Game 56

Isles 3, Jets 1
PA Parenteau scored the game-winning goal early in the third period and then set-up Matt Martin for an empty-net goal as the Islanders matched their longest road winning streak in a decade with a 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets in front of 15,004 at MTS Center. With the win the Isles climb within six points of the eighth place Leafs (who lost 5-1 in Calgary) and remain ten points behind seventh place Ottawa (who blanked Tampa 4-0). It’s the first time since the morning of December 9th that the Isles have been within six points of a playoff berth.

The Scoring:
First Period
17:50 EV WPG 22 C.THORBURN(3) 19 J.SLATER(5) 15 T.GLASS(9)

Second Period
3:55 PP NYI 26 M.MOULSON(25) 91 J.TAVARES(33)

Third Period
1:36 EV NYI 15 P.PARENTEAU(12) 27 M.JURCINA(5) 11 B.ROLSTON(5)
19:07 EV-EN NYI 17 M.MARTIN(7) 15 P.PARENTEAU(39) 29 J.PANDOLFO(1)

The Skinny:
The Isles are 5-2-1 since the All-Star Break, 5-2-2 in their last nine and 8-3-2 in their last 13 games.  The Islanders are back to NHL .500 for the third time in five games. Moulson’s goal was his 10th on the power play; most by an Isle since Tavares had 11 in 2009-10. Pandolfo’s assist on the empty-netter, his first as an Islander, was his first since January 16, 2010, and 125th of his career. Josh Bailey was plus-2; he is plus-4 in the last eight games and has not had a “minus” game in that stretch. The Isles are 9-2-1 in games tied after 40 minutes. Parenteau now has 51 points, two shy of his career high – set last year.  The Isles are now 9-5-0 against the Southeast (which includes Winnipeg) but are 8-14-4 against the rest of the Eastern Conference.

The Shots
Islanders: 10-7-8=25
Jets: 16-10-12=38

Home and Road
The Islanders are 24-24-8 overall and are 12-11-3 on the road. The Isles have won four straight road games for the first time since January 2008.
The Jets are 26-26-8 overall and 16-9-2 at home. 
Best First 26 on the Road (Post Cup Era)
•    32 points  2001-02
•    28 points  1983-84 and 1985-86
•    27 points  1989-90, 2002-03 and 2010-11

In the Nets
Evgeni Nabokov made 37 saves and improves to 14-14-0 on the season with his 307th career win. Nabokov is 8-3-0 in his last 11 games (1.56 GAA, 95.0 save percentage).
Ondrej Pavelec stopped 23 shots but falls to 20-20-6.

Leaning on #91
John Tavares has 55 points (22-33-55) on 130 Islander goals this season (42.3%).  No Islander since Zigmund Palffy has recorded points on over 40% of the team’s goals in a complete season.
Tavares is 1-1-2 in seven games in February after having 22 points on 35 Islander goals in January.

Don’t Forget PA
With 51 points, Parenteau has points on 39.2% of the Islanders’ goals this season.

Power Plays
The Islanders went 1-1 on the power play while the Jets were 0-3. The Isles are 2-14 in their last seven games with the extra man.  The Isles’ power play is now 18-72 (25%) on the road this season.

The Isles have allowed two goals their last 13 times short (84.6%), covering seven games, but have killed 52-57 (91.2%) over the last 26 games, dating back to December 16th.  This was the first time the Isles had been shorthanded vs. the Jets this season.  They had gone 163:03 without being shorthanded when Tavares was assessed a delay-of-game penalty late in the second period.

They Said It
PA Parenteau: "We still control our destiny and we still feel like we're really in the mix."

They Tweeted It
@RobCarlin “Don't look now - but the #Isles are just 6 pts out of playoff spot in East.. When he's on, PA Parenteau is fun to watch. He was on tonight!”

The Coach
“When your special teams does its job, especially this time of year, you’re going to have success.  We turned the puck over, but their clearing attempt we kept in and it was a big goal for us at a key time in the game.”

Leading Ice Men
Andrew MacDonald led the Isles with 23:54; Dustin Byfuglien led Winnipeg with 28:13. It’s the eighth time in the last ten games that MacDonald has led the Isles in ice-time. The Isles are 14-6-4 when MacDonald is the leader.

In the Circle
The Islanders won 27 draws; Winnipeg won 32 – the Isles lost the majority of draws for the fifth straight game. Marty Reasoner won 6 of 11 for the Isles; Jim Slater won 6 of 10 for Winnipeg.

Heavy Hitters
The Islanders were outhit 18-15. NHL hit leader Matt Martin led all players with four hits, raising his total to 258. Martin, who had a club record 299 hits last season (hits have only been recorded since 2005-06) leads the NHL in hits by a wide margin. He is on a pace to have 378 hits, which would be the highest total of any NHL player since the lockout. 

Lots of Blocks
The Isles were credited with 16 blocks. They lead the NHL with 971. Eleven Islanders blocked at least one.

Third Periods
The Isles outscored Winnipeg 2-0 in the third period. The Isles have been outscored 58-42 overall in the third period (47-34 excluding empty nets). In the first two periods, the Isles have been outscored 94-85. 

All-time Winners
The Islanders improve to five games over all-time NHL .500 (1337-1332-429 in 3,098 games). The Isles have twice this season been one game below .500. Prior to this season, they had not been below NHL .500 since they were 177-178-83 prior to their victory on January 16, 1978.

Scoring
The Isles have scored 78 goals in their 24 wins (3.25 per game) and 52 goals in their other 32 games (0-24-8; 1.63 per game).  In their 24 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 30 goals (1.25 per game).

Head of the Class
John Tavares has 176 career points; he is 29 points ahead of Matt Duchene for most among 2009 draft picks.  No other player in that draft is anywhere close. (Duchene suffered a knee injury in late December and has not yet returned to action.)
Longest Point Streaks in NHL, Last 2 Seasons
•    Sidney Crosby, 25 games (11/5/10-12/28/10)
•    John Tavares, 12 games (12/29/11-1/21/12)
•    Ilya Kovalchuk 12 games (2/1/11-2/25/11)

Friends, Friends, Friends
Moulson has 25 goals this season; John Tavares has earned assists on 17 of them.  He has now been on-ice for 49 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 33 of them, dating back to a Moulson goal on November 17, 2010 against Tampa. 

MOT-ley Crew?
Since being put together 22 games ago, Matt Moulson is 9-12-21, Kyle Okposo is 6-10-16, and John Tavares is 10-18-28.  The Isles are 13-7-2 in those games.

25-25-25, 30-30-30?
Matt Moulson is the first Islander since Ziggy Palffy to have at least three consecutive 20-goal seasons. He is five goals away from a third consecutive 30-goal season; Palffy was the last Islander to accomplish that feat. Moulson has 86 goals as an Islander – the most by any Islander since the lockout.

20-20-20 x 2
Moulson and Tavares are the first Islander teammates to record at least twenty goals in three straight seasons since Mark Parrish and Jason Blake did so in 2002-03, 2003-04, and 2005-06.  Tavares, by the way, is the fifth player to score at least 20 goals for the Islanders in each of his first three NHL seasons, joining:
•    Billy Harris (first six seasons: 1972-73 through 1977-78),
•    Clark Gillies (five: 1974-75 through 1978-79),
•    Bryan Trottier (13: 1975-76 through 1987-88) and
•    Mike Bossy (all 10 seasons: 1977-78 through 1986-87).

Ironman
Matt Moulson, the Isles’ reigning ironman, has played in all 220 games since joining the team. Moulson’s streak is the longest for an Islander since Richard Park played in 221 games from October 2006- February 2009.  Moulson is one of only five Islanders in the last thirty years to appear in 200 consecutive games:
•    Richard Park 10/5/2006 – 2/18/2009 221
•    Matt Moulson 10/3/2009-CURRENT  220
•    Bryan McCabe 10/7/1995-2/4/1998 220
•    Bryan Trottier 3/7/1981- 1/12/1984 219
•    Mariusz Czerkawski 12/23/1999 – 4/14/2002 215
Billy Harris played in the first 576 games in Islander history; that figure still stands as the club record.

Mark Streit is the only Islander defender to appear in every game this season.

Missing Men
Travis Hamonic (broken nose), Tim Wallace and Ty Wishart (healthy) were scratched.  Dylan Reese, Mike Mottau, Rick DiPietro, and Mark Katic are on injured reserve.  The Isles have lost 270 man-games to injury so far this season. 

List Time
Career Wins, Active Goalies
1. Martin Brodeur 644
2. Roberto Luongo 331
3. Nikolai Khabibulin 328
4. Evgeni Nabokov  307
5. Miikka Kiprusoff 302

Career Wins
21. Sean Burke 324
22. Evgeni Nabokov 307
23. Billy Smith 305

Most First Goals of Game (NHL This Season)
1    Matt Moulson     9
2    Ilya Kovalchuk     8
2    Four Players with     7

Career Goals as an Islander
32    Butch Goring     87
33    Matt Moulson     86
34    Tomas Jonsson     84
35    Wayne Merrick     81
35    Dave Scatchard     81
37    Marty McInnis    79
38    Miroslav Satan    78
39    Claude Lapointe    76
40    John Tavares     75
41    Lorne Henning    73
41    JP Parise     73
       
Career Games as an Islander (skaters)
58    Arron Asham     300
58    Roman Hamrlik     300
60    Frans Nielsen     293
61    Gord Dineen     287
62    Jeff Norton     282
63    Steve Thomas    275
64    Josh Bailey     267
65    Blake Comeau     261
65    Andre St. Laurent     261
       
71    Brad Isbister    247
71    Brendan Witt    247
73    Sean Bergenheim     246
74    Kyle Okposo     245
75    Miro Satan    243
       
85    Michael Peca    222
86    Matt Moulson     220
86    Bob Lorimer    220
86    Bryan McCabe    220
89    Andy Hilbert    218
90    John Tavares     217
91    Mark Streit     212
92    Paul Boutilier     211
  
Career Points as an Islander
39    Lorne Henning     184
40    John Tavares     176
41    Randy Wood     172
       
50    Roman Hamrlik    153
51    Matt Moulson     150
52    Kyle Okposo     146
52    Frans Nielsen     146
54    Michael Peca     142
       
Season Series Stats
The Islanders lead the season series two games to one (4 points to 3). The Isles sweep both games in Winnipeg; they last swept a road season series against the Thrashers in 2003-04. The Jets will visit the Coliseum for the home finale on April 5th.

Happy Anniversary
30 years ago today (2-14-82):  The Islanders extend their winning streak to twelve straight games as they pound the Whalers at the Mall in Hartford, 9-1.
All-time, the Isles are 7-9-4 on this date.  Tonight’s win was only their second on Valentine's Day since 1989 (2-6-0).

On The Farm
The Sound Tigers got an overtime goal from David Ullstrom to defeat Connecticut 2-1 on Sunday after blasting Springfield 8-1 on Saturday. Bridgeport is 13-1-0-1 in their last 15 games and trail the Whale by three points. Bridgeport is off until Saturday, when they host Adirondack.

Up Next
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16th   ISLANDERS AT ST. LOUIS 8:00PM
[MSG+ (Islanders Game Night at 7:30pm), WRHU (88.7FM)]
The Islanders conclude the road trip with a rare visit to St. Louis – only their second since 2005.  This is the only meeting of the season between the teams; the Isles are 3-1-3 in their last seven against the Blues. 
The Isles will be looking for their fifth straight road win – the Isles have not won five straight on the road since opening the Peter Laviolette era with six straight wins.

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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.