Game 8
Devils 3, Isles 0
Steve Bernier scored two goals 70 seconds apart late in the third period and David Clarkson added an empty net goal as the New Jersey Devils blanked the Islanders 3-0 before a crowd of 11,558 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Johan Hedberg made 22 saves for his second career shutout of the Islanders.
The Scoring:
1st Period
None
2nd Period
None
3rd Period
16:06 NJD PPG - S. Bernier (2) Snap - ASST: A. Henrique (1) AND A. Greene (1) 1 - 0 NJD
17:16 NJD S. Bernier (3) Wrist - ASST: R. Carter (3) AND S. Gionta (3) 2 - 0 NJD
19:38 NJD EN - D. Clarkson (5) Wrist - ASST: A. Greene (2) 3 - 0 NJD
The Skinny: The Devils win ended the Isles two game win streak and three game (2-0-1) point streak as well as the Devils four game losing streak (0-1-3) … Moulson, Tavares, Nielsen and Streit each had point streaks stopped at three games … The Isles are 1-3-3 in games played on Super Bowl Sunday; this was only the third time the Islanders had hosted a game on Super Bowl Sunday (1974 and 1990) … The Isles wore their alternate black jerseys for the first time this season. The Isles are 3-8-3 all-time wearing their alternate jerseys … It’s the 13th time that the Devils have blanked the Isles; only the Rangers (13) have shutout the Islanders as often … The Isles went 0-for-7 on the power play; it’s their most failures without a goal since January 6, 2011 at Edmonton … The Isles are 0-8-1 in their last nine games when they go 0-for-7 (or worse) on the power play … The Devils blocked 22 shots, equaling the number that the Isles got on net … Bernier ‘s two-goal game is his first as a Devil; he has also scored two goals in a game for four other teams.
The Shots:
Isles 10-7-5=22
Devils 7-7-13=27
Home and Road
The Islanders are 4-3-1 overall, 1-2-0 at home and 3-1-1 on the road. The Isles have earned at least a point in five of the last seven games (4-2-1).
New Jersey is 4-1-3 overall, 2-0-1 at home and 2-1-2 on the road.
In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov made 24 saves but falls to 4-2-1 on the season. Nabokov is now 3-7-1 in his career against the Devils.
Johan Hedberg made 22 saves; he is 1-0-1 on the season and has allowed just one goal. Hedberg, who also blanked the Isles on November 25, 2011, recorded his second consecutive Coliseum shutout.
Power Plays
The Isles went 0-for-7 on the power play while New Jersey was 1-for-3. The Isles entered the game with the top-rated power play and the top-rated penalty kill in the NHL.
They Said It
Peter DeBoer: "Even at home the other day, we were fine 5-on-5. They ate us alive with their power play. We fixed that today."
They Tweeted It
@StapeNewsday: “Replay confirms -- Strait coasted in, hit Gionta hard and clean. Brutal call.”
The Coach
“You're not going to generate any offense if you don't go to those hot areas. We stayed on the perimeter way too much."
Head of the Class
John Tavares has 213 career points; he is 54 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.
Friends, Friends, Friends
Matt Moulson has four goals this season; John Tavares has earned an assist on two of them. Tavares has now been on-ice for 64 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 42 of them, dating back to a Moulson goal on November 17, 2010 against Tampa Bay.
107 NHL Goals
Moulson has 107 career goals (101 as an Islander). While 262 players were selected before the Penguins chose Moulson in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, only 17 have more goals.
Road Warrior
All four of Matt Moulson’s goals this season have come on the road. Scoring on the road is nothing new for Moulson; 23 of his 36 goals last season also came on the road. Only Steven Stamkos (24) had more.
Leading Ice Men
Travis Hamonic led the Isles with 27:43. Bryce Salvador led New Jersey with 24:37.
In the Circle
The Islanders won 31 draws; the Devils won 27. John Tavares won 13-of-22 for the Isles; Adam Henrique won 10-of-17 for New Jersey.
Heavy Hitters
The Islanders out-hit the Devils 24-19. Matt Carkner fought Krystofer Barch in the second period. It was the Islanders’ fifth fight of the season.
All-time Winners
The Islanders fall to three games over .500 all-time (1351-1348-433 in 3,132 games). The Isles twice last season fell one game below .500. Prior to that, they had not been below .500 since they were 177-178-83 prior to their victory on January 16, 1978.
Ironmen
Matt Moulson, the Isles’ reigning ironman, has played in all 254 games since joining the team. Moulson’s streak is the longest for an Islander in the Post-Cup era and the fourth-longest in club history. Billy Harris played in the first 576 games in Islander history; that figure still stands as the club record.
Three other Islanders (Frans Nielsen, John Tavares and Mark Streit) also played in every game last season. Tavares extended his streak to 167 consecutive games, while Nielsen and Streit have each played in 90.
Longest Consecutive Game Streaks, Islander History
1. Billy Harris 576
2. Bob Nystrom 301
3. Denis Potvin 262
4. Matt Moulson 254
Missing Men
Radek Martinek and Joe Finley were scratched. Colin MacDonald served the second game of a two-game suspension.Josh Bailey and Jesse Joensuu remain suspended after suffering injuries in Europe. Lubomir Visnovsky has not yet reported.
List Time
Career Wins, Active Goalies
1. Martin Brodeur 659
2. Roberto Luongo 340
3. Nikolai Khabibulin 328
4. Evgeni Nabokov 316
5. Miikka Kiprusoff 312
Career Wins
21. Sean Burke 324
22. Evgeni Nabokov 316
23. Miikka Kiprusoff 312
Career Goals as an Islander
22 Benoit Hogue 105
22 Ed Westfall 105
24 Matt Moulson 101
24 Anders Kallur 101
26 Trent Hunter 99
32 Travis Green 92
33 John Tavares 88
34 Butch Goring 87
Career Assists as an Islander – active players
1 John Tavares 125
2 Mark Streit 120
2 Frans Nielsen 120
4 Kyle Okposo 95
Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
48 Shawn Bates 330
49 Eric Cairns 327
49 Frans Nielsen 327
51 Alan Kerr 326
52 Brad Dalgarno 321
59 Arron Asham 300
59 Roman Hamrlik 300
61 Josh Bailey 292
62 Gord Dineen 287
63 Jeff Norton 282
64 Kyle Okposo 279
65 Steve Thomas 275
70 Pierre Turgeon 255
71 Matt Moulson 254
72 John Tavares 251
73 Jude Drouin 250
74 Brad Isbister 247
74 Brendan Witt 247
76 Sean Bergenheim 246
76 Mark Streit 246
78 Miroslav Satan 243
Career Points as an Islander
31 Mark Parrish 214
32 John Tavares 213
32 Jean Potvin 213
32 Garry Howatt 213
35 Anders Kallur 211
36 Marty McInnis 198
40 Lorne Henning 184
41 Matt Moulson 178
42 Frans Nielsen 174
43 Randy Wood 172
44 Claude Lapointe 171
44 JP Parise 171
46 Shawn Bates 170
47 Jude Drouin 169
48 Dave Scatchard 168
49 Miroslav Satan 166
50 Kyle Okposo 164
51 Oleg Kvasha 158
52 Mark Streit 156
53 Alan Kerr 154
54 Roman Hamrlik 153
Season Series Stats
The Devils lead the season series two games to one and five points to two. The teams will meet again on February 16 at the Coliseum before completing the season series in Newark on April 1.
The Isles have scored only three goals in their last five home games against the Devils and New Jersey has held the Isles to two goals or less in eight straight Coliseum games.
Happy Anniversary
36 years ago today (2-3-77): Richie Hansen becomes the first Long Islander to play for the Islanders as the Isles defeat the Rangers 6-3.
All-time, the Isles are 8-6-4 on this date.
On The Farm
Brock Nelson had his first professional hat trick and Nino Niederreiter added his 20th goal of the season as the Sound Tigers defeat Norfolk 4-1 on Saturday. Bridgeport is now 20-19-2-3. The Sound Tigers are off until next weekend, when they host Portland on Saturday night and Worcester on Sunday afternoon.
Up Next
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5 PITTSBURGH AT ISLANDERS (7:00PM)
[MSG+ (Pre-game show at 6:30PM), WRHU (88.7FM)]
The Islanders conclude the homestand and look to get back to .500 at home as they host the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Isles dominated the Penguins last week in Pittsburgh but the Penguins rebounded this weekend to sweep a pair of games and re-take first place in the Atlantic.
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.
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