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Good Morning, Islanders Country.
It’s an all-business (in the front) trip to the 5,000-seat Mullet Arena, home of the Arizona State Sun Devils, tonight as the Islanders look to get even with an Arizona Coyotes team that shut them out 2-0 at UBS Arena back on Nov. 10.
One team that can relate to playing in a non-traditional rink due to non-traditional arena drama is the New York Islanders. That said, this stopgap home set on a college campus is a new king of unique compared to the parked SUV and obstructed views atmosphere of the Isles forever turned interim Brooklyn home.
"It's maybe a little bit different here, but we had the temporary setup," said Brock Nelson. "Obviously you're not too sure how things are going to shake out and there's a lot of chatter about different things and different possibilities. Just keep yourself in the moment and make the most of it.”
The Coyotes enter tonight’s game with an unintimidating 9-14-4 record, but as the Islanders found out on Long Island, they aren’t the same pushover from previous years. You may remember their last match-up as the missed shots game. The Isles attempted 64 shots that night but ended with 17 blocked shots, 23 that missed, and just 24 shots on goal as they were blanked by Karel Vejmelka.
Taking shots while on campus is always a solid strategy, but this time, the Isles will need to hit the net when given their opportunities to skate off with a win.
Coming up, the Isles make a move to create roster space, and the team is valued at over A BILLION dollars for the first time. Plus, a massive night for Maggio; Trotz talks about his timetable for a return and an Isles mullet of their own.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: On Wednesday, the Islanders put Adam Pelech on Injured Reserve (IR) retroactively to Dec. 6 and, in doing so, opened up a roster spot if they intend on activating Kyle Palmieri off IR for tonight’s game against the Coyotes.
◾️ “When he’s here, you’ll see him on the ice,” head coach Lane Lambert said when asked about Pelech, who did not travel with the team to Arizona. The 2021-22 All-Star has scored 11 points (3G, 8A) in 27 games. He averages a team-leading 20:49 TOI per game and also leads the team with a +12 rating.
◾️ Palmieri has missed the last 10 games but has shown signs in practice that he’s close to a return. “You know, he’s skating well, said Lambert. “I thought he had a pretty good practice today, so that’s what I’ve seen from him.” Palmieri and Anthony Beauvillier (who missed the last two games) are expected to be game-time decisions on Friday night.
It’s that time of year again. Forbes has released its list of the most valuable NHL teams, from most expensive to least expensive. Islander fans won’t like what they see at first, as the New York Rangers rank first overall at $2.2 Billion dollars - and the Maple Leafs are second. However, keep reading.
The first season at UBS Arena certainly helped as the New York Islanders organization has jumped 7% in worth, sitting as the 12th most expensive team in the NHL, valued at $1.02 B. For perspective, in 2010, they were ranked 26th, and in 2014, the very same publication wrote a story entitled “Charles Wang Actually Got $485 Million for the New York Islanders.” Quite the investment for the Islanders ownership group.
🔥 STAYIN’ HOT: Last week, 2022 5th-round pick Matt Maggio scored eight points (4G, 4A) in three games for the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). Last night, he scored a natural hat-trick in the first period and five goals in the game against Erie and now has nine goals in his last four games. The five goals tied the club record for goals in one game joining Gerry Leroux (1977), Paul Gagne (1979), and Daniel D'Amico (2020).
⏭ NEXT UP: The Islanders start a back-to-back tonight as they take on the Arizona Coyotes with face-off scheduled for 9:30 PM ET. Then, on Saturday night, the Isles are back on the ice in Vegas against the Golden Knights.
📊 STANDINGS: The Isles dropped to 5th place in the Metro after the New York Rangers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 last night for their fifth straight win, snapping Mitch Marner’s 23-game point streak in the process.
🏒 NOT READY YET: If you were worried that Barry Trotz could be summoned back to coaching this season to ignite an Eastern Conference team that would rival the Islanders for a playoff position, you can rest easy - at least for this season. Never one to shy away from a hockey podcast, Trotz told "The Chirp with Daren Millard" podcast that he’s unlikely to return to coaching this year.
◾️ STILL PART OF ME: "I don't know yet," said the 60-year-old Trotz. "I'm deciding. There's a couple teams that reached out and I said I'm not there yet. I'm probably going to take the rest of the year off and see where I am. It's still a part of me, but I'm going to continue to stay true to myself and my family right now."
🎄 MERRY MEMORIES: And while we’re on the subject of Barry Trotz, yesterday marked the three-year anniversary of this epic photo courtesy Frank Borrelli of Barstool Sports as the team posted with Trotz and Santa Claus wearing their Trotz-themed Christmas Sweaters. I miss Barry … and Devon Toews too!
🎶 Have Yourself A Barry Little Christmas …🎶
📚 SOUND SMART: Per Eric Hornick in The Skinny, when Jake DeBrusk scored twice in 19 seconds during the first period on Tuesday, it was only the 19th time in Bruin history a player has scored two goals in 19 seconds or fewer; it was the fastest pair of goals the Isles allowed a player since Taylor Hall (then with Edmonton) scored twice in eight seconds on October 17, 2013
🗓 THIS DATE IN ISLANDERS HISTORY: On Dec. 16, 2017, Jordan Eberle scored 1:54 into overtime to lift the Islanders to a 4-3 victory over the Los Angeles Kings at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Eberle took a pass from linemate Mathew Barzal before firing the puck past Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper for the win.
After trailing 2-0, John Tavares had a goal and two assists, and Josh Bailey and Anders Lee each had a goal and an assist. Thomas Greiss stopped 26 shots. "There's a good vibe here," Doug Weight said of the Brooklyn arena. "We feel comfortable here. You hope you can carry this good feeling forward."
🔗 Maven's Memories: The Early Days of Islanders TV by Stan Fischler, NewYorkIslanders.com “Watching a sophisticated telecast of Islanders games these days is an eye-opener for me. I'm enthralled with the remarkable camerawork -- uncanny, really -- the Brendan Burke-Butch Goring teamwork, the amiable tete-a-tetes among our charming Shannon Hogan and her guests. Really, it's all a big treat.”
🔗 ‘I’d be lying if I said it was easy’: How Zach Parise navigates the pull of family amid the drive to win a Stanley Cup, by Ethan Sears, NY Post: “The Islanders play their last game before Christmas on Dec. 23, then Parise will go home to Minnesota for three league-mandated off days. When the team resumes play on Dec. 27, his wife and kids can come out to Long Island for the week before the Islanders open the new year in Seattle.”
And we leave you with this…in honor of the Islanders playing at Mullet Arena (and yet another way to get the fisherman logo in this section), we pay tribute to one of the top 5 mullets in NHL history, the one belonging to Ziggy Palffy.
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