Home for the Holidays
Barzal is ‘back’; Bellows making a case for more playing time, and Santas gone wild
Twas the morning before Christmas, Islanders Country.
Hopefully, you took advantage of Festivus and aired your grievances of which there are plenty this season. An endless road trip, COVID outbreaks, key injures, heartbreaking home losses- it’s a lengthy list.
Provided that delivered the cathartic cleanse of dissatisfaction you desired, you can now enjoy the scheduled NHL break in the calendar. As planned, the Islanders are home for the holidays before the quest to turnaround their dissatisfying season resumes Monday night in Buffalo against the Sabres.
Coming up, Mat Barzal shows signs of life and we examine the curious case of Kieffer Bellows. Plus, the infamous Santa Brawl, “Trots” has a six-point period, and a Top 5 2021 New York sports moment.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: The memes had gone too far. Mat Barzal is back - at least on social media, posting a Home Alone 2 inspired photoshop on Instagram stories Thursday night. It had been almost a week and a half without any activity from Barzal. That, and Barry Trotz not knowing his stars’ status, was all it took for his whereabouts to take on a life its own.
👏🏼 Now, what’s his current location? Detroit? New York? That’s for another day - and meme. Until then, thanks to those that made this possible and brought our Barzy back, specifically the Nashville Predators.
🏒 MAKING A CASE: It’s been over five years since the Islanders drafted Kieffer Bellows 19th overall in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft and it often feels as if they still don’t know what type of player they have. The opinions have ranged from bust to third-liner to potential trade chip.
The Islanders’ last game versus the Vegas Golden Knights was emblematic of the Bellows conundrum. After registering his first career fight with Max Pacioretty, Bellows scored his second goal of the season to tie the game at 2-2 in the third period in a game where he logged a team-low 7:30 of ice-time after being a healthy scratch the previous game.
"I liked his compete, you could tell his feistiness," Barry Trotz said after Sunday’s game. "His ice time was a little bit limited but that’s on me, that’s not on Kieffer. As a veteran player, you get probably a little more rope than a younger guy. Kieffer’s making a case to get a little more rope every time he gets in there."
How the offensively challenged Islanders value Bellows could impact their strategy ahead of the March deadline. As Newsday’s Andrew Gross writes “If Bellows can provide some of that missing scoring while finally proving to coach Barry Trotz he contributes in all facets of the game on a consistent basis, it would make Lamoriello’s decision on how to allocate organizational assets that much clearer.”
In 34 career games, Bellows has seven goals and four assists. This season, he’s collected five points (2 goals, 3 assists) in 12 games. He’s a contributor, but is he he part of the team’s plans? That remains an uncertainty, but Bellows is determined to make the most of his opportunities.
"I tried to go out there and do anything I can to help this team win," Bellows said after the game. "If that means try to score, try to fight, I’ll do what it takes."
⏭ NEXT UP: We’ve reached the scheduled Holiday Break. Barring any further changes, the Islanders will be in Buffalo on Monday, December 27th to face-off with the Buffalo Sabres.
📊 STANDINGS:
🎅 BAD SANTAS: It wouldn’t be Christmas without reminiscing about the infamous Santa brawl at Nassau Coliseum. As background, the Islanders offered anyone that showed up to the game dressed as Santa free admission, as well as the opportunity to parade across the ice during the first intermission. What could go wrong?
The New York Times’ Dave Caldwell was on hand that night and provided a play-by-play of how a lighthearted holiday promotion to drive up attendance turned into a wild and unforgettable scene.
The Islanders thought their promotion might draw about 250 would-be Santas. Instead, double that number showed up. One Santa even brought a sign that read ''All we want for Christmas is a new G.M.,'' a criticism directed at General Manager Mike Milbury.
The team invited the Santas to parade on the ice after the first period. Some of the Santas, many of them young men, began sliding across the ice, happy to be part of the festivities.
Soon, however, there was trouble. A few Santas ripped off their red jackets to reveal Rangers jerseys. That was too much for the many Santas who were Islanders fans. It was as if the clock had turned back two years, and Theo Fleury, then a Ranger, was back on the Coliseum ice doing the chicken dance to mock the Islanders.
Some of the Islander Santas swarmed the Ranger Santas. A youngster in a Santa suit was seen pulling a Pavel Bure Rangers sweater off one subversive Santa.
When the Islanders' Arron Asham, who scored two goals in the team's 4-2 victory, was told afterward about the Bure sweater being yanked, he said: ''Really? That's awesome. I hope they have that on tape.''
A few days later, Andrew Gross, writing for the Home News Tribune quoted ex-Islander Darius Kasparitis, who took didn’t miss an opportunity to further add fuel to the rivalry he was now on the other side of, “That was the funniest thing ever, said Kasparisitis. “At least Rangers fans have the guts to do that. Islanders fans wouldn’t do that.”
👩🏫 SOUND SMART: Remember Mike Sillinger? On December 23, 2006, He got his name in the record books as the only player in league history to record double-digit goals for nine different franchises. Sillinger played for 12 teams in his 17-year career.
🗓 ISLE REMEMBER: In 1978, as part of his Hart Trophy-winning season, Bryan Trottier recorded six points in a period, setting a franchise record that still hasn’t been touched. Trottier’s three goals and three assists were a part of his historic eight-point performance in a 9-4 trouncing of the New York Rangers. A two-goal, five-point night by linemate Mike Bossy was almost an afterthought.
🎩 MAT-TRICK: In 2017, Mat Barzal notched his first career hat trick in his Calder Trophy-winning rookie season against the Winnipeg Jets in a 5-2 Isles victory.
🔗 Islanders are laughing all 3 of Boston's 2015 1st round picks have asked for trade by Michael Anderson, Eyes on Isles “So that's all three picks asking for a trade away from the Bruins. You've got to feel for Boston fans. Not only are these picks nowhere near Barzal's level, but they don't even want to be there.”
🔗 Islanders are down but not out after disastrous start to the season by Ben Shelley, Hockeybuzz “From now until the end of January, the Islanders will play 12 of their 18 games against teams who currently rank in the bottom half of the league in points percentage. On top of that, 12 of those games will come at home. Considering only 10 of the Eastern Conference’s 16 teams have a points percentage even above .500, it’s still possible New York can still turn things around.”
🔗 The best and worst New York sports moments of 2021 by Andrew Crane, New York Post “Anthony Beauvillier scored 68 seconds into overtime to even the Islanders’ series against the Lighting at three games each. It send the Nassau Coliseum — with fans witnessing what ended up being the final game in the historic arena, where the team had been located since 1972 — into a frenzy.
And we leave you with this…the New York Post published their list of the Top 5 best and worst sports moments of 2021 and the Islanders made the list … the best list.
The final goal at the Nassau Coliseum, Anthony Beauvillier’s OT winner in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals against the Tampa Bay Lightning came in at No.4. “Beer cans and water bottles sailed onto the ice following the 3-2 win, players mobbed together in celebration and the Islanders avoided elimination for two more days before the Lightning won Game 7.”
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