Game 16
Sens 3, Isles 1

Andre Benoit and Dave Dziurzynski each scored their first NHL goal as the Ottawa Senators, playing without injured stars Jason Spezza and Erik Karlsson, defeated the Islanders 3-1 before 18,595 at ScotiaBank Place. Craig Anderson made 37 saves, as he lowered his goals against average to 1.57.

The Scoring:

1st Period

NONE

2nd Period

06:01 OTT PPG - C. Greening (2) Wrist - ASST: S. Da Costa (1) AND D. Alfredsson (6) 1 - 0 OTT

08:37 OTT A. Benoit (1) Slap - ASST: J. Silfverberg (3) 2 - 0 OTT

3rd Period

02:44 NYI T. Hamonic (2) Wrist - ASST: M. Reasoner (2) AND K. Okposo (4) 2 - 1 OTT

17:25 OTT D. Dziurzynski (1) Wrist - ASST: Z. Smith (6) AND E. Gryba (1) 3 - 1 OTT

The Skinny:

The Sens had gone 0-for-24 on the power play in the past six games … Hamonic’s goal ended a 103:19 scoreless streak; it was his first goal since opening night and the Isles’ first goal by a defenseman since January 31 … Ottawa has outscored its opponent 20-5 in the second period this season … Ottawa coach Paul MacLean recorded his 50th win behind the Senator bench … Rookie defenseman Eric Gryba recorded his first NHL point on the Dziurzynski goal.

The Shots:

Isles 8-17-13=38

Senators 7-10-9=26

The 38 shots are the most for the Islanders on the road this season and match the most the Islanders have had in any road game since December 2, 2011 (41 in Chicago).

Home and Road

The Islanders are 6-9-1 overall, 2-6-0 at home and 4-3-1 on the road.

The Senators are 9-6-2 overall, 6-1-2 at home and 3-5-0 on the road.

In the Nets

Rick DiPietro made 23 saves as he falls to 0-3-0 on the season. The three goals are the fewest DiPietro has allowed in any appearance this season. DiPietro is now 4-7-0 vs. Ottawa; this was his first appearance vs. the Sens since January 29, 2008.

Craig Anderson made 37 saves as he improved to 8-4-2 on the season and 5-4-2 vs. the Isles. Anderson, who was 13-30-7 in his first 50 career decisions, is 112-84-25 since then.

Power Plays

The Isles went 0-for-4 on the power play while the Sens were 1-for-5. The Isles have allowed a power play goal in five straight games.

They Said It

“(Anderson) played well. He’s probably been the best goalie in the league this year. You can see he’s playing with a lot of confidence. He’s challenging a lot of shots.”

They Tweeted It

@SunGarrioch: David Alphabet on first goal: “You dream of it as a kid. It’s a great feeling that’s tough to explain right now,” said Dziurzynski. #Sens

The Coach

“I thought we had some good chances tonight. Our guys played hard. We had some looks. We’ve just got to bear down a little bit more. But give Anderson credit. He played well.”

Head of the Class

John Tavares has 222 career points; he is 61 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 seven goals this season; John Tavares has earned an assist on four of them. Tavares has now been on-ice for 67 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 44 of them, dating back to a Moulson goal on November 17, 2010 against Tampa Bay.

110 NHL Goals

Moulson has 110 career goals (104 as an Islander). While 262 players were selected before the Penguins chose Moulson in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, only 17 have more goals.

Leading Ice Men

Mark Streit played 25:45 to lead the Isles. Marc Methot led the Sens with 24:24.

In the Circle

The Islanders won 26 draws; the Senators won 24. Marty Reasoner won 7-of-11 for the Isles; Zack Smith won 9-of-16 for Ottawa.

Heavy Hitters

The Islanders were out-hit 23-14; Matt Martin led the Isles with four hits. There were no fights, leaving the season total at nine.

Under .500

The Islanders fall one game under all-time .500 (1353-1354-433 in 3,140 games). The Isles have been one game below .500 twice last season and twice this season. Prior to that, they had not been below NHL .500 since they were 177-178-83 before their victory on January 16, 1978.

3 Usually Enough

The Isles are 6-1-1 when scoring at least three goals and 0-8-0 when scoring two or less.

A Tale of Two Months

The Isles were 4-2-1 in January, outscoring their opponents 27-23. The Isles are 2-7-0 in February, and have been outscored 34-18.

Road Tripping

This was the first of a three game road trip, and the only five days that the Isles are away from the Metropolitan area in February. The Isles are 0-1-0 on the trip with games remaining in Montreal and Buffalo.

Battling the Northeast

This was the first game of an eight game stretch in which the Isles will play seven Northeast opponents, one Southeast opponent, and no divisional (Atlantic) opponents.

Ironmen

Matt Moulson, the Isles’ reigning ironman, has played in all 262 games since joining the team. Moulson tied Denis Potvin for the third-longest streak in franchise history on Tuesday. Moulson’s streak is the longest for an Islander in the Post-Cup era. 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 175 consecutive games, while Nielsen and Streit have each played in 98.

Longest Consecutive Game Streaks, Islander History

1. Billy Harris 576

2. Bob Nystrom 301

3. Matt Moulson 262

3. Denis Potvin 262

Missing Men

Radek Martinek, David Ullstrom and Thomas Hickey were scratched. Matt Carkner and Brian Strait are on Injured Reserve. Jesse Joensuu remains suspended after suffering an injury in Europe.

Scoring

The Isles have scored 28 goals in their 6 wins (4.67 per game) and 17 goals in their other 10 games (0-9-1; 1.70 per game). In their nine regulation losses, the Isles have scored 13 goals (1.44 per game).

Career Wins, Active Goalies

1. Martin Brodeur 663

2. Roberto Luongo 343

3. Nikolai Khabibulin 329

4. Evgeni Nabokov 318

5. Miikka Kiprusoff 313

Career Wins

21. Sean Burke 324

22. Evgeni Nabokov 318

23. Miikka Kiprusoff 313

Career Goals as an Islander

22 Benoit Hogue 105

22 Ed Westfall 105

24 Matt Moulson 104

25 Anders Kallur 101

26 Trent Hunter 99

27 John Tavares 95

27 Mikko Makela 95

27 David Volek 95

Career Assists as an Islander – active players

1 John Tavares 127

2 Mark Streit 122

3 Frans Nielsen 121

4 Kyle Okposo 96

Career Games as an Islander (skaters)

43 Marty McInnis 337

44 Frans Nielsen 335

45 Butch Goring 332

45 Oleg Kvasha 332

58 Gord Lane 304

59 Arron Asham 300

59 Roman Hamrlik 300

61 Josh Bailey 298

62 Gord Dineen 287

62 Kyle Okposo 287

64 Jeff Norton 282

65 Steve Thomas 275

66 Matt Moulson 262

67 Blake Comeau 261

67 Andre St. Laurant 261

69 John Tavares 259

69 Brad Lauer 259

71 Benoit Hogue 258

72 Pierre Turgeon 255

73 Mark Streit 254

74 Jude Drouin 250

Career Points as an Islander

28 Benoit Hogue 229

28 Trent Hunter 229

30 John Tavares 222

31 Mikko Makela 219

38 Butch Goring 195

39 Jeff Norton 188

40 Matt Moulson 187

41 Lorne Henning 184

42 Frans Nielsen 176

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

49 Kyle Okposo 166

51 Mark Streit 158

51 Oleg Kvasha 158

53 Alan Kerr 154

Season Series Stats

The Senators lead the season series one game to none (two points to zero). This was the Islanders’ only visit to Ottawa this season; the Sens will be at the Coliseum on March 3 and March 19.

The Isles have lost four straight to Ottawa, and have been outscored in those games by a combined total of 19-4.

Happy Anniversary

34 years ago today (2-19-79): Four different Islander goalies have earned shutouts on this date, but if it is February 19th, you have to think about Mike Bossy, who on this date in 1979 scored his 100th career goal in an 8-3 Islander win at Los Angeles. Bossy became the quickest player in NHL history to reach 100 goals, doing so in the second period of his 129th game. The Kings’ goalie was Ron Grahame, who 23 months later would give up Bossy’s 50th in 50 games.

All-time, the Isles are 12-5-0 on this date.

On The Farm

Bridgeport is 22-21-3-3. The Sound Tigers are tied for third with Albany in the Northeast Division after being swept in a home-and-home series by Providence. Bridgeport is off until Friday, when they visit Springfield. Nino Niederreiter continues to lead Bridgeport in goals (22) and points (39).

Up Next

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 21 ISLANDERS AT MONTREAL (7:30PM)

[MSG+2 (Pre-game show at 7:00PM), WRHU (88.7FM)]

The Islanders continue their three game road trip with a game in Montreal against Les Habitants. It’s the first of three meetings this season with the Canadiens.

The Islanders have had some success in Montreal in recent years, going 4-3-1 (including 1-1-0 last year); however, all four Isles win have been in overtime or the shootout, leaving Montreal 7-0-4 in the last 11 at home against the Isles. That streak began on March 13, 2007.

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.