Isles sharp in defending few power plays

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Among the good things the Islanders have been doing of late is the work of their penalty-killers. And to give credit to the whole group, the Islanders have been staying out of the penalty box, which helps the penalty kill, too.

The Islanders were shorthanded only 15 times in the last eight games heading into Friday night's game against the Ducks and gave up only one power-play goal, to the Leafs on Dec. 23. They have killed off 10 straight, including the only power play the Hurricanes received in Tuesday's 4-3 shootout win by the Isles in Raleigh, N.C.

In that eight-game stretch, the Isles have had one or zero power plays against them in four of those games.

"We've been very disciplined, which is great," said goalie Evgeni Nabokov, who made his seventh straight start, this time against a Ducks team that began the game a point ahead of Columbus for the worst record in the league. "Our guys are fresher and it's showing."

Nabokov, a winner of three straight after losing three in a row, has been excellent the past week in all aspects. The mantra from coach Jack Capuano is that the goaltender is the team's best penalty-killer, and Nabokov certainly has been, highlighted by his stopping seven Carolina shots on its lone power play late in the first period Tuesday.

But of late, the forward tandems of Frans Nielsen and Michael Grabner, and Josh Bailey and Matt Martin, with some occasional work by Marty Reasoner, has been exemplary. Nielsen and Grabner have struggled to find the cohesion that made Grabner a Calder Trophy candidate last season, but they still are doing good work on the penalty kill.

"We've started aggressive and stayed aggressive," Nielsen said. "We'd like to have more shorthanded goals [the duo has totaled one this season after 13 between them in 2010-11], but the goal is to kill off the penalty. We haven't let teams set up and get comfortable lately."

And the Bailey-Martin duo has been a new find, supplanting Reasoner and Jay Pandolfo when the latter went down with a broken foot Nov. 26. Bailey has not provided enough offense at even strength but has rounded his game by winning some key penalty-kill faceoffs and controlling pucks with his stickhandling.

"They really don't put the cuffs on us as far as being aggressive," Bailey said. "I think we've just been taking advantage of what's there and being smart."

A lack of power plays against them might indicate a lack of physical play, but the Islanders have been physical in this stretch. Martin leads the NHL with 162 hits (in a very subjectively recorded category of "real-time stats") and Travis Hamonic is in the top 10 among defensemen with 97.

"The discipline has been there," Capuano said. "We still have to go to work and be physical because we see that's how we have success."

Notes & quotes: Pandolfo and D Dylan Reese, who came up on an emergency recall from Bridgeport, were the healthy scratches Friday . . . Capuano said F David Ullstrom and D Mike Mottau, both on injured reserve with concussions, have not skated back on Long Island. G Rick DiPietro (lower body) also is off the ice.