It Happened at the Coliseum … on DECEMBER 10th

With the Isles returning to the Coliseum this season, I am dusting off the editions of "It Happened at the Coliseum" for each game night... Here's the one from December 10th...

See you in The Barn tonight!

It Happened at the Coliseum … on DECEMBER 10th

18 years ago tonight (1996) – In an explosion that would not be seen again for over 17 years, the Islanders scored six goals in the second period and defeated the Phoenix Coyotes 8-2 at the Coliseum.

Nicklas Andersson had two goals and three assists while Ziggy Palffy, Marty McInns and Bryan Berard each added three points as the Isles chased Nikolai Khabibulin after 40 minutes.  Tommy Salo finished with 30 saves.  

Niklas Andersson

Berard finished the game 1-2-3 with a +4 rating, improving his rookie season stats to 3-16-19 and +15 enroute to the Calder Trophy; no Islander defenseman would score a goal and go +4 in a game again until Thomas Hickey did so on 12/31/2013 in Minnesota.

The box on the big period, which included 5 Islander goals in a 9:15 span:

2ND PERIOD
00:38	NYI	Bryan Berard ASST: Marty Mcinnis	2 - 0 NYI
09:58	PHX	Keith Tkachuk ASST: Mike Gartner , Kris King	2 - 1 NYI
10:40	NYI	Ziggy Palffy ASST: Doug Houda , Niklas Andersson	3 - 1 NYI
12:11	NYI	PPG - Bryan Smolinski ASST: Niklas Andersson , Bryan Berard	4 - 1 NYI
17:10	NYI	Claude Lapointe ASST: Ziggy Palffy , Bryan McCabe	5 - 1 NYI
18:47	NYI	SHG - Bryan McCabe ASST: Marty Mcinnis , Niklas Andersson	6 - 1 NYI
19:55	NYI	Niklas Andersson ASST: Bryan Berard , Claude Lapointe	7 - 1 NYI

A horn such as this ran often that evening:

The Islanders have not scored six goals in a period in a Coliseum game since then; they did score seven in the third period in Vancouver on March 11, 2014 as they became the first team in NHL history to score 7 goals in a road third period after being scoreless through 40 minutes).

Also on this date: (1991) – Ray Ferraro and Brett Hull traded hat tricks in a 7-7 tie with St. Louis; it is the only 7-7 tie in franchise history. Ferraro scored three consecutive goals in a 4:43 span on the second period for his trick but the Isles needed a 6^th attacker goal from Steve Thomas to earn the point.

All-time, the Isles have played nine December 10th games at the Coliseum and finish with a 5-3-1 record on this date at 1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale.