The Skinny on Leap Day

The Isles will be looking for their first Leap Day win in 40 years tonight.

It is the 6th time the Isles have ever played on 2/29 and the first time on the road since they were in Detroit 28 years ago tonight.

29-Feb-84 @ Winnipeg     4 3 W

29-Feb-92 Vs New Jersey 1 3 L

29-Feb-96 @ Detroit       1 5 L

29-Feb-04 Vs Pittsburgh 2 3 Lot

29-Feb-20 Vs Boston      0 4 L

Of those, the 2/29/84 game is by far the most interesting (beyond the fact that the Isles won) -  LaFontaine and Flatley made their NHL debuts in that game.   Flatley had a goal and an assist in his debut; LaFontaine was held scoreless that night but would have a hat trick three days later in Toronto.  Check the video of Flats' goal here: https://youtu.be/bLPKPXXqgWM?t=619 which begins with Jiggs and Eddie explaining Leap Day.

The others:

1992 - Chris Terreri made 28 saves; David Volek's goal with 51 seconds to play got the Isles within one before an ENG sealed matters.

1996 - Ziggy Palffy had the only Isles goal as the reigning Champs completed a sweep of a home/home. Chris Osgood was in goal for Detroit.

2004 - Ryan Malone beat Garth Snow in overtime; Andy Chiodo (an Isles draft pick) recorded the second of his three NHL wins.

2020 - Butch Goring's #91 heads to the Coliseum rafters but the Isles are blanked by Boston 4-0. You can see the ceremony here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nor1swktLCo

If you check out that Winnipeg game, you will find Doug Soetaert in goal for the Jets; he faced the Islanders in another famous game about 4 1/2 years earlier: Double Chili.

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick