Isles 40 in 40 -- #27
In
honor of the Isles 40th anniversary year, I've put together a list of
the Top 40 moments in club history. I'll go through them throughout
the season, bit by bit.
January 2, 1986 -- Bossy Fastest to 500
Mike Bossy set many NHL records in his career -- and he still holds one that based on the way the game is currently being played may never be broken.
Among those feats were his 53-goal rookie season (first ever), his 50 in 50 season (2nd ever) and 573 career goals.
The one that may never be broken is one that he held when he retired, lost it to Mario Lemieux, and then regained it later in Mario's career. Mike Bossy scored more goals per game played than any player in NHL history:
To put this in perspective, Ovechkin, who is the only active player on the list, has scored 319 goals in his first 519 games. To match Bossy's pace, he would have needed to score 76 more goals in those games.
In 1985-86, in his final healthy season, Bossy scored 61 goals and added 62 assists. One of those goals hit an empty net on January 2, 1986 and it allowed Bossy to be the fastest player in NHL history to reach 500 goals-- he did it in just 647 games.
Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux would both scored their 500th goal faster, but both would fall short of Bossy's goals per game pace.
Bossy would score 73 more goals before a nagging back led him to retire at the age of 30. One can only wonder how many goals he would have scored if he could have stayed healthy. One can only wonder how much better the Islanders would have been.
Moment #27 belongs to #22, the greatest pure goal scorer in Islanders history.
Mike Bossy set many NHL records in his career -- and he still holds one that based on the way the game is currently being played may never be broken.
Among those feats were his 53-goal rookie season (first ever), his 50 in 50 season (2nd ever) and 573 career goals.
The one that may never be broken is one that he held when he retired, lost it to Mario Lemieux, and then regained it later in Mario's career. Mike Bossy scored more goals per game played than any player in NHL history:
| Rank | Player | G/G |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Mike Bossy* | 0.762 |
| 2. | Cy Denneny* | 0.756 |
| 3. | Mario Lemieux* | 0.754 |
| 4. | Babe Dye* | 0.742 |
| 5. | Pavel Bure | 0.623 |
| 6. | Alex Ovechkin | 0.615 |
| 7. | Wayne Gretzky* | 0.601 |
| 8. | Brett Hull* | 0.584 |
| 9. | Bobby Hull* | 0.574 |
| 10. | Tim Kerr | 0.565 |
| (hockey-ref.com) | Ovechkin as of 1/17/2012 |
To put this in perspective, Ovechkin, who is the only active player on the list, has scored 319 goals in his first 519 games. To match Bossy's pace, he would have needed to score 76 more goals in those games.
In 1985-86, in his final healthy season, Bossy scored 61 goals and added 62 assists. One of those goals hit an empty net on January 2, 1986 and it allowed Bossy to be the fastest player in NHL history to reach 500 goals-- he did it in just 647 games.
Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux would both scored their 500th goal faster, but both would fall short of Bossy's goals per game pace.
Bossy would score 73 more goals before a nagging back led him to retire at the age of 30. One can only wonder how many goals he would have scored if he could have stayed healthy. One can only wonder how much better the Islanders would have been.
(hockeydb.com) --- Regular Season --- ---- Playoffs ----
Season Team Lge GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1977-78 Islanders NHL 73 53 38 91 6 7 2 2 4 2
1978-79 Islanders NHL 80 69 57 126 25 10 6 2 8 2
1979-80 Islanders NHL 75 51 41 92 12 16 10 13 23 8
1980-81 Islanders NHL 79 68 51 119 32 18 17 18 35 4
1981-82 Islanders NHL 80 64 83 147 22 19 17 10 27 0
1982-83 Islanders NHL 79 60 58 118 20 19 17 9 26 10
1983-84 Islanders NHL 67 51 67 118 8 21 8 10 18 4
1984-85 Islanders NHL 76 58 59 117 38 10 5 6 11 4
1985-86 Islanders NHL 80 61 62 123 14 3 1 2 3 4
1986-87 Islanders NHL 63 38 37 75 33 6 2 3 5 0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NHL Totals 752 573 553 1126 210 129 85 75 160 38
Moment #27 belongs to #22, the greatest pure goal scorer in Islanders history.
The List to Date:
#27--January 2, 1986 -- Bossy Fastest to 500
#28--April 2, 1993-- Turgeon's 50th OTs Rangers at MSG
#29--October, 2001 -- Isles Start Laviolette Era 9-0-1-1
#30--November 23, 2009-- Roloson sets franchise record with 58 saves
#31--December 20, 1985 and January 28, 1986--Potvin Passes Orr.. Twice
#33 -- June 26, 2009 -- Islanders Select John Tavares
#34 -- May, 1982-- Bossy leads the Isles to 3rd Stanley Cup
#35 -- January 6,1981 --With Bossy Chasing 50, Tonelli Lights Up the Leafs
#36 -- January 18, 1973 -- Expansion Isles Beat the Champs
#37 -- November 28, 1979 -- Billy Smith is credited with a goal
#38 -- December 23, 1978 -- Trottier re-writes the record book
#39 -- February 11, 2011 -- Isles pound Pens 9-3
#40 -- Summer 2001 -- Isles hire Laviolette, trade for Peca and Yashin, claim Osgood.
March 16, 2010 -- Tavares' 5-point game.
February 13, 2011 -- Grab-Trick.
March 31, 1990 -- Uwe, Uwe.
Like any of these lists, my #2 may be your #20...
Forever1940
is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home
telecasts since 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on
Twitter @ehornick
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