It Happened at the Coliseum … on OCTOBER 3rd

5 years ago tonight (2009): The earliest home opener in Islander history came on this date in 2009 – John Tavares made his NHL debut, becoming the 18^th Islander to score a goal in his NHL debut, but the Isles fell to the Stanley Cup Champion Penguins 4-3 in a shootout.

Dwayne Roloson made 39 saves to get the game to a shootout, but Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby scored the only goals in the skills contest.

For the record, Tavares’ first NHL point was an assist on a Mark Streit first period power play goal.  His first goal, also a power play tally, was set up by Matt Moulson and Trent Hunter.  Tavares was the second of two shooters for the Isles in the shootout, but his wrist shot went wide.  The first Islander shootout shooter: Jeff Tambellini.

"It's our first game and I think you have to come away with this excited and knowing that we competed hard," said Islanders coach Scott Gordon in his post-game news conference.

“I just want to feel like one of the guys,” said Tavares. “We all have the same goal and that’s to turn things around here.”  

 

All-time, the Isles played just that one October 3^rd game at the Coliseum, and finish with an 0-0-1 record on this date at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale. 

Resp21ct ; Okposo joins Tavares in TSN's list of Top50 NHLers.

TSN unveiled its 5th annual list of the Top 50 NHL players earlier this evening and for the fifth straight year, Sidney Crosby tops the list.

John Tavares, to no one's surprise, makes the list -- he was ranked 8th -- behind Crosby, Jonathan Toews,  Steven Stamkos, Ryan Getzlaf, Anze Kopitar, Evgeni Malkin and  Drew Doughty.   Shea Weber and Patrick Kane complete the Top 10.

However, Tavares has company on the list as Kyle Okposo squeezes in at #50.  David Backes was the first one out, ranking 51.  

Four players who had appeared in the list in each of the four previous years were left out this time: two are Sedin's (Henrik and Daniel ) and two are Rangers (St. Louis and Nash).  The Rangers are still represented by Henrik Lundqvist (16) and Ryan McDonough (31).  No Devil is on the list, nor is former Sabre/Islander/Canadien Thomas Vanek who was #49 last year.

The list is dominated by Canadians (26). There are eight Americans, seven Swedes, and four Russians. The other five players come from four different countries.

You can find the entire list, which for the second straight year was selected by a group of NHL coaches, GMs, and TSN experts, here: Crosby tops TSN Hockey's Top 50 NHL players

				Crosby tops TSN Hockey's Top 50 NHL players Sep 29 Crosby tops TSN Hockey's Top 50 NHL players
				View on www.tsn.ca	Preview by Yahoo

The press release annnouncing it is here: TSN - Details

		TSN - Details About TSN About TSN TSN is Canada's Sports Leader and #1 specialty network. With a broad portfolio of multimedia sports assets, TSN delivers world-class...
		View on www.bellmediapr.ca	Preview by Yahoo

 

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

The Skinny; New Jersey 2, Isles 1 (SO)

So 48 hours after SportsCenter featured Islander preseason highlights, the New Jersey Devils won a shootout, defeating the Isles 2-1.  Travis Zajac scored in the fifth round of the shootout.  The Devils of course have lost 17 straight regular season shutouts (including all 13 last year).

Mike Camelleri scored a power play goal just 3:16 into play to give New Jersey the lead.  Kael Mouillierat tied it early in the third for the Isles, who held New Jersey to only three shots in a 34 minute span beginning at the start of the second period, including none in the first 17 minutes of the second period..

The scoring:

1ST PERIOD
03:16	NJD	PPG - Mike Cammalleri (1) Slapshot - ASST: Damien Brunner (1), Travis Zajac (1)	1 - 0 NJD
2ND PERIOD
NONE
3RD PERIOD
04:51	NYI	Kael Mouillierat (1) Tip-in - ASST: Scott Mayfield (1), Eric Boulton (1)	1 - 1 Tie
OT PERIOD
NONE
SHOOTOUT
00:00	NJD	Travis Zajac (1) Wrist shot - ASST: NONE	1 - 1 Tie

SHOOTOUT
ROUND	NEW YORK ISLANDERS			NEW JERSEY DEVILS
1	Colin McDonald	F	NG	Mike Cammalleri		NG
2	Frans Nielsen		NG	Adam Henrique		NG
3	Ryan Strome		NG	Ryane Clowe		NG
4	Mikhail Grabovski		NG	Travis Zajac		Goal

 

(This is how the official scoresheet reported the shootout.  Actually, Damien Brunner and Josh Bailey each were stopped in between the Strome and Clowe attempts.)

The Skinny:

The Devils outshot the Isles 22-21.... Jaroslav Halak made 21 saves for the Isles; Cory Schnieder finished with 20 saves for New Jersey...The Isles did well in the circle, winning 29 of 52, and outhit the Devils 16-10.

The complete Skinny will return on Opening Night.

The Isles have one final pre-season game and it will be played on Friday in Bridgeport against the Boston Bruins.  Islanders TV will have the webcast; WRHU (88.7) will have the radio broadcast. Face-off at Webster Bank Arena is at 7:30pm.  

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

It Happened at the Coliseum

 7:40 am will never be the same.

Over the years writing The Skinny, I have received many comments about the “Happy Anniversary” feature, which looks back at that date in Islander history.

In honor (and in memory) of the final season at the Coliseum, I hope you’ll enjoy a slightly different version as we look back – day by day—at memorable games played at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale. 

A labor of love? Or pure insanity? You can decide.

The new series will debut on Friday, October 3^rd – the anniversary of the earliest home opener in Islander history --- and a special one at that!

In honor of Al Arbour's 740 regular season wins behind the Isles bench, you will be able to find each day's edition on nyiskinny.com at exactly 7:40am.

As always, thanks for reading NYISKINNY.com