It Happened at the Coliseum … on JANUARY 9th

29 years ago tonight (1986) – Kelly Hrudey made 27 saves for his 3rd career shutout as the Isles pummeled the Pittsburgh Penguins 9-0.  However, it was the offense that was really the story.  The Isles scored four times in the first 9:02, and five times in the first period as they cruised to an easy win.

It must have felt a bit like the Cup era, as Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy and Denis Potvin each had three points as the Isles outshot Pittsburgh 41-27.

Trottier was the only Islander with multiple tallies against Pittsburgh’s Roberto Romano, who absorbed the full beating.  Romano told Newsday’s Tim Moriarty: “"That was the best any team has played against us this season”.

As the Isles go through this 2014-15 season with a lot of Coliseum “lasts”, this game had several.  The Isles blanked the Penguins for the 4^th time ever in regular season play; it has not happened since.  The 9-goal margin matched the club record (for the 7^th time); the Isles have played over 2,200 games since and have not matched or beaten that record.  The game was the start of the biggest one-sided explosion in Islander history; two nights later the Isles raced to a 6-0 lead over Detroit.  The 15 consecutive goals are also a franchise record.

Here's the boxscore from that historic game:

First Period

1 - NYI : Denis Potvin 10 (Mike Bossy, Bryan Trottier) (PP) 1:46 2 - NYI : Duane Sutter 12 (Pat LaFontaine, Stefan Persson) (EV) 3:33 3 - NYI : Bryan Trottier 18 (EV) 6:51 4 - NYI : Bryan Trottier 19 (Mike Bossy) (SH) 9:02 5 - NYI : Brent Sutter 8 (Paul Boutilier, John Tonelli) (PP) 15:08

Second Period

6 - NYI : Patrick Flatley 13 (John Tonelli, Randy Boyd) (PP) 3:56 7 - NYI : Bob Bourne 3 (Roger Kortko, Denis Potvin) (EV) 12:07

Third Period

8 - NYI : Pat LaFontaine 21 (Mikko Makela, Ken Morrow) (EV) 9:55 9 - NYI : Mike Bossy 28 (Denis Potvin) (EV) 11:42

Also on this date: (1979) – Lorne Henning scored twice in 33 seconds as the Isles blasted Los Angeles 7-1, extending their home record to 17-0-4.

All-time, the Isles have played nine January 9th games at the Coliseum and finish with a 4-4-1 record on this date at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale.