 7:30), 91.5 WNYE-FM, 88.7 WRHU-FM, 103.9 WRCN]
The Isles conclude the western portion of this road trip on Thursday when they battle the Jets in Winnipeg.
It’s the second meeting of the season between the teams; the Isles earned their first Barclays Center win with a 4-2 victory over the Jets back on Columbus Day.
Since Winnipeg rejoined the NHL, the Isles are 5-0-1 in Manitoba, with 4 of the six games going at least to overtime. Overall, the Isles are 6-0-2 in their last eight games against Winnipeg/Atlanta.
The Isles are 7-0-1-1 in their last 9 trips to Winnipeg, dating back to a 3-1 loss on November 20, 1991.
