NY Islanders Esoteric #2417 or #21-08

*** SCORE **
New York Islanders 4
Habs 3

Wayne Merrick, Gord Deinnen and Lorne Henning are all part of tonight's Esoteric.

As are Ozzie, Berard, Hubie, Bill Berg, Brian, Spender, Craig Cameron, Tom Fitzgerald, Viktor Kozlov, Trevor Linden, Scatch, Blake, Denis Grebeshkov, Ron Stewart, Ken Sutton, Tank, Jorgen Jonsson, Roger Kortko, Marc Bergevin, Erne Hicke, Olli Jokinen, Volek and Parry.

*** ESOTERIC LOG ***

Congrats to Trent hunter for breaking into the top 40 all-time in Games Played and the top 20 in all-time Power Play Goals.

*** ESOTERIC NOTE ***

[1.] I was talking to Forever 1940 about who gets the Game Winning Goal last night and he said, "Nobody. Park gets credit for the game deciding goal, which counts only in shootout stats. Isles have 9 wins, yet only 7 game winning goals. Such is life in the NHL."

[2.] I am so confused. I am being pulled back in to root for our boys to do well because they are fighting so hard. I know statistically speaking our annual 10-game losing streak is right around the corner in December/January. If that happens we are right in the middle of the Tavares sweepstakes again.

On the other hand though, if you look at the Esoteric Standings and the Points Attainable Standings you will see that if the Isles stay the course and the Rangers go on a multi-game losing streak we are in the mix of things actually fighting for the top spot in the Division. The NY Rangers seem to be doing so well because they have 3 games in hand.

What is most positive in the Tavares/Playoff argument is that for the bottom spot in the league we are 4-points out but there are 10 teams that seprate us from last place. When vying for a playoff spot, we are 3 points out of 7th and 8th place. Three teams are fighting us for those two spots.

3 Points out of 7th place? Today, I say we fight for the playoffs!!!!

*** ESOTERIC PACE CLOCK - The Quest for 55 Points ***

Guerin is on pace to go 31-27-58
Streit is on pace to go 20-35-55
Hunter is on pace to go 31-27-58
Weight is on pace to go 16-66-82

*** Esoteric Streaks ***

Guerin is 2-1 in last 2 Games Played
Hunter is 1-1 in last 2 Games Played
Weight is 2-9 in last 11 Games Played
Weight has 3 two-point games in last 8 games
Bailey is 0-3 in his first 7 Games Played
Bailey is 0-2 in his last 2 Games Played
Tambellini is 0-0 in his last 6 Games Played

*** Goalie Esoteric ***

Joey MacDonald is the 24th player to play in 20 Games or more with the New York Islanders. This breaks a tie with Mike Dunham. Joey also broke the 2,000 NHL minutes played plateau during this game. He now stands at 2,025 MPs.

***The Esoteric ***

Guerin
GP = 102GP for #142nd. 1GP behind Chris Osgood
G = 31 for #66th. Tied with Berard and Hubie McDonough
A = 28 for #120th. Tied with Bill Berg
Pts = 59 for #97th. Tied with Brian Spencer

Park
GP = 185 for #93rd. Tied with Craig Cameron
G = 25 for #77th. Tied with Tom Fitzgerald and Viktor Kozlov
Pts = 64 for #89th. Tied with Gord Dineen and Trevor Linden
PPG = 2 for #102. 133rd player to score 2 or more Power Play Goals

Hunter
GP = 347 for #39th. Teid with Scatchard
G = 81 for 36th. Tied with Wayne Merrick
Pts = 181 for #42nd. 3 points behind Lorne Henning
PPG = 32 for #19th. Breaks tie with Jason Blake. 2 Behind Travis Green

Weight
GP = 21 for #284th. Tied with Streit, Grebeshkov, Stewart, and K. Sutton
(2)A = 17 for #147 (Up from #159th). Tied with Tank, Jonsson, Kortko, and Bergevin
Pts = 21 for #161st. Tied with Erne Hicke and Olli Jokinen

Bailey
GP = 7 for #358th. 363rd player to play in 7 Games
A = 3 for #269th. 285th player to get 3 Assists
Pts = 3 for #289th. 300th player to get 3 Points

Martinek
PIMs = 205 for #68th. Breaks tie with David Volek

Bergenheim
PIMs = 121 for #103rd. 1 PIM behind Mark Parrish