Game 19

Carolina 4, Isles 2

Bobby Sanguinetti scored his first NHL goal midway through the third period as the Carolina Hurricanes rallied from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Islanders 4-2 before 10,048 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The Isles conclude this stretch of five games in seven days with a 2-3-0 record while Carolina regains a share of 1st place in the Southeast with 19 points.

The Scoring:

1st Period

04:38 NYI M. Moulson (10) Snap - ASST: B. Boyes (11) AND J. Tavares (12) 1 - 0 NYI

12:25 NYI J. Tavares (13) Wrist - ASST: M. Moulson (13) 2 - 0 NYI

2nd Period

18:28 CAR PPG - E. Staal (9) Snap - ASST: A. Semin (9) AND J. Tlusty (5) 2 - 1 NYI

19:13 CAR J. Staal (4) Snap - ASST: P. Dwyer (3) AND J. Faulk (5) 2 - 2 TIE

3rd Period

10:17 CAR B. Sanguinetti (1) Wrist - ASST: P. Dwyer (4) AND J. Staal (11) 3 - 2 CAR

19:30 CAR EN - A. Semin (4) Snap - ASST: NONE 4 - 2 CAR

The Skinny: Josh Bailey played his 300th NHL game, all with the Islanders…Radek Martinek appeared in his first Islander game since April 9, 2011 and his first NHL game since October 21, 2011…Tavares was the first player in the NHL to reach 13 goals; Steven Stamkos tied him for the league lead later in the night…Eric Staal’s goal ended a 133:10 Islanders shutout streak and was the first vs. Poulin in nearly 75 minutes, dating back to last season…It’s the second time that the Staal brothers have both scored in the same game…Sanguinetti’s goal was his first in the NHL; he is the fourth player to score his first NHL goal in the last four Isles games (Andre Benoit and Dave Dziurzynski for Ottawa, Thomas Hickey for the Isles in Montreal)…The Isles had scored only seven first-period goals prior to tonight; three of their 9 first period goals have come vs. Carolina…The Isles have allowed an NHL-leading 29 third period goals, including six to Carolina…Tavares has 19 points (11 goals, eight assists) in 14 career games against the Hurricanes while Moulson has 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in 15 games…Moulson, Tavares and Boyes all extended point streaks to three games…The Isles allowed a league-high fifth empty net goal… The Isles have been tied or ahead at some point in the third period of seven of their 11 losses.

The Shots:

Isles 5-14-6=25

Hurricanes 14-4-10=28

The Isles held Carolina without a shot for a 14:47 stretch of the second period.

Home and Road

The Islanders are 8-10-1 overall, 2-7-0 at home and 6-3-1 on the road.

It’s only the third time in 40 seasons that the Isles have earned four or fewer points in the first nine home games:

• 1972-73 (1-7-1, 3 points)

• 1989-90 (1-6-2, 4 points)

• 2012-13 (2-7-0, 4 points)

The Hurricanes are 9-7-1 overall, 3-4-0 at home and 6-3-1 on the road. The win breaks a three-game Carolina losing streak.

In the Nets

Kevin Poulin made 24 saves in his first NHL action in over a year. Poulin is 2-1-0 in his career vs. Carolina. The Isles are 0-4-0 this season in games not played by Evgeni Nabokov.

Cam Ward made 23 saves for Carolina. He is 6-5-1 on the season and 16-3-3 in his career against the Islanders.

Power Plays

The Isles went 0-for-3 on the power play while the Hurricanes were 1-for-3.

The Isles are 7-2-1 when they score at least one power play goal and 1-8-0 when they do not.

They Said It

John Tavares: “We were just sloppy and didn’t do the things in the second half that made us successful in the first half of the game.”

They Tweeted It

@NHLJensen: #Isles have 7th-best road record in NHL, but loss to #Canes tonight means only 2 W's in 9 games this season at Nassau Coliseum.

The Coach

“We didn’t have any emotion…no emotion, no spirit. …For whatever reason, we didn’t execute.”

5th Game in 7 Days

This was the ninth time in 20 years that the Isles have played five games in a seven day stretch. The Isles are 0-9-0 in the final game of those stretches. Their last win came in the final game of the 1992-93 season.

5-on-5 Woes

Each team scored two goals at 5-on-5. The Isles have allowed an NHL-high 46 goals at 5-on-5.

What a Pair!

John Tavares and Matt Moulson each scored. Tavares and Moulson have combined for an NHL-leading 23 goals among teammates.

Moulson and Tavares have combined for 48 points this season, third among NHL teammates. Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis have combined for 53 points while Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin (and Crosby/Chris Kunitz) have combined for 49.

Moulson and Tavares each recorded their eighth multi-point game. Only Steven Stamkos (10) and Pavel Datsyuk (nine) have more.

Head of the Class

John Tavares has 227 career points; he is 60 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 ten goals this season; John Tavares has earned an assist on seven of them. Tavares has now been on-ice for 39 consecutive Moulson goals, earning assists on 25 of them, dating back to a Moulson goal on November 26, 2011 against New Jersey. Since November 2010, Tavares has been on-ice for 69 of 70 Moulson goals, earning 47 assists.

113 NHL Goals

Moulson has 113 career goals (107 as an Islander). While 262 players were selected before the Penguins chose Moulson in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, only 17 have more goals. Moulson is two goals behind Nikolai Zherdev for 16th place.

Leading Ice Men

Mark Streit played 25:08 to lead the Isles. Joe Corvo led Carolina with 24:18.

In the Circle

The Islanders won 31 draws; the Hurricanes won 33. Marty Reasoner won 9-of-13 for the Isles; he has won 33-of-52 over the last four games. Jordan Staal won 13-of-21 for Carolina.

Heavy Hitters

The Islanders out-hit Carolina 14-12; Matt Martin led the Isles with six hits; he is now second in the NHL with 78. There were no fights, leaving the season total at 10.

Giving Up the Body

The Isles were credited with 20 blocked shots, including three each for Matt Moulson and Travis Hamonic. Andrew MacDonald, who began the day with a share of the NHL lead in blocks (49) was not credited with a block.

Straddling .500

The Islanders once again are back to .500 all-time (1355-1355-433 in 3143 games). The Isles have been one game below .500 twice last season and twice this season. Prior to that, they had not been below .500 since they were 177-178-83 before their victory on January 16, 1978.

3 Usually Enough

The Isles are 8-1-1 when scoring at least three goals and 0-9-0 when scoring two or less. Dating back to last year, the Isles have lost 14 straight (0-14-0) and 20 of 21 (1-19-1) when scoring two or fewer goals.

Tough to Catch

Despite tonight’s loss, the Isles are 5-2-1 in games that they score first and 2-1-0 in games they lead after two periods.

A Tale of Two Months

The Isles were 4-2-1 in January, outscoring their opponents 27-23. The Isles are 4-8-0 in February, and have been outscored 41-28.

Battling the Northeast

This was the only game in an eight game stretch that the Islanders did not play a Northeast opponent. The Isles are 2-1-0 against their first three Northeast opponents, and face four more beginning on Tuesday.

Nobody Beats the Viz

Lubomir Visnovsky has been on ice for 18 of the 25 Islander goals in his nine games with the team. Being on the ice when is team scores is nothing new for Visnovsky; he led the entire NHL in 2010-11 when he was on ice for 146 Anaheim goals (13 more than Henrik Sedin).

Lots of Home Cooking

This was the first game of a club record-tying seven-game home stand.

• October 7- October 28, 1972 (1-5-1 in the first seven games in club history)

• December 19, 2000- January 2, 2001 (2-5-0)

• November 21-December 4, 2001 (3-2-2)

• October 14- October 31, 2006 (4-1-2)

• February 15-March 1, 2007 (5-1-1)

• February 24-March 9, 2013 (0-1-0 with six games to play)

Ironmen

Matt Moulson, the Isles’ reigning ironman, has played in all 265 games since joining the team. 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 178 consecutive games, while Nielsen and Streit have each played in 101.

Longest Consecutive Game Streaks, Islander History

1. Billy Harris 576

2. Bob Nystrom 301

3. Matt Moulson 265

3. Denis Potvin 262

Missing Men

Radek Martinek played in his first game for the Islanders since April 9, 2011. Joe Finley, David Ullstrom and Eric Boulton 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 36 goals in their eight wins (4.50 per game) and 19 goals in their other 11 games (0-10-1; 1.72 per game). In their 10 regulation losses, the Isles have scored 15 goals (1.50 per game).

Career Wins, Active Goalies

1. Martin Brodeur 664

2. Roberto Luongo 344

3. Nikolai Khabibulin 330

4. Evgeni Nabokov 320

5. Miikka Kiprusoff 313

Career Wins

21. Sean Burke 324

22. Evgeni Nabokov 320

23. Miikka Kiprusoff 313

Career Shutouts, Active Goalies

1. Martin Brodeur 120

2. Roberto Luongo 62

3. Evgeni Nabokov 53

4. Tomas Vokoun 49

5. Nikolai Khabibulin 45

6. Miikka Kiprusoff 44

Career Shutouts

19 Bernie Parent 54

19 Ed Giacomin 54

21 Evgeni Nabokov 53

22 Rogie Vachon 51

22 Dave Kerr 51

22 Curtis Joseph 51

Career Goals as an Islander

21 Ray Ferraro 116

22 Matt Moulson 107

23 Benoit Hogue 105

23 Ed Westfall 105

25 Anders Kallur 101

26 Trent Hunter 99

27 John Tavares 97

28 Mikko Makela 95

28 David Volek 95

Career Assists as an Islander

28 Jason Blake 131

29 John Tavares 130

29 Trent Hunter 130

31 Mark Streit 124

31 Benoit Hogue 124

31 Mikko Makela 124

34 Ray Ferraro 122

35 Frans Nielsen 121

36 Garry Howatt 120

Career Games as an Islander (skaters)

26 Mariusz Czerkawski 470

27 Trent Hunter 459

28 Radek Martinek 454

29 Scott Lachance 450

39 Dave Scatchard 347

40 Alexei Yashin 346

41 Mark Parrish 345

42 Frans Nielsen 338

43 Marty McInnis 337

58 Gord Lane 304

59 Arron Asham 300

59 Roman Hamrlik 300

59 Josh Bailey 300

62 Kyle Okposo 290

63 Gord Dineen 287

64 Jeff Norton 282

65 Steve Thomas 275

66 Matt Moulson 265

67 John Tavares 262

67 Blake Comeau 261

67 Andre St. Laurant 261

70 Brad Lauer 259

71 Benoit Hogue 258

72 Mark Streit 257

73 Pierre Turgeon 255

Career Points as an Islander

28 Benoit Hogue 229

28 Trent Hunter 229

30 John Tavares 227

31 Mikko Makela 219

38 Butch Goring 195

39 Matt Moulson 193

40 Jeff Norton 188

41 Lorne Henning 184

42 Frans Nielsen 177

43 Randy Wood 172

44 Claude Lapointe 171

44 Jean-Paul 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 161

52 Oleg Kvasha 158

Season Series Stats

The Hurricanes lead the season series two games to none (four points to zero). The final meeting of the season will come on April 23 in Raleigh.

Happy Anniversary

Nine years ago today (2-25-04): Rick DiPietro made 28 saves but the Isles couldn’t solve former mate Felix Potvin either as the Isles and Bruins played a scoreless tie at the Coliseum.

All-time, the Isles are 6-7-3 on this date, with tonight’s loss ending a five game (3-0-2) point streak.

On The Farm

Bridgeport is 22-23-3-4 after a 2-1 shootout loss at home to Wilkes-Barre on Sunday. Kenny Reiter made 26 saves for the Sound Tigers. Bridgeport is off until Friday when they travel to Hartford to face the Connecticut Whale.

Up Next

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26 BOSTON AT ISLANDERS (7:30PM)

[NBC Sports Network, WRHU (88.7FM)]

The Islanders continue the seven-game home stand as they entertain the high-flying Boston Bruins in a nationally televised game. The Bruins are off to their best start since 1976-77, with an 11-2-2 record.

The Bruins won the first meeting 4-2 in Boston in late January. Overall, Boston has won eight of the last ten against the Isles.

Boston has played the fewest games in the NHL. Tuesday’s matchup will be the Bruins’ 16th game of the season and the Islanders’ 20th.

Howie and Butch have the night off. Dave Strader and Brian Engblom will have the call on NBCSN. Note the late starting time of 7:30pm.

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.