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The Skinny: Isles 5, Pittsburgh 4

"The Skinny" By Eric Hornick Game 82 Isles 5, Pittsburgh 4    On to the Playoffs! Simon Holmstrom scored the winning goal with 5:3...

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Worst to First?

The Isles were 5-18-5  when they took the ice on December 16 to face Anaheim. Their 15 points were five fewer than New Jersey, and 11 fewer than any other team in the East.

Since then, the Isles are 21-14-5.  Their 47 points lead the Atlantic Division (NJ 44, Phil 43, Pitt 42, NYR 35) over that span.  It's the first time that they have managed at least 47 points in a 40 game span since 2007.

In fact, there is only one team in the Eastern Conference with more points from December 16-March 10: the Boston Bruins.  Boston is 22-11-5 (49 points).  The Bruins will be at the Coliseum on Friday -- an Islander regulation win would tie them with Boston for the most points in the Eastern Conference over a nearly three month period.

In fairness, the Islanders have played the most games in the Conference over these 12 weeks.  Regardless, it is a significant turnaround for a team that has used six goaltenders to win those 21 games.


GP  W  L  OT  Pts 






Boston 38 22 11 5 49
NY Islanders 40 21 14 5 47
Washington 35 20 9 6 46
Tampa Bay 36 21 11 4 46
New Jersey 36 21 13 2 44
Buffalo 36 20 12 4 44
Philadelphia 34 21 12 1 43
Montreal 37 19 13 5 43
Pittsburgh 35 18 11 6 42
Carolina 38 18 14 6 42
Toronto 38 17 15 6 40
Florida 39 14 16 9 37
NY Rangers 36 16 17 3 35
Atlanta 35 11 17 7 29
Ottawa 35 11 18 6 28

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: forever1940.blogspot.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

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