Zero Pucks Given: Bails & Buck Live – 12/9/25
Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat [Music] up here. Heat [Music] up here. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] Heat [Music] up here. [Music] [Applause] Let’s go Let’s go. [Music] Let’s go. [Music] It for Paul Murray. He scores. Kyle Paul Murray. [Music] [Music] drops ahead. It’s Matt Martell. Scores and score. [Applause] [Music] What are behind? the scenes to get this done. Um, it’s just great to be here. It really is. It’s going to be fun. I think we’re uh being laid back and coach for us just being watching hockey like we’re sitting on the couch next to you next to you as Kyle mentioned. So, um, again, our first time here. We’re just going to uh going to let the game play out and uh give you our uh our takes along the way. We got a lot of fun stuff coming. We’ve got uh we’ve got a goal pool. We’ve got a couple special guests. Stay tuned for that. We’ve got a Shores cast member coming to you live here in the first period. Jordan Nolan, a guy that Josh played with that I played against for a number of years. That’ll be a lot of fun. Uh obviously the Shores Classic tomorrow night at UBS Arena. Josh and I are going to be lacing him up. Uh myself for the second time as an alum. Josh for the first time as an alum. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Those guys put on a good show. We’re going to put on a good show. We’re going to have Jordan in the first period. In the third period, Josh, we’ve got the legend Butch Goring coming on. We’re going to go to the toy department. We’re going to chip and chase. We’re going to move our feet. We’re going to do everything that Butchie likes to do when it comes to not only talking about hockey, but playing it as well. So, it’s going to be a lot of fun here today. Um about 1:45 here until the player introductions and national anthem. Everyone’s filing into their seats. It’s going to be a great atmosphere at UBS tonight. You can hear the gold horn go off in the background. People cheering. I’ve already been approached by a couple fans. I got a business card from the fifth line. The uh Islanders Nation. I’m going to show you this card here on the camera. Fifth line. We got some super fans here. It’s too bad. It’s too bad the fourth line took all the ice time from the fifth line. Otherwise, you guys would be they’d be household names for you guys. Here we go. We got the helmet. This light doesn’t turn on until the Islanders score a goal. So, guess what’s going to happen when the aisles score a goal? We’re going to try and turn this light on and get this thing going. I’ll put it on if the Islanders score a goal. Let’s put it that way. Stay tuned. We got a lot going on here. Excited to have you with us. We also have a live chat you guys can interact with on the Islanders Plus app. Send us your feedback. You never know. We might we might even get to your comment. We might answer your questions. There’s going to be a lot of time here for us to discuss um the game and and your thoughts about the team, your thoughts about whatever you want. No question is too crazy. We can’t guarantee it’s going to get on, but give us your best shot. Nice, too, that we get the Knights for the the first old cast, too. They got a great team. They got a lot of good players. We were talking last night a little bit. We’re looking forward to seeing Mitch Martin in a nice nice jersey. I always love watching him play. Yeah, Mitchie, a great kid and the people in Toronto realizing what he meant to them. So, uh, getting ready for the national anthem here. We’ll be back in a second. Tonight the colors are presented by the FDM ceremonial unit and here to sing our national anthem. Please do nominated opera Steven [Music] streaming and the rockets red. The bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, says that star spangled burn [Applause] for the land of the free and the home of the bra. Ladies and gentlemen, well, the anthem’s over and done with. We’re getting ready for pup drop. We’re going to bring you a special guest, as we mentioned, Jordan Nolan shortly. But Josh, you want to give us uh just a preview of this game? What are you hoping for tonight? What what are you watching for specifically that maybe the people at home uh tune in to pay attention to? Something something you’re expecting out of something you’re expecting out of the nights? Well, I think the reality is they’re coming off a two game trip in Florida and Tampa. I can’t be too upset about it. Uh got a big win in Tampa. Never an easy building to win in. Um and then they come out and play a solid game against Florida. So, I think just keep carrying that momentum. They had three three really good wins in a row against three good teams and playing another one here tonight. So, try to find a way uh have a good start is always huge and uh try and carry that momentum through. Well, the Isles have been road warriors so far since the beginning of November. You know, uh that 6-1 road trip that really I think piqued everybody’s interest in this team and a real coming out party for Matthew Schaefer, an OT winner and continuing to set records. Um the home the home game is a bit of a different story. Bales they’re they’re chugging around 500 at home. Um is there something you’ve seen them do at home that they haven’t necess or they’ve done on the road they haven’t been able to do on the road? Um how can they be more successful at home? I mean we talk about all the time like if you play you play 750 hockey at home and you play 500 on the road, you’re going to make the playoffs. So what do you want to see out of these guys tonight? Well, sometimes you get those funky numbers that I think don’t really add up. You know, as we know, you play, you come out at home, you look forward to playing at home, you look forward to playing in front of your fans. Um, sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. I think really when things are like that at home, it’s just let’s focus on our first shift. Let’s get into this game and set the tone. Um, we just see Pedager out there, too. Nice having Pedager back. I’m sure that’ll be that’ll be a boost for them. Big boost for them with Pedager back. We, you and I both know what he provides for this lineup. He’s the jack of all trades. He’s also a huge emotional leader for them. And you know, he goes and he can change the momentum of a game with the with the hit and or a big play. Him and Holster obviously on the penalty kill together. Pretty electric. And you know, Homer Homer really thrives when Paige’s by his side. And not dissimilar to, you know, you and Brock Olsson were attached to the hip. Me and Casey were attached to the hip. I think a lot of teams are built on on tandemss um with the forward lines and Pedro being back is obviously a huge thing for this team. Well, you said it all too and I think especially as a winger, you rely on those your centerman a lot. You know, they’re kind of the guy driving the line. Uh a guy like Pager, too. He’s predictable. You know where he’s going to be out there. He makes a lot of good plays. Subtle plays. Um real real treat to play with. No doubt. And decent start for the Islanders here. This guy, Emil Heinman, like this guy rips the puck. Like we’re talking about an alltime release. And you know, like honestly for for somebody who was seen, I think by a lot of Islander fans as a a throwin on a Dobson trade where everyone’s focused on the two first round picks, he’s really turned out to be, you know, quite the player for Matthew Dar, Patrick W, and the New York Islanders. And he’s sitting at 10 goals. Uh, obviously a big part of Bo Horvat’s success so far this year. He’s hunting pucks. He’s creating some offense. A lot of two-on-one opportunities for them. Rodman rushes solid defensively. Uh, great pickup by Matthew Dar. Well, that’s what I I didn’t know much about his game. I’m sure same as you, but you notice that he can sling it, but at the same time, he’s got a motor and he’s he’s in on the forche. He’s hitting guys. He plays a little bit ratty. Uh just a good element to add to your lineup and wearing we’re in 5-1 you know he shades of Fron Nielsen for me a little different players obviously but just seeing that 51 buzzinger out there in the Islander uniform our boy Fronzy one of our favorite teammates I’m sure both of us what a guy but he was the same way emotional leader quiet to the public but but a great guy and you know provided so much for this team. Yeah, Fronzy one of those leaders that like he didn’t really have to say anything. He was just showed up every game and you knew what you were going to get out of him. He was such a steady, consistent guy. Yeah, we loved uh loved playing with Fronzy. Shout out to Frzy. What’s up? Not much going on here in the first couple minutes. Obviously, a little back and forth. Two shots for the aisles. One for the K for the Knights. Um, what do you think, guys? Should we bring on Jordan? Should we bring Jordan Nolan on? Yeah, let’s bring them on. Let’s do it. So Josh, you played with Jordan back in Windsor, I believe. Is he on now? Are we good? Yeah. Yeah. So Nosy and I played together for a year and a half in Windsor. A lot of good memories. They uh they went on to win the next couple years. Jordan ended up going on to the Sue. um but knows he had a great career, won a couple cups and uh yeah, we’ll let him elaborate. We kind of want to hear some him talk about it and how what an experience that would be. I mean, that’s something we all uh all dream of doing and he got to live it. So, I kind of want to want to hear about uh how it all went down and Oh, good play there. Nice little pay from P to Barzi. Oh, I’m going to ask I’m going to ask I’m going to ask you a question. I’m hosting this show, bro. All right. I’m going to I’m going to ask you a question. Uh well, let’s start let’s start in junior. Let’s start about your memories about playing with Josh, your memories of being in Windsor, how it was winning those memobs, how successful you guys were as obviously a great team. I just left the OHL. Um, uh, talk about the group of guys you had there, how many guys went on to play in the NHL, how many guys were successful, and really what those couple years were like. Uh, for me it was, uh, I started on Erie, you know, the Eerie Otter, and and wasn’t really too happy there. So, decided to make a change and came into Windsor, got to pay with, uh, with Bales here, who was one of the one of the top center in the league. And, and that was uh, I think you can see from the start, you know, he was a he was a great person. Uh, he worked hard. you could tell he was going to be a good pro and you know he had a great career so um I wasn’t part of those winning teams and um I wasn’t uh I wasn’t getting the ice time that I was looking for in Windsor you know so I complained to the coach the GM and I had to get out of there so I got traded uh traded to the Sue Greyhounds uh we were a terrible team got a little bit more ice time uh snuck into the draft in ‘ 07 and uh and from there you know just got a got a I got a break, came to LA at the right time. But those times in Windsor, uh, they were just starting out. We dropped to Taylor Hall, we had Ryan Ellis, uh, we had Bales, and, uh, we had Dale Mitchell. We had great cap and, uh, Mickey Renault who, uh, who was a great teammate of ours. Yeah. And, uh, I think once we had those kind of, uh, foundational guys that, that brought us together, we had a young Bob Buggner and, uh, DJ Smith and, uh, Warren Reichel. So they really just kind of building the foundation those years and you can see what the team uh team became with those mem cups. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh, we got Boogie lookout. Anders Lee just ran into the net. You know Adam O used to say that net hasn’t moved in 200 years. Got to look out for that thing. But, uh, the two championships you were part of, Nolles, the LA Kings, the two Stanley Cups, and doing something that Bales and I were never able to do, winning cups. Um, take us into take us into those experiences for you personally, for you and your family. And then maybe a little bit about that locker room. There’s a lot of legends on that team. Um, Bill, you remember going into that building when they were when they were dynamite. You’re just a big heavy team. The big black jersey. just just a nightmare. I don’t think we won there for six or seven years. So, take take us through those years with the Kings. Yeah, so I was uh I started out in Manchester, New Hampshire. Uh second year pro as a seventh round pick. Uh I never really thought about I mean Bales probably remember when I was a little bit younger, you know, I was pretty loose. Uh just kind of go with the flow, have a good time. Uh I like to compete. I like to play hockey obviously. Uh but playing in the NHL was never really a goal or or a dream. team, you know, I love playing hockey. I love competing. I love uh fighting once in a while and trying to score on goals where I can. So, coming into LA, uh we had Dean Leardi, a great GM. We had a great player development team. They they took the time to develop us. They came to visit us in the summer, came to Manchester every weekend, go over video and really work with us and and I would say Dean Party and uh and Mike Fuda were a big part of me kind of becoming that pro. And the team wasn’t doing great. They made a coaching change. child Daryl hired Daryl Sutter who who liked to play a different style. He liked those bigger bodies. So they came down to watch us I think uh maybe during the all-star all-star break whatever it was and then uh a couple weeks later I was playing in long on my first NHL game with with Dwight King and wasn’t sure I was going to play. to ask Daryl. And um and later on, I found out I was playing with Mike Richards that first game. And uh for me, I was just a young kid, I was doing whatever I could to to stay in the lineup, work my hardest in practice. Again, just kind of enjoying the moment. And then little by little, we started to pick up pace. You know, we got Jeff Carter and then we just snuck in. We’re the eight seed. And um really, we just kind of clicked at the right time. But when you talk about leadership and and and players that you’re able to play with and meet along the way, I mean, Dustin Brown is our captain. Kobe’s been there for a while, but really, you know, we had Matt Green, we had Jared Stole, we had we had Mike Richards, Jeff Carter, Rob Scary. I mean, the list goes on and on. We had uh Willie Mitchell, and uh we had Jonathan Quick who who’s who heated up that right time. And I think with those guys and Justin Williams and I think uh what made our team special was uh we had Daryl S who demanded us to play a certain way but I think we had that confidence that if we uh if we play a certain way and uh and show up to work every night we thought we thought we would never lose. That was our mentality and and that’s what happened over the next few seasons. you know, we just knew we had to kind of get in the playoffs and and hopefully our our game would uh would take over. It’s awesome. I mean, you know, like we had that feeling with these Islander teams a couple of years where we really showed up to the rink thinking we were going to win every game cuz we played a certain way and Barry Trotz was that guy for us. He really instilled that in us and obviously it came down from blue at the top. But but Barry was the day-to-day guy. We’re going to take a little break here, a little little TV timeout. We’re going to have a lot more with Jordan Roll when we come back. You hear me? You hear me? You guys have a lot of like background when you’re talking when you’re talking. It’s pain. All right. Yeah. Yeah. It’s pain painful. It’s painful. Yeah. It’s It’s a lot. It’s more than before. It’s It’s hard to concentrate. I think it’s Is there any Is there anything you guys can do about it or Yeah. Oh, we are. Take care. I’m excited to be here. You know, this is our first I think it’s our first episode, right? First episode. First episode. Plus, with each seat you buy, you’ll get an exclusive Islanders Goat USA hoodie. Get the GOAT holiday plan today at new york islanders.com/goat. [Music] [Music] Islanders player gear is now available for you to own. Shop gloves, sticks, and skates that were issued to your favorite Islanders players. Shop these items and much more at islandersgameors.com. remember meeting with him at uh at the draft and or at the combine, sorry. And he uh go in the room, sit down, and he’s, you know, he’s kind of an intimidating guy, too, right, when you’re a young kid. Um, and he he sits I sit down on the couch and he’s talking to me and he’s like, “Do you uh do you drink beer?” At this point, I’m 18 years old. I’m like, “Yeah, sometimes.” He’s like, “If you go out, how many do you have?” I’m like, “I don’t know. Depends on the night.” And he’s like, “Six?” I’m like, “Probably more.” He’s like, “10.” I’m like, “Uh, maybe, maybe a little more.” 12. I’m like, “Yeah, let’s go with 12.” He’s like, “Oh, good. Can’t win with with a bunch of choir boys.” I was like kind of I didn’t know how to take it at first, but no, he he was a funny guy. I really liked him. No, he was uh he was a big team guy, you know. He was kind of big into the army and things like that. It’s a big history buff and uh sometimes he would just kind of bring you in your office and just talk about something other than hockey. But the message came around and and you kind of got what he was trying to say. And I think um that’s what Daryl wanted too. Daryl was a pretty strict coach. Uh he knew he demanded a lot. He knew he wasn’t easy, but I think he liked that. Uh sometimes it was almost, you know, the team against the coach, you know, he would tell us, you know, you guys are playing brutal tonight or or Dowy, you sit here, you’re not going. He would push guys and kind of make the team rally together and really bond us. There were times where we probably wouldn’t talk to Daryl and the coaching staff. It was just us uh expecting of each other and almost wanted to prove the coaches wrong. I we knew that they believed in us obviously, but we almost wanted to just just give it to them and say, “All right, you don’t think we can do it or or you’re going to give us a curfew tonight? We’ll we’ll show you.” So, that’s thing that’s what made our team special is we kind of came together and and wanted to show uh the coaching staff that, you know, we’ll we’ll show you the team that we are. All right. So, uh, obviously our first allcast, we’re working through some bugs, which is hilarious. Uh, I’m sure for the people at home, it’s just like listening to us, um, go through this and work through this. So, we’re going to have a segment that runs. Josh and I are going to pick somebody anytime goal scorer during the game. So, the way it’s going to work is we’re going to pick a guy every game. That guy’s if that guy scores, you get you get one on the board. If he scores two, you get two. And we’re going to do a running tally for the alt cast this year. And at the end, Josh and I are going to figure out what the wager is. It’s probably going to be a really nice bottle of bourbon to be honest with you because we both like to drink bourbon quite a bit. So, we’re going to go do some research on what bottle of bourbon. But tonight, Josh who’s going to score for the Islanders? I’m going to go with I’m going to go with Pager tonight. I like him back in the lineup. I think it’s a boost for the team. Um try to get him feeling good about himself. It’d be great to see him get on the board. I’m going to go a little uh a little off the board. This guy started hot, but he’s cooled off a little bit. Let’s do a meal Heinman tonight for me. I feel like he’s he got a good shot off early. He’s going to pop one tonight. So, I got a meal Heinman. Josh has got who’ you get again? Who’ you pick? Pedro Pou. All right. So, we’re going to throw it back to Jordan here. Jordan. since you retired, was this Shoresy thing on your radar at any point or is this like tell us how that came about? Cuz it’s really an awesome show. You guys obviously have really cool role you and your brother two of the three gyms uh with John Morassi, Nasty Morassi, kind of a nightmare to play against for anybody who spent any time in the Miners. Um tell us how that came about. Oh, I think playing in LA obviously in that atmosphere. I always loved movies. I always loved TV. I was always always doing on our trips. I wasn’t the guy reading books and and trying to better myself. I was just trying to watch some uh some little bit of entertainment. So, uh, when I finished playing, I was I was actually in Scrin, uh, playing in the Penguins organization and it was a lockout year and I was down there getting CO tested every day, living in a hotel. And I had two young kids at home and, uh, I knew if I I would grind it out in the American League and hopefully get back up to to Pittsburgh. And at that point, you know, I I I had my career. I had two young girls, so, you know, I thought there was something else for me out there. So came back home and and really I was probably sitting home for maybe 6 months. Uh not sure what I wanted to do. Couldn’t really work too much with CO going on. So I actually signed up for uh for firefighting through the PA. Uh I did that schooling. So I signed up for firefighting. I reached out to LA Kings. Uh they brought me back as a community relations consultant and ambassador for the team. And then I would say two days later after I signed my contract with LA, my brother got an email from some from some lady uh from Letter Kenny saying, “Hey, we’re developing a new TV show. Would you guys be interested in being a part of it?” My brother called me right away and uh unsure of, you know, what it was going to be. I said, “You know what? Just give her a call and see and see what the deal is.” So, we emailed back. They told us, “We need you guys for six days of work for season one.” And uh and showing up there, it was honestly like uh it felt like pro. You show up there, you’re you’re not sure how to what’s happening, uh who your friends are or how it’s going to work. So we we met at Jared Kiso’s house the first day. Uh myself, my brother, uh Morasti, uh Terry Ryan, and we pretty much just ran through the script. uh did a few scenes, got comfortable, and my brother told a funny story on on TSN the one day, but we had a we had a little skate to kind of uh to get comfortable with each other. And one of the one of the main characters uh Fish was was an actor. And I think in his uh in his audition and in his resume, he said he played uh AAA hockey growing up back in Canada or junior hockey, whatever the kid said. But we were skating around uh just kind of getting to know each other. We started shooting maybe a week and uh it’s and as you guys know, we’re pros, so we probably got no shoulder pad, just kind of feel loose. This uh this kid, he he put his neck guard on for the skate. I think he was holding his stick with his knob kind of like up here. And you could tell right away he probably wasn’t going to be able to handle the job. So they uh they that was the last time he skated with the team. But um but again it’s kind of like uh those good organizations is hockey. You have a good GM. You have a good head coach. You have good player development and you make it a good atmosphere. So so Jared Kiso he he really developed a a great atmosphere for us to feel comfortable in us to kind of uh you know help explore these roles and and just really make it easy on us. So, uh, we started on with the hockey season one, got loose and kind of eased our way into the acting process. And, uh, and from there, you know, we’ve we’ve done five seasons now. Season five is coming on Christmas. And, um, and we always tell this, we we really feel like more of a hockey team than a than a cast of a TV show. So, uh, we’ve we’ve come together in that aspect, but it’s been a lot of fun. There’s a lot of ex-pros in the show and uh it’s been a blast to be part of. I mean, Cal Cal and I are both big fans of the show and we think it’s hilarious. So, it’ll be uh we’re looking forward to tomorrow night. It’s going to be a lot of fun. This is our uh maybe seventh, eighth game that we’ve been doing. Uh, I wasn’t sure how it was going to go the first game. So, if teams want if people would want to come watch a bunch of expros, actors play a pickup game against alumni, but from day one in Detroit, you know, we about 6,000 fans. Uh, when we introduce our teams, the fans are on their feet going nuts. We make it a good show. We usually have great alumni and I know you guys have a great team tomorrow. So, it’s a lot of fun for uh for the fans, whether you’re a team a fan of the alumni or the show. It’s a It’s a great show for everyone, all ages, and you get to see some uh a trailer from season five, some bloopers, and uh and a few fun things during the game. So, we were talking over dinner about how there’s some guys who obviously never got a chance to play in an NHL rink. And playing in an NHL rink, as we know, is pretty exciting when you’re a young kid. If we can if we can just think back to, you know, my first game was in 2007. So, my memory since, you know, most of my concussions is a little blurred, but I feel like I remember how cool that was. Uh, you end up getting used to over the course of your career, but you forget, right? You get a bunch of guys that have never done it, they get into these buildings, these buildings are full, they’re playing against legends. Uh, tell us a little, like you were telling us at dinner, tell us about how the the guys who are are doing this for the first time, how exciting it is for them. Well, even for myself, I mean, my last couple years a pro, um I was in the American League and and you play some of these cities are the fans aren’t great. They’re a little quiet. So, Oh, yeah. Even for myself walking out that first game in Detroit, like the warm-up was packed. Fans were going and it felt like it felt like a National League hockey game. I mean, so for lots of these kids, we have generally an a Canadian cast and lots of these guys played hockey growing up, whether it was house league or or AAA. So for them to to skate in these arena barns and see some uh some of the heroes and legends, you know, we just played Doug Gilmore the other night. We played Zano Charara, uh Andrew Farah. So I mean lots of guys are snapping selfies with all these guys getting autographs and um it’s it’s fun to watch as someone who played pro hockey in these buildings and I was able to win the Stanley Cup with St. Lewis in 2019 and as an older guy who who’s won it, just to sit back and watch the younger guys enjoy it and watch them experience for the first time. So that’s kind of how I feel is to watch these young kids uh you know maybe get a little nervous to stick a little tighter and they all want to score a goal in these NHL barns. So it’s been it’s been a lot of fun and and you’ll see some of that tomorrow. So when you guys are traveling around the country you uh do you get a chance like has you’ve been able to come to the actual NHL games and and kind of you know the interaction I think what’s what’s hilarious to me is we’re up there in the UBS club having dinner and you guys the whole cast is sitting there the whole roster is sitting up there having dinner and um how recognizable are you guys in public you know do you guys get do you get a lot of recognition when you come to these buildings and come to games or or you still flying under the radar a little bit It’s been Vegas just buried one to go up one nothing. So, we’ll talk about that in a second. Go ahead, Jordan. No, it’s been it’s been pretty surprising to me. I think um you know, some of these teams, these NHL night teams and American League teams, they started doing shores nights actually. So, I got to come to uh LA and do the Ontario rain game and um it is strange, you know, I played for organization for seven years. I won two Stanley Cups and I got these fans yelling gym at me. So, it it’s it’s a little bit wild, but you know, these guys love it. You know, like I said, lots of these guys, they’re on a TV show on Crave, on Hulu in the States, and uh to be able to walk in an NHL bar and to see some of the jerseys in the in the stands, it’s a dream come true. But, uh we got some great fans and uh as you seen in our tour, these these fans go nuts for the guys and they just eat it up. So, it’s uh it’s a lot of fun to see, but I mean, my brother goes on vacation while he’s down in Florida. He gets recognized quite a bit. Uh Nasty Morasti, you know, he’s been out there in the public once in a while. He’s doing spin chicklets and um he’s wearing a Shoresy t-shirt around. So, the guy’s really drinking in and it’s a it’s been a it’s been it’s been pretty wild to be honest with you. Yeah. Nasty Morassi obviously one of the guys who’s I I I mean this guy How many face punching contests do you think this guy got into? He’s like 5’10. Seems like he’s about 230 built like a block and he just grabs on and throws for a dear life. And I think I watched a clip of him fighting Mccardi in Detroit and bails. We we watched it last night. I think he caught him a couple times. I think he caught him with a couple rides in the jaw. I mean, could we expect can we expect Nasty to go after Marty or somebody tomorrow night? I’m not sure. He’s getting older, you know. He’s uh he’s 45 years old. He’s he still has that bite to him, though. And once he drops the gloves and uh Mccardi, you know, he likes to have fun, too. So, I think they both walked away with some black guys. He fought Colton Nor the other night in uh in Boston. And I think uh they like to have fun with it. You know, Nassie’s he’s uh he’s a little bit crazy, so he likes to feel that punch. And uh tomorrow night, he’s uh he’ll be on the hunt. And if anyone wants to challenge him, he he’s ready to go. But but it’s a it’s a lot of fun. And uh he is getting older though. His body’s a little sore in the morning. But uh but for him, you know, he played in the American League for for a long time, playing the KHL. I think he said around 400 fights his whole life. So I think for him to to be able to fight in these NHL barns, it’s uh it’s it’s pretty exciting. Yeah, it’s got to be nice for him to get back out there and feel that adrenaline rush. And you know, those guys can’t turn it off, right? I mean, you you were no stranger to the fisticuffs yourself. And Bales told me last night, you didn’t fight that much early in junior, but he said there was a couple fights where you just kind of went in there and you reached back and threw a couple and he he knew right away that you had it in you. Um, how much of that was part of your game? And how much of that was how much were you looking for it when you were playing? Cuz I felt like you were just you were a really solid physical fourthline player that was solid that could handle himself if he needed to, but I wouldn’t say that you were somebody who was really out there looking for it. No, I think like um like I saying before, I was pretty laid-back kid. Um not very intense and in order for me to be successful in and pro, I had to find that intensity. And in order to do that, I had to find a big hit early on in the game, I had to get myself engaged. Um I need to kind of find myself into the game and and generally when you get those big hits and get in the corners or go to the net hard, uh those things happen. And when I would get in a fight, um, I’d always have always play one of my better games, but I never really went out looking for it. I didn’t like it. I didn’t like, uh, tapping someone on the shins at the at the face off dot because that’s generally when I lost. And I’m not sure if Bales was there when I I took a I lost a big fight in junior hockey. Uh, cut my lip, lost lost a couple teeth. And that was probably one of the first times maybe I was, you know, feeling a little cocky, a little confident, wasn’t into the game. just kind of thought I was tough and and went looking for it and that’s usually when you lose and get hurt. So, uh from then on, you know, I had to find myself getting engaged, but um I like fighting when when you’re involved in the game, but to uh to go out there and look for it, I uh I never enjoyed that. Yeah. Well, uh Jordan, thanks so much for coming on here, buddy. This has been awesome. I mean, just to give us give us the time to to chat with you on our first one. Obviously, working through the kinks and trying to see how this is going to work for us, trying to give the Islander fans. I think it was really an awesome uh awesome interview. Very excited about tomorrow night. Congratulations on your success, post career, during your career. Um, I’ll see you tomorrow night. Thanks a lot. Yeah. Thanks for Yeah. Thanks, buddy. Appreciate it. All right. Thank you. Thanks, guys. All right, buddy. Have fun. What a stop there. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Give the greatest gift of all this holiday season. The Goat Holiday Plan gets you exclusive pricing for plans starting just three games. Plus, with each seat you buy, you’ll get an exclusive Islanders Goat USA hoodie. Get the Goat Holiday Plan today at new york islanders.com/goat. All right, we’re back here at UBS Arena. We’ve had a little bit of everything so far. We had a goal pool, we had a goal scored, we had a couple penalties, we had a power play negated, and then another power play added. We had Jordan Nolan on. Uh we’ve checked a lot of boxes here in the in the first 20, 30 minutes of this all. Bales and I going to take you the rest of the way through the first period. Um Bales, as much as you’ve been trying to watch the game and trying to focus on Jordan, what are you seeing so far? It’s been a bit of a just a bit of a different game. Bunch of penalties, kind of some weird ones. Um and even on that that like Sroa tries to do the right thing. He’s trying to catch him on the other side of the net, just gets a stick a little too much, trips him and leads to the power play. They end up scoring on a four and three. But I mean, even on that play, I’m not a huge fan of uh guys shooting for rebounds, you know what I mean? But I kind of fired one at Stone at the net and it kick kicks back to Hannifan and he just pounds one in. So, it’s there is a time and a place for it for sure and obviously got them on the board. But I don’t think the Islanders look too bad. They had some good looks early. I mean, how about Vegas though? Like you think Vegas, you think now you think Mitchie Martner, you think Jack Eel, but we were talking last night, Mark Stone who’s got like 21 points now in 13 games or 12 games in a period. Obviously, he’s been battling injuries for the majority of his career, but when he’s in the lineup, this team’s just different. I is it safe to say that he’s he’s the guy there? He’s the lynch pin. He’s the one that kind of makes everybody fall into place. He’s he’s one of them for sure. I mean, even you look at his game and he doesn’t wow you with like he doesn’t wow you with he doesn’t have the wow factor. Let’s put it that way. But like you when you really watch his game and break it down, he’s so smart. He goes to the right areas. He’s got a sneaky good shot. He’s got good deception. He just does he always is one of the top guys in steals each year, which usually is a sign of someone being a heady player. Um I’ve always liked his game and especially the more you get to watch him, you’re like that guy’s the real deal. He’s got the one of the weirdest stick knob setups I’ve ever seen. He’s got you can catch a glimpse of his stick. It’s It’s disgusting. It’s, you know, and there he is again making a play to the back door off a drop. There it is. Another point for Stone. Yeah. So, this play right here, you know, he he Stone’s coming off the half wall from the boards. This puck gets one to him coming across the top of the circles. And you’re going to see the the the weak side defenseman activate. And then it’s another pass off the pads and and there’s I believe Mitchie on the backside unchecked empty netter. This is bales. You know this from from our time with Barry Trotton Lane Lambert. This is just faceoff responsibility stuff for the Islanders, right? Like you got to know where your guy is at all times. And watch Mitchie Martner. He’s with Mark Gatcom, but he’s not Mark Gadcom’s guy. He’s technically I think Adam Pel’s guy. Casey goes with his centerman to the net. A little pass off the pads and Mitchie’s there. But faceoff plays this important part of the game. I mean you you create it’s the only time think about it. It’s the only time in a hockey game when you can go from a a set setup and have a play drawn up. The rest of the game es and flows. Uh maybe the power play might be similar, but you got to like the Vegas Golden Knights on that play knew exactly what they were doing on that face off and the Islanders needed to know what their responsibilities were in on the defensive side of the puck as much as they do on the offensive side of the puck. Now they’re down two nothing. They got a big hill to climb. Yeah, not ideal. I think you’re right when you say that. It’s we we had faceoff you knew what you had to do on every faceoff dot, right? And it was almost like you had too many faceoff plays. Yes. But at the same time it does keep you on the same page and there is going to be breakdowns. I think I’d love to see that one again to really have a good look at it. But um but you also you have to credit guys. Mitch Mner is a heck of a player and the good goal scorers and find a way to get open in those situations and he did did exactly that and got his I think that’s his sixth of the year. Good look there from Shabanov, huh? Shabana has been good. I mean, you know, his first couple games, you can see he’s trying to find his way. His exhibition season was, you know, to me just okay. But then he started to really come around after he came back from that injury. Had a little pep in his step. Obviously, Palms goes down. So, he gets elevated to Bo Horvat’s line and he got the message. I mean, to me, just he’s able to show his speed a little more. He’s able to show his skill. I think playing more obviously bails. So, this is a big thing, right? He’s playing he starts playing 18 minutes. He starts playing 20 minutes. He’s on the power play. just tell people at home like how how important those extra puck touches are for a player’s confidence and their ability to to really showcase what their abilities are. It’s it’s I’m not going to say everything, but it’s a big part of it. And you got to think for him, too. He’s coming over from Russia. It’s a different different league, different game. He’s getting comfortable. Um, but even at rookie camp, I remember watching him and being like, “This guy’s got he’s got some nasty mitts. He seemed like he just had some good awareness for the game.” And then like you’re saying with with the minutes, it’s it’s really difficult to be a guy who’s supposed to get points and you play 10 to 12 minutes a game, you know, you just don’t get those power play touches that make you feel good. You’re not getting the five on five looks as much. Um especially when you’re used to playing more. Um so for him it’s taking a little bit of time and I think obviously it sucks having palms go down, but like like any anything it’s it’s next man up mentality and other guys get opportunities and it’s what you’re going to do with that opportunity. So I think for him, I’m not going to be surprised at all to see his game just just really start taking off with this opportunity. I think he’s looked good on the power play in those situations. They’ve they’ve been using him on the first unit and he looks really uh really comfortable on the halfall. So I’m going to go there’s a comment section here and I’m going to go to this comment section. This is a good question that just came in from Isles girl 3. Why are these sticks breaking so easily today? My gosh, that Horvette chance was immaculate. Sticks do break and they break sometimes. They seem to be at the worst times honestly. But you know the construction of these things, they’re so light. Matthew Schaer doing his thing. Uhoh. Like look, you hear that? Matthew Schaefer just got dumped and Anthony Duclair is now going after Braden McNav. I’m not sure I’m not sure if Anthony Duclair really wants to go after Braden McNab because no he’s a big man and he’s and he’s and he’s fight but you got to do what you got to do and we’ve seen this reaction especially with from the aisles faithful you could tell around us the guys behind me are screaming like anytime he gets touched he gets dumped after the play and you know this is the one time in the game Bill is like when you see Sha get dumped and you see the reaction it’s honestly the only time. I feel like he’s an 18-year-old kid when he gets dumped like that. I I the rest of his game, even his interview, like every part of him, he doesn’t look 18, but when he gets dumped like that and the reaction, it feels like everybody in this building feels like his dad or his mom. Like that’s how they react to me. So, you know, it’s like it’s like their own child just got dumped. I don’t know if they’re going to take two players. Well, it looks like coincidentals. Yeah, I don’t know what’s going on. And like you were saying too, obviously that’s not someone Dookie is going to want to fight, but you got to you got to hand it to him for getting in there and showing a little fight back and uh you’ll take that penalty. Obviously, they’d rather the power play, but Dookie going in there shows that, hey, don’t be touching our our kid here. And I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a little more to come from that, but McNab McNab’s a big guy. He plays hard. I respect his game, but obviously uh you don’t want to see him given that little extra shot to shave. So, let’s go back to Isles girl three and the stick thing. Do you think the sticks break more in like opportune times or is it just luck of the draw? Do people feel that way? I think it’s just luck of the draw. I think on that one it was Bo the pass was coming from low to high and both on those ones and that angle of the pass you really kind of have to lean into it. Uh they’re kind of I always found them a little bit harder to hit especially if they’re coming at you hard. Um, but yeah, I think that that case I think it just snapped on him. I think like you were saying in the making of the sticks now, they just break so much easier, but the benefit of it when you hit it, you can sling it that much harder. So, it’s a it’s a bit of give and take. I will say the one thing though, and you’ll probably you’ll agree with me, the the I always found I hated breaking a stick in warm-ups. If I broke one at the end of warm-ups when I did my one-times, it just messes with your feel. the next time you come in to take one, it’s like you’re waiting for it to break. So, I think Bo probably went back to the bench and gave a few flex like, “Let’s feel this a little bit because that that one after always just feels funny, right?” How many sticks you go through in a year? I probably didn’t break that many, but I I would I was, you know me, I was superstitious. If I had a good, if I was playing well, I kept the same one. Um, I don’t know, probably like 30. You I know you were, you were more than that. I didn’t break that many either, but I got bored with my sticks, so I would I would change my flex. I changed my curve. I changed the company that made them. I was all over the place. And I had an Instagram account at one point. Nice play by Sha. Oh, the Islanders, man. They they’ve created a couple chances. Miss missed the net a couple times, but nice little play by Barzy there under the stick to shape. This is what he This is what he creates. Look at him. He’s down in the hash marks. He’s all over the zone. He’s like he’s like a he’s like a rover, you know, and and just adds so much to the offense of the team. allows Barzi to use the whole zone. You see him here. Bose’s trying to get lost here on the far side. Little fouron four action. A little more ice to work with, but there it is. Here we go. I told him I would do it. Look it. Turn the red light on the top of my head. It’s 2-1 Bo Horvette. It’s a fouron four marker. The pass from Ryan Pulock. Bo short side. He stays hot. Like I guess he didn’t have any uh second thoughts about that first shot after breaking a stick. Good advice there, Bills. Good call. He really showed you. Oh man, that handle’s so hot right now. Unbelievable. Paul Horvat, look at him just I mean he went through a stretch there in November bails where I didn’t think he was going to miss. Every chance he got was a no doubter and he’s and it wasn’t the same spot. It was different ways, but every time he got that puck in that little home plate area, he was burying that thing. Yeah, he sure was. I mean, that’s a heck of a shot there, too. But even the they made that look and again to your point, Sha buzzing around the zone. You got Bo Barsy that really trust him, too. when they give him the puck and get open. I mean, it just four on fours aren’t easy to create offense, especially when you get in the ozone like that. You usually just man up and then it’s, you know, you you just need a breakdown or it’s a rebound. They they made that was a heck of a four and four for sure. Good way to end the period. All right, good period. I mean, not huge goal for the Islanders to get back in that thing 2-1. We’re going to take a little break here at the intermission. We’re going to show you the first two parts of episode three of On the Island. And if you haven’t seen the first two episodes, I suggest going to check it out. It’s a really, really good docu series put on here by the New York Islanders. Just a little inside look into what goes on behind the scenes, training camp, the draft, a lot of Matthew Schaefer in episode one, a lot of the team in episode two. Uh I just watched episode 3 last night. Uh it’s fantastic as well. We’re going to show you the first two parts. We’re going to take a little break. We’ll be back with the second period in about 10 15 minutes. how you draw it up in practice. What a stop there. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] So when I blow the whistle, sprint to the bench. You don’t glide, you escape to the bench. Got it? Obviously, we look back at the way the season went last year and we work on things that we believe we need to be better at. Great job. Great job. And I want some life out there. So, how can we create life talking? We got a little too much hesitation. I want us to be faster on these guys. We don’t. It’s the game. The name of the game is time and space. We want to take that away from them. talking, chirping, do whatever you want. Let’s go and enjoy oursel on that ice. Got it. That’s it. I like who we are. I think we’re going to surprise some people and and that’s our goal. You know, we got to camp here to to get ourselves ready and to put ourselves in a position on night one to have a great season and from there we’ll take it day by day. But I think there’s a lot to look forward to within this group right now. The others went out this summer and added some really good players. I think extremely high skill. They bring speed. how are they going to fit into the New York Islanders and the way they want to play? Well, we well training camp scenario where the organization’s going to find out how they fit and vice versa as well. So, really important time for all these new acquisitions. Patty runs very hard practices with high pace and I think it’s the only way you can get ready. Try to get those practices very dialed in very hard. It’s always the same. You hit the ice that first day and everyone’s going a million miles an hour and you try and settle in and do what you need to do, not only individually to get yourself ready for the season, but as a team. I would like to work on our culture, work on our values. I feel like the joy, the the compassion, uh the boldness. I think it’s important for our guys to come at the rink and having joy. That doesn’t mean you’re not going to work hard. That doesn’t mean you’re not going to be focused. And I want to use the training camp to establish those things. So, these are the things that I believe that will help us to have a good season. Early on in training camp, we had a visit from General Mcrist. Obviously, I have a little bit of military with my brother and my brother-in-law in the army. My brother’s in the Air Force. So, it’s cool whenever I can meet someone like that. All right, guys. We’re we’re privileged today to have General Stanley Mcrist, fourstar general, 34 years of service in the US Army. You know, I’ve done stuff with my brother before. I went to uh New Mexico and got to fly with him and you know, I kind of saw his squadron and what they do is a lot. It’s a team. Um, and so that’s kind of what the message was. And he explained, you know, how it’s a little bit different. Obviously, you walk in a place like a locker room like this and our organizations had equivalent stuff with military equipment hanging and whatnot. Particularly in Iraq, there were like ready rooms and we would you’d go grab your stuff, throw your kid on and head out the helicopters and you didn’t stop and think, are these guys ready to go? Are these guys up to the task? Because everybody had committed to that. There’s different risk, there’s different stuff on the line, everything like that. But at the same time, it’s a team and you know, you respect each other, but you expect a lot out of each other as well. takes each of you committed, but it also takes each of you holding each other to account. Even when I became the regimental commander of a colonel, I would have young rangers come up to me if I was doing something like if I stood with my hands in my pockets because we didn’t do that. A young ranger would say, “Sir, we don’t put our hands in our pockets.” And that’s extraordinary for a guy who’s 19 years old to go to a 47 year old colonel and do that. But that’s the kind of thing and you don’t get mad about it. You go, you’re right. What questions do you have? What comments do you have? So, one of the things I asked him was how to hold guys accountable. The accountability that you talked about whether it’s a 18y old telling you something. What are the techniques and obviously two-way street you have to accept. What are some tools and techniques though? That that’s a really good question. And first you got to respect people. You know, if you walk up and somebody’s doing something, they’re not doing it very well and you go, “Hey, boom, boom, boom.” You know, they hear the first two words. And so you start with the respect. Maisy is not just, you know, a good occupier, but he’s a great human being. And I think that his experience, the way that he communicate on the ice, I think it’s a great fit for Matthew when the season start. Then the next thing is, of course, you’ve got to be consistent because if you go around correcting people, they turn around and they see you not living up to the standard, then your credibility to do that is really threatened. Everybody is going to let down at times. But you’ve got to be consistent and you can’t be picky either. The corrections should be on things that you can make an argument. They’re substantive. Great place all over. I think with Sha is what I’ve tried to do is put myself in his shoes a little bit. Um you know when I was 18 obviously I was in a little different situation. I was going into college and you know that was a jump for me. So, I can’t imagine the jump he was going through. Obviously, the first game, what do you use preseason games for? That’s part of it. You know, there’s going to be mistakes. There’s going to be, you know, little plays that you’re going to realize, oh, I can’t do that. I need to do this. And I got to talk to I know if if I see him get it and I want it, I’m going to yell at him. Fine. Something I’ve noticed about him is he can forget about those real quick and he goes out there and plays his game. I think Maisy is is ready for for that role. You know, it’s not bashing teammates. It’s not saying they’re doing something wrong. It’s just saying, “Hey, this is how we do it. This is what we need.” And I think that’s important. It’s hard to do, though. That that’s kind of why I brought it up to him. And he brought up just, you know, the the biggest thing is you got to lead by example, which I I fully believe in. As veterans, we go out there and show them what it means to be a pro, not just on the ice and how we’re working, but how we take care of ourselves afterwards and what we’re doing away from the rink. You know, for the vets in camp, it’s go out there and lead by example and pull a guy in when he needs it or little tips here and there, but we’re also doing the same thing as well. We’re getting our feet under us and focusing on what we need as well to be ready for night one. You know, we’re all fighting towards the same goal. We all want to win. Have somebody to come in to talk about that. And I think it’s it’s big for our group. You probably heard this a thousand times in your life and you’ll hear it more. Someday you’re not going to be on the team. Someday you’re going to get old. Someday something’s going to happen and you’re going to look back and you’re going to say, “God, coach was a pain in the ass, but I was on the team and I loved it and I’d give anything to be back on a team again. So enjoy it now. I mean, literally, even when it sucks, enjoy it now.” So, thank you very much and good luck for the season. I appreciate it. [Music] And we’re underway here in the fifth home opener at UBS Arena at Belmont Park. Barcel will switch places with Schaefer. Matthew Schaer back door to clear alone. He made the pass. Paul Mary shot was stopped by Thompson still to score. It’s Sher. The first pick has his first goal. We had a We actually had a lot of good looks, too. We were uh we were passing it around. Yeah, it was pretty chaotic play. Palms missed the first shot. I missed the rebound, you know, and he made two really nice saves and Sha came out of nowhere and and buried it. So, it was uh it was chaotic. I mean, honestly, I think everything happens for a reason. I mean, they had a little review. After reviewing the play, there was no hand pass or goal. When they, you know, called it a goal officially, like after they reviewed it, then the crowd went nuts. So, it was uh it was good cuz the crowd went nuts at the start and then they waited. They still were going nuts and then they can went nuts again. So, I mean, it was just nice to hear the fans just, you know, stay in it. Um, stay loud. But, it was it was fun to be a part of and I haven’t heard the building that loud in a long time. The horn will sound before it gets there. It’s a 42 final as the Caps beat the Islanders in their home opener. Well, the Islanders start the 2526 season 0 and3 after a 52 loss in the hands of the Winnipeg Jets. Yeah, I mean after the 0 and3 start, we had no panic. You know, you take the good things you did in those games, it’s still a work in progress and then you look at the stuff that you need to improve. Okay, guys. Five on five. So, don’t fall asleep. He’s got to look for that play and then they got to try to throw it at the net or hit this one. Very important. So something goes wrong, I know that we’re going to battle it out of the zone. We’re good with this offensively. Stay connected. Staying connected. We good? Let’s have fun. Tonight for the Islanders expecting David Riddick to make his Islanders debut and his season debut. Riddic, 33-year-old, entering his 10th National Hockey League season, signed a one-year deal back on July the 1st. I’m just playing every game what I what my name is being called as that could be the last one, right? So, I’m just trying to enjoy trying to be the best version of myself for for the guys on the ice, you know. Edmonton’s a really interesting team when we play them. They’ve had success in the last couple years and um you know, they probably have the two best players in the world. So, it’s uh it’s a little bit different game plan always against them. It’s obviously a little tricky. Uh if that goes their way, it can get ugly, but you know, if you stay on them, you can take advantage of it. They came out flying and I mean, you know, it was it was a tough hard fought game. And it’s brought right back into the net by Druan. Fancy move to the crease. Good look for Jonathan Druan. Here’s Barcelona. Has a step. Barcel forehand. Scores. That’s how The Orians can make it look even at one piece. Turnover shot score. We got down 2-1. Could could have go either way, right? McDavid had a breakaway. Two on two the other way. McDavid drives the net on the forehand. He’s denied. What a save by Renick. If that goes in, I I don’t know if we could come back, but thankfully he he didn’t score and uh and we took it over. Picked it away. Puck still loose. Pou ahead. Pou on the home run chance and it’s Bo Horvat shorthanded to tie it at two. The first goal, the short-handed goal was was pretty um it was an unbelievable play by Pager. second of the game for Bo Horvat and it’s a late lead for the another great play by Barzy on the power play to get that to me in the middle you know in that in that bumper position and again I just I’m just trying to whack it and hope for the best and and thankfully it went in and drew super unselfish play by him to to get that over to me for the uh for the hattrick goal Drew Harvette hattick 42 Islanders my first one was on the road and there I don’t know if there was maybe one hat thrown in the ice so it Pretty cool to to see the hats rain down and hopefully we can get another one here. And the Isles will get their first win of the season, their first win at home, David Riddick’s first win as an Islander. And they can all exhale a little bit on Long Island. Exactly. [Applause] [Applause] Hey, boys. Couple things. Couple things. Stuck together on that one. Grinded that out. First one of the year. And uh Dar’s first as an Islander. Guys, honestly, even if we didn’t get the result the first three games, what I like is you guys, we’ve been for battling till the end. A lot of resiliency. I believe in this group. Honestly, this is just a start, boys. They were pushing. We never caved in and we got it done, boys. [Applause] Beat SD in the second. One more thing, boys. Someone was quite the Iron Man tonight with three angels. I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s going to fit. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] won four games in a row after losing their first three games of the season and head out on the road trip on a positive note. Give the greatest gift of all this holiday season. The Goat Holiday Plan gets you exclusive pricing for plans starting just three games. Plus, with each seat you buy, you’ll get an exclusive Islanders Goat USA hoodie. Get the GOAT holiday plan today at new york islanders.com/goat. Well, we had an interesting first period. We were talking to Jordan Nolan most of the time, but while we were doing that, this is what went on in the game. And the New York Islanders claw back from a two nothing lead. Down 2-1 now at the uh start of the second period. The Vegas Golden Knights scoring a four-on-ree power play goal early in that period, following up with another one at five on five. And the Islanders getting one back at four on four, Bales. And you can see from these highlights that, you know, it was kind of a back and forth period. 12 shots on one side, 13 on the other. Ily Serroken made some great saves and uh the Islanders made some good plays and you know Vegas obviously a dangerous squad especially that top line. Nice curl and drag move there by Bo Horvette. We talked about that move and how hard that is to do. I mean he dragged that thing 8 ft. Uh nice little behind the back play from Casey Sikas coming up here like nice play by Case there to find Scotty Mayfield. That one almost went in on the short side. And here’s the goal here. Two looks at it fails. Take it away. It’s just a great all-around play. Hey, I mean, it was such a good shift that led to it. Like I said before, the four on fours are are tough to really generate a lot, especially when you get stuck in the ozone, but they snap it around. Bo finds that quiet area and is able to get it off. And he let one rip and I was talking about that broken stick and didn’t look like there was any ill effects for him on that one. Yeah, you’re supposed to be an expert. And here we are talking about the fact that like he might be double clutching his next one-time and he goes and puts it where grandma hides the peanut butter and it kind of makes you look like a bit of a donkey. But, you know, we’ll have to you’ve got a bone to pick with him about that one. But, um, great news for there’s a reason why he gets there’s a reason why he makes more money than I did. Oh, that’s for sure. Uh, reason why you guys both made more money than I did, but you know, I was I was in it for the love of the game. Just so you guys know at home, I was in it for the love of the game. These guys were in it to make some cash, obviously. Totally joking. But, uh, we’ve got, we still got some four-on-our hockey. 55 seconds aside here to start the second period. Patrick W likely going to have 13 out there. He might throw 14 out there with him. If you’re coaching the Islanders right now, Bales, if you’re Patrick Wah, who you throwing out against? Uh, looks like Vegas got Mitchie going and Theodore, probably Stone. No, it looks like Eel. Who you throwing out against those guys for the next 55 seconds? I mean, I’m just running it back. I mean, they they had such a good four on four there. It’s put those guys back out there. See what they can do. What’s up, bud? Oh, thank you. Appreciate you. Um, we’re here. We’re here on the on the in the seats. We’re having fan interaction. We got people bringing us stuff. We’re just having a good time. We’re amongst the people just trying to take in a game. Actually, my first game really at UBS. It’s not in a suite or on the bench or between the benches. So, this is a fun experience. Nice little vantage point for us here in section 106. If you’re at the game, stop by. You’re probably not watching us, but in case you are, if you’re at home next time you’re buying a national broadcast, come come say hello. Um maybe at some point we might even bring some people in on the broadcast for a little interview. So, we might do some pre-screening. If you’re a diehard Islander fan, I mean, you got something interesting to say, come and tell us. We might have you on. So, if you want a chance to get on Bales and Buck Live, Vegas kind of buzzing here. It was looks like Horvat Shabanov, Bulock, and Schaefer out for the Islanders. 30 seconds left in the four. If you guys want to come by and say hi, by all means, come by and say hello. If, like I said, if you got a little personality, if you got something funny to say, if you got an interesting take, we might have you on to discuss it. I can’t promise that we’re going to agree with your opinions. I can’t promise that we’re not going to potentially shut down those opinions, but why not give it a shot? We’re trying to make this as interactive as possible. Aller’s moving it around. Nice little scene pass there. Um, the comments, Bales, you mentioned a comment here. There was there was a there’s a comment. Let me scroll back and find it. We had we had a little we had a little pajama boy mention uh smoke Paul Malls. What do you guys think of the name Pajama Boy for my cat? Look, Vegas getting a goalie interference penalty here. Looks like Brett Hen forgot that there was a goalender in the net. Like I said, the net hasn’t moved in 200 years. So for for NHLers, you got to know where that net is. You can get into that blue paint. You got to know he’s going to sit for two cuz that’s illegal. Islander fans a little less protective of Sroken surprisingly than they are Schaefer, but you know, I’d be protecting number 30 with my life if I was still out there obviously. Let’s go back to Smoke Mouse. What do you guys think of the name Pajama Boy for My Cat? And what are your memories from JT’s return game to Long Island? What are your memories, Bailis? Cuz it’s a great memory. It’s it’s one we we’ve talked about many times. Uh that atmosphere was was insane. Obviously Johnny’s a good friend of both of ours. Uh but we we I think he knew we all knew what was going to what was going down that night. Um and we were fired up too, right? It’s like and Johnny was too. It’s the friendships go aside for those moments and you just play the game and uh with an atmosphere like that, we were uh we were all pretty juiced up and the fans were right into it. All the chants. I mean, we were laughing at some of them, obviously. And um but I remember us having a we we came out, we had a we had a great game and ultimately got a got a nice nice home win there and um yeah, that was that’s one that I don’t think we’ll ever forget, right? I mean, let’s be honest, that was a pounding. It was a pounding. We absolutely pounded those guys that night. I I’ll never forget. And I think Andrew Laden the first three shifts of the game just flatlined Johnny in the far corner with a big hit and that really ignited the place as if the place wasn’t ignited already. Like we’re talking warm-ups, people standing there. The place was full. The atmosphere was actually electric in the Coliseum. It always was, but this was another level. I mean, it’s one of the only times the Islanders got a little national media attention, let’s be honest, with when it comes to, you know, day-to-day stuff. And it was all over the place for a while. Remember that News12 video they they ran with uh fans in the parking lot? You know, I named my first my firstborn son after John. How could he do this to me? I’m devastated. It was like they had broken up with them all individually. It was just hilarious. So, to answer your question, if you want to if you want to walk around calling your cat pajama boy all the time, smoke paws, you’d be my guest. I would suggest something a little shorter. I always like giving old man names to to pets like, you know, call him Hank or call him Bruce or something, you know, something that’s just easy. It rolls off the tongue. But if you want to call him PJ or PB PJ something, I don’t know. Go ahead. Be my guest. But PJB, I’m suggesting Bruce or Ethel, something like that, you know, something hilarious. But we got back and forth action here back in the second period. Josh and I going to take you all the way through this period, just the two of us. We’re just going to give a little tidbits here of what’s going on on the ice and try and pick out some plays. And I really just want to show the people at home Bale’s knowledge of the game because he’s got like genius level hockey IQ. And I I know he’s dying to let people know that he has that knowledge and he’s going to add a lot of value when it comes to when you’re watching the game what to look for. Um then you can go and impress your friends in your beer league dressing rooms and in your water cooler talks. Hey, Case Casey. What a play. Gakcom scores of it. That play, that play to me is Casey coming around the net, finding him. It’s a great play. Gakome gets lost a little bit, finds the backside and finishes it off. That’s a That’s a pretty goal. Casey, Mlan, and Gadcom have been electric for the Islanders the last four games, doing the things that they should be doing. Just let’s just let’s just take the hat in for a second. Let’s just hear the crowd. But like like these guys, Bales, the fourth line, obviously I have a lot of experience. My hockey IQ comes when it comes to talking about these guys. I know a lot about that position. Obviously, I know a lot about Casey. I know a lot about Mac, too. I played with Mac for 35 games, but he was up for us for a long time. Two full seasons of Mack and Gatcom obviously he knows his game. It’s just it’s just about getting the puck down below the goal line, changing sides with it, and finding it. And Casey’s game since these guys have been added to his wings. Listen, you know how hard it is. Casey’s been on that that winger carousel all year long. He he’s had he’s had different wingers. A lot of these wingers aren’t typical fourth line grinding type players either. his style of game as we know as I know I mean listen Casey his greatest asset is his engine as he goes and steals another puck and cycles it back to Gakome and you can see 32 right in front of the net they’re going to go low to high send it back down this is what they do this this is a momentum changing game like listen you go down two nothing to the Vegas goal of the nights in the first 10 minutes of a hockey game a lot of times you don’t even have enough time for the last 50 45 minutes to get it back the Islanders have equal the score here less than 5 minutes into the second in large part obviously to this fourth line. I think what they’ve brought lately is a sense of identity to this team. You know, we were obviously called the identity line, but you know, there’s a reason for that and and so they’ve done a really good job of of doing what they do best, getting this team back into games, going out there and making sure that the opposing top players don’t get any scoring chances, don’t score goals, and going after going out after the Islanders score, going out after the other team score. We’re doing a great job. So, great play by Casey. A little spin pass to the front. Gakcom a right hand shot in the slot. Really good job tipping that thing far side. We’re all nodded at two. So neither one of us have hit on the on our goal poles yet. So, you know, I might have to go down to the second intermission, have a conversation with my guy, but here he goes right now. Mil Heinman down the left wing. And you know, I I really want to win this bet. We’ve had a couple suggestions in the chat, too. Like like somebody wanted me to shave my head for an entire year as part of this goal poll. I mean that’s a great idea. Well, yeah. Well, we can’t have Bales shave his head because as we know there’s nothing there to shave. So, you know, he’s already there. We got to find something that we can both do. I think he suggested you wear a mustache for the whole year. So, you know, mustache natural for me, the bald head natural for Bales. Good chance by Vegas here. Always dangerous. Good save. Keegan Kasar out there with Barbashev and Michael. And um let me just ask our producer and our director. We have a TV timeout. Are we going to go to the TV timeout, guys? Cuz last time we tried to go to a TV timeout, we we had a little technical problem. So, I’m waiting for the nod. I’m waiting for the nod for these guys. We’re We’re stepping out. 1350 left in the second period. A lot more when we come back. Okay. All right. Islanders fans, Belmont Park Village is just steps from UBS Arena. Shop the North Face before the next game and enjoy hands-free shopping. Your bags will be ready for pickup at Isles Lab before you head home. Make game day even better with Belmont Park Village. Islanders player gear is now available for you to own. Shop gloves, sticks, and skates that were issued to your favorite Islanders players. Shop these items and much more at islandersames.com. All right, we’re back. 1350 left here in the second period. 2-2 score between the Islanders and the Vegas Golden Knights. Shots are 1413 Islanders. Pretty even game so far. The score shows it. The eye test shows it. Great battle back by the Islanders after going down two nothing bails. During that break, they honored the military veteran of the game. always one of my favorite things when I was a player. Obviously, you know, the veterans do so much for this country, the country that we’ve now call home and Butchie Goring doing the honors presenting the jersey. We’re going to have Butchie on in the third period. Always nice to see the Islanders honor their veterans. And it always brings the biggest cheer of the game aside from potentially a Matthew Schaefer spinama, but you know, uh those guys do so much for us. No, they do. And they deserve to be honored. I think that’s why everyone gets up and uh even as players like you said, it’s it’s not even a thought. Everyone pops up right away. You stop what you’re doing. You pay attention. Uh they deserve every uh every salute and every clap they’re getting and make sure they uh they feel appreciated. There there’s only two things that really stop you during TV timeouts during a hockey game when you’re playing is military appreciation and player tributes when they come back and get traded. Brock Nelson came back last week and we got to spend some time with him. Um, the Islanders handed it to the Colorado Avalanche who had only lost one game in regulation at that point. Brock snuck in his two cookies. He had two apples in that game. But what are your memories of Brock? No, I’ve loved them. I mean, I think for uh for me too, I’m same with I’m sure with you, Case and Marty. you know, when you go, especially when you’re on a line with someone and Nelly and I were on a line for a long time with with uh Pavilier and had some those those runs that we had, you just get those uh those special memories that uh you you’ll cherish the rest of your life. And Nelly is such a good teammate, relatively quiet guy, but had a great sense of humor. Um yeah, just just a pleasure to be around and great family man, too. And Carly and the kids and uh like a lot of us kind of grew up together. uh you just become so close with that many years together and we were happy to see him the other day and happy he’s doing well and obviously uh he’s in a great situation there. He’s playing really well and didn’t get off to his usual Broctober start that we were accustomed to, but he’s he’s really turned it on as of late and uh yeah, it’s good to see. You’re always one of those guys you’re just always cheering for. Yeah. And you know, from from the rest of the team’s perspective, your line really was the one that came up with the big goal for us more often than not. I I think about we were talking last night about your favorite play, your favorite deception play. If if you guys don’t know this about Josh Bailey, he may have been the most deceptive player in the National Hockey League that I have ever seen. His twoon-one move. I’m going to let him walk you through it. Here goes Mitch Martyr in that same faceoff set again deactivating for Vegas but fails. When you were coming down in a twoon-one, what was your favorite move? Because you did it in game seven against Philadelphia. You scored the third goal of the game at We went up three nothing at that point. Huge goal for us. Obviously sent us to the conference final. Show us the move and and emote it like you did it to me last night. Yeah. So, we we were breaking it down last night. We’re having a good time with it. And I think for me, I think it’s my favorite in hockey to just have that good deception and really suck a guy in. It just gives you that satisfaction. And I love watching it from other guys, too. We were admiring Cooch last night. Oh, almost. But, uh, for me, coming down the right side as a left shot, you always want to be a dual threat. So, you want to show shot or pass, put the D on their heels, have the goalie second guess you, and we were joking last night about doing it in practice and then in that game. So, it’s coming down, take as much space as that defender is going to give you. So I would take as much middle ice as I could and then as you get closer obviously you really have to show it and then I would give the look and in this one in particular it was look to Nelly and then kind of look back look to Nelly nah I don’t like it and then commit to the shot and as soon as I commit to the shot you make the pass and usually that would be enough to to suck the D in in that situation where you can look like an idiot if it doesn’t work if the D hangs in there but uh you just got to kind of read the situation But in that one, that one is is one of my favorites. And Brock made no mistake. It wasn’t even a great pass. It was rolling. Um and Brock just and uh he put it in and we were talking last night about it like that that series for us against Philly. We we felt like we controlled the whole series or at least most of it and they just seemed to hang around and then next thing you know it’s three 3-2 in the series. Then it’s 3-3 and at that that point game seven is the second period we were up two nothing. That made it three. And I think that just gave us the breathing room of being like, “Okay, we’re going to lock this thing down now. We got this.” But yeah, that was one of my favorites for sure. My favorite is last night he did this thing and I’m going to like back up a little bit so I could show people. This is what he did. Okay, he’s coming down. He’s stick handling. He’s looking looking. Ah, I don’t like it. I don’t like it. The pass isn’t there. Yoink. Three nothing. Islanders are going to the conference finals. And uh I always appreciate this is part of the reason why I’m so excited about this is to get Bales’s insights on the little things he would do in order to create offense in the NHL because creating offense in the NHL, it may look easy from the from these seats. You know, I’m sitting here thinking I could probably score 40 at this point watching these guys play, especially from up top, but the truth of the matter is it’s impossible to create offense in the National Hockey League. And these are some of the ways that some of the best in the world are able to do it. Glad you guys get a chance to listen to Josh’s take and and what he would think about what’s going through his mind when he’s when he’s going to make these plays. And so we’re going to a lot more where that came from, but uh I think that’s that’s I think that’s the most fun for me anyway, the most fun part of watching the game now is like just watching certain players, how they play the game, their reads, where they go. And I think for Cal too, he was no slouch and knowing knowing the game and and knowing where to go and and making good reads. I think that’s what made you such a good penalty killer, too. But also just watching the game now. We’re going to do our best to to bring some of that to you guys at home. And uh you know, I know a lot of people like to scream shoot and shooting ain’t always the play. So it’s I think we’ll try and fill you guys in in those situations as we go. and um we get laughing at the shoot it, shoot it, shoot it. It’s like if the goalie if if you shoot that one, the goalie is just going to There’s the whistle, now you change. So, there’s a lot of situations that require a little more than just a shot. So, like I said, we’ll do our best to bring you guys some of that. Well, my greatest skill was not falling for Josh Bailey type players BS. You know, I was able to not be fooled because I knew that the guy whenever somebody was looking at the net after looking at the guy he was going to pass to for a long time, I had a pretty good feeling that I just needed to stay where I was and I would be able to pick that off. So, my my perspective of the game is is how to defend guys like that. H how to how to read what they’re actually going to do. And I think that was that’s that was my skill. And it’s basically the same skill on the flip side of the coin. So, we think about it uh the same way, but we think about it from the opposite perspective, which is really going to, I think, be valuable for for us as we move forward. And as we as we move forward and get better, we’re going to be able to really pinpoint some plays. And we just want to make sure that when you’re at home watching what we’re describing is what you’re seeing. So, we’re going to figure it out here tonight. We’re going to have a good conversation. If there’s something that comes up on a goal replay or something, we’ve got the feed in front of us. We’ll walk you through it. But, um, we’re just going to have some fun today and hopefully you guys are having a good time. So, there’s a I see a question right now by Yes. Yes. Yes, man. And I’m glad you actually asked this because we meant to highlight him in the pregame show. We just got Jordan on a little earlier than we anticipated. But, um, Bales, what have you seen in Cal Richie’s game, speaking of smarts and deception, and I think it’s such a great question because you’re obviously picking up on that he does have a lot of that and Cal and I were admiring his game, uh, talking about it and some of the stuff he’s able to do. And I think right from the get-go watching him, you can just see he has it and the the little reads he makes, the little plays he makes. I’m a big fan of his game and I think it’s only going to keep going up. I think from watching him to the start, it wasn’t a question of if he was ready to play in the NHL. It was more what kind of position is he going to be put in if he’s in the NHL. Obviously, there’s a lot of depth on the Islanders at center. He’s a centerman. You want him to play his position that he’s most comfortable in and that he’s going to have a stellar career at. Um, how much ice time is he going to get? It’s much much like we were talking about Shabby, right, with is he going to play 10 minutes, is he going to play 12? Um, for Rich, I think too, you’re you’re a guy coming out of junior, you’re used to seeing your stat line be pretty good, right? You’re used to looking up after 20 games and having 30, 40 points, 15. All right, I think we’re going to cut to break. You want me to keep going or you want me to cut? um you’re used to you’re used to looking at your statline and feeling good about yourself. Even if you have a tough night, you’re still feeling good. Now you get to the NHL, things get a little tougher. And if you’re not getting those touches, you’re not playing those minutes that you’re used to, all of a sudden you look up and your stat line’s a little weak. It can rattle your confidence. So I think for him, the injuries have given him that opportunity as well. And he’s really earned it and made a lot of good plays. We we talked about one in specifically against Colorado and hopefully we can show it to you guys at some point, but uh he makes this touch coming out of the Dzone that’s just stellar touch and then vision for the ice knowing where Homer’s come and he already knows. He doesn’t even have to look. Lays it in there and gives Homer a breakaway. And uh it’s unfortunate Homer miss because those are the ones you make a good play, you want the guy to bury it and obviously Homer did too, but they can get forgotten about. But that one to me, I think really highlights just the type of player he he’s he is and that he’s going to be. And it’s only going to get easier for him as he gets old. Not easier, but the game is going to come easier to him as he gets older, as it does for all of us. Um, so I’m excited to see I think he’s got a bright future. And uh, yeah, like I said, I’m just a fan of his game, and I think the game’s going to keep slowing down for him as he goes. What do you What do you think, Kell? I think uh hopefully we can see that play you’re talking about because you know I think it’s with those players it’s poised. We got the Shoresy guys right now on the jumbo doing the t-shirt cannons. There’s Nullles right there. This is good stuff. Those guys are having a blast. So we met them before the game. They’re having a blast. But back to Cal Richie. You know it it is about opportunity and and it’s just a question for Matthew Dar I think you and he mentioned this in his conversations with MSG networks. Is he going to play the role that we think we want him to play on this team right when he comes in? And if he’s not, is it more valuable for him to go down and play that role for the Bridgeport Islanders? And and you know, it’s a tough question because you never really know, but I think Cal Richie was given a little bit of opportunity and he’s really made the most of it. Now, of course, with the injuries the way they they’ve been, um, you know, he’s taken advantage of it. Now, it’s really hard. Like I think Islanders would have a hard time if the Islanders were to send Cal Richie back down because he’s he’s done enough he’s done enough to really solidify his spot and and earn that opportunity to to grow and develop at the NHL level. And I think he’s done it with his 200 foot game to be completely honest with you. Um and so for me it’s all on Cal Richie. He’s earned this opportunity. And and um as we got uh we got the play resuming here, we got we got our director yapping at me in my ear. He’s talking to a million people back there. He’s distracting me. Unbelievable stuff back there. Alex, come on, man. Come on. He’s got his big boy voice on today. He’s screaming across the room. I’m just busted chops. I’m just busted chops. for Cal Richie. I think he’s going to be an Islander to stay. I I don’t think he’s going anywhere. Um maybe if his game drops off, we’ll see if he can handle the the rigors of the schedule, especially in an Olympic year. But to me, Bill, I think you’re right. I think he’s earned his opportunity and I think he’s doing a great job with it. Yeah, no doubt. And that’s where I think too the biggest for me especially the biggest learning lesson. I remember my rookie year being obviously Cal’s young, I was young, and I remember one of the coaches coming up to me when they decided to keep me and being like after about 10 games, I think it was, he’s like, “Okay, now you know, you’re going to realize now what the NHL is all about and you’re going to this is where we’re going to see what you’re made of.” And I remember at the time being like, you know, what does that even mean? Like, and I think when you’re when you’re young, you’re used to playing a minor hockey, then junior hockey schedule where you’re primarily playing on weekends. the NHL just keeps coming at you. You’re playing pretty much every other day, especially in Olympic year. Everything’s condensed and you got to find a way to get excited to play and people might not quite understand that because it’s like you look around, there’s thousands of people here. How can you not be excited? But when you’re doing it every other day, it takes a toll on you mentally. It takes a toll on your body and you got to just find a way to be excited and that’s what they call being a good pro. So that’s where I think Cal’s going to be just fine. But that is uh that can be a learning curve for some people and um I think for Cal he’s he’s shown thus far that it’s it’s not going to be a problem and he looks good as he steps back out on the ice here now. You know my name is not common and you know I’m not quite ready to have somebody have more impact than I did on the Islanders be named Cal just yet. So, I’m going to be lobbying for Matthew Dar to maybe look for some options to send Cal Richie somewhere else just for the sake of my ego. Um, you know, I’m just going to have a conversation with him. Maybe I convince Cal to change his name or go by his middle name or something just so that you know when people say we just go full Callum. Yeah, we could go full Callum, but you know, even that even that just feels too close to home for me. So, he’s uh the kid’s been great. uh totally joking. He’s a great kid, too. I talked to him a lot because of my work with MSG networks, uh you know, morning skates and talking to him about his growing confidence and that’s he’s just echoing basically what we were just what we just talked about is as it goes along here, he’s getting more confident and he’s able to to play the game the way that he’s grown up playing the game because listen, you know how it is like you come into the NHL like there is a portion of you that has to change to earn the trust of the coaching staff. there’s a part of your game that has to go away for a little while while you earn your trust and then you have to build it back into your game. And so that’s what he was talking to is just trying to add bits and pieces every night. You could see it on the ice. He’s he’s he’s doing a really good job of adding it in a little bit at a time and and really just showing the fans. I mean, the chat’s lighting up with positive Cal Richie comments and it’s great that the fans notice that he’s that he’s making strides. Um, and it’s huge for the Islanders. Like we talk about organizational depth. I mean, this is a great piece. Brock Nelson big is a big hole to fill. It’s not crazy to say that in two or three years, Cal Richie is going to be that guy for the Islanders as well. Matt Barzell and Bo Horvet are still here and young and playing and JG Pio and Case and you know the Islanders are strong up the middle and we talked to Jordan Nolan about those Kings teams. There was no team stronger up the middle than those teams. They were, you know, you Mike Richards, Jared Stole, An Kopitar, they were strong up the middle, those guys. And so when you’re building a team, it’s yeah, it’s you need good defenseman, you need good goalending, but the next thing on the list is how strong are your center? No doubt. I think even like we touched on before too, you’re all the centerman drives the line. You could be I played both positions. You need your centerman driving the line. He’s the guy holding things down defensively, especially as a winger. You can still do your job and be an impact in the Dzone and make good reads, but the centerman’s the guy that’s usually getting you into trouble along with the D. So for him, I think that’s too with with the younger guys, you’re going to earn a lot more ice the more sound defensively you play. And I think he’s with his smarts. The defensive side of the puck isn’t a problem for him. All right, we’re down to 649 here in the second period. The game’s calmed down just a little bit. Couple chances either way. Allers did a really good job settling in this one. Obviously going down two nothing. Coming back. Um I think we go back to the chat. Let’s go. Let’s get the chat going. We haven’t seen a question in a little while. A lot of feedback. What do we see? Uh um how bad are you guys going to feel when Team USA wins in Olympic hockey? Mikey D. Well, Mikey, we’ll never know. We’ll never know, buddy. I’m sorry to tell you, we are we are adopted Americans. So, if they win, I’m sure there’s a part of us that will celebrate. I’ve got four American children. I’m sure they’ll celebrate, but I just don’t think this is the year. I think it is. There it is. There it is. Helmet time. Homestuck. Good shot by Homer there. I was reading the chat the chat. I didn’t quite see what led to the goal. I want to see the replay here. But Homer had a good rip down the wall. He’s got that long stick. He just knows how to sling it. Cal Cal Richie. Cal Richie with a beautiful I think it was I think it was Rich. Yeah, it was Cal. Yeah. Yeah. Callum Richie with a beautiful cross ice feed to Simon Holstrom. This is another layer to the kid’s game. He’s, you know, he’s in traffic. He’s making plays in traffic. He springs Simon Holstrom. And he’s got one of the longest sticks bales in the National Hockey League. Simon Holmstrom does. And he’s able to pull that thing in. This is another thing about shooting the puck and Emil Heinman’s the same way. The longer your stick is, the more you can change the angle on a shot. You want to explain to people what changing the angle is? Yeah. So, I think you’re just giving a different look to the goalie. So, Homer and like Cal saying with these guys with long sticks, they get it way out there and then as they pull in, you’re just creating. So, they’re thinking all along, okay, I’m probably going to go low glove with this. At least Homer in this situation. He lays it out there. Watch. Watch when one Homer gets this puck. He Homer’s in the middle right now. He’s going wide now. Just watch how far he brings this off of his body. See that quickly? It’s very quick cuz he’s a really talented dude. And that’s that’s that’s what Fails is talking about. It’s that the puck is held out here and then it’s brought in not only for leverage, it’s brought in to change the angle. The goalie doesn’t have time to shift his body because you got to think about where that puck is on your blade. the puck is four or 5 ft away from your body. The goalie is lining up with the puck, not your body. So, if he lines up with the puck and you bring that thing 5 ft towards you, he doesn’t have time to reset his angle, which opens up, you know, a twoft section of the net on the side that you’re pulling the puck to. No, 100%. Even a good good neutral zone there in traffic. Even good touch by Dookie back to to Rich. And then like we like Clutter was just explaining too, you can see it here again. He just gets it out there and it’s it’s it looks subtle cuz he does it so quick, but it just changes. It gives you this much more room and he’s able to hit the low glove. He’s thinking low glove all the way there when he gets it out. And then it’s just that pull and quick snap. And uh he made no mistake. Homer has a great shot as we know. And I think too with those long sticks, you’re just able to sling it that much more. He also for him too, he’s got great smarts and he creates a lot of turnovers just with his smarts and that long stick. He puts himself in a good spot. Uh that’s a big goal though coming near the end of the second period. Oh, good save. Big save by Siroken on Mark Stone we talked about in the first period. We got another timeout coming here. Let me do my check-in with my fellow producers and directors. Are we going to break, boys? What are we doing? All right, off we go to break. We We got five We got 543 here left in the second. Isles up 3-2. climbing out of a two nothing deficit. We’ll see you in a couple minutes. Pricing for plans starting just three games. Plus, with each seat you buy, you’ll get an exclusive Islanders Goat USA hoodie. Get the GOAT holiday plan today at new york islanders.com/goat. [Music] Just tell you draw it up in practice. What a stop there. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Tonight, the New York Islanders are proud to partner with Life’s Work and Halamine as their Hockey with a Heart charity partners. You can support their missions by purchasing a 50/50 raffle ticket. Enter for your chance to win half the pot at islanders5050.com. And welcome back to Bales and Buck live at UBS Arena, section 106. We’re sitting here taking in the action. We’re just yakking away here. Probably not describing a whole lot of what’s going on in the game, but we want to just give you guys It is an alt cast. So, if it was a broadcast, we would be doing what broadcasters do, but we’re going to do things a little differently here. We’re just going to talk about the nuances of the game. We’re going to talk about personal experiences. We’re going to have some guests on. We’re going to have some fun. Moving on. I actually got a really good question um from NY Isles 130. How does the linesman determine a warning versus throwing you out of the dot? That’s a good question. New York Isles 130, you know what? It’s always different. Every linesman is different. There are there are violations with your feet. You could see those. Um it looks like a batter’s box on every faceoff dot. Those are your feet as a centerman are supposed to be inside of those lines, not touching those lines. Veteran players get more leeway, bails, than than others usually. Um, and then there’s a little white circle. Yep. There’s a little white circle in the dot where your stick blade is supposed to sit before you enter the middle of that dot. And you’re not allowed to enter the middle of that dot until the referee of the linesman’s arm moves. So, sometimes you’ll see somebody go too early, uh, like an offsides penalty in football. Sometimes you’ll just see someone’s toe over the line by accident. Same thing with football is probably the easiest sport because those flags get thrown all the time and even sometimes I don’t know what’s going on, but it really depends on the linesman, your relationship with them. I used to love buttering up referees and linesmen because I was always going to do things that were a little borderline. I never wanted to get called on them. Fourth line again going to work. Casey whiffed on one, but a great look by Kyle Mlan just behind the back. These guys are doing a really good job creating offense from below the goal line. But back to the faceoffs. fails. How’d you feel cuz you took a lot more face offs than I did? Yeah, I completely agree with you. It’s you. It’s the best face up guys are usually the best at getting away with the most. Um especially as you get older, it gets much easier. You’re going to get the benefit of the doubt and I I I feel that’s the way it should be, too. That’s just part of hockey in my opinion. Um when you’re a young guy, you got to kind of grind it out. But again, it’s it’s what can I get away with? The timing is everything. Strength, it depends what kind of guy. Some guys like to go in with different and with with each guy it’s a bit of a chess match. A lot of times you’re going against the same guy all night. So you don’t there might be one you you’re willing to get tossed on if you’re on your off side or your strong side because you’re not as not as good on that side typically and then you have your winger come in. But then other ones it’s it’s just really a balancing act of what can I get away with? Who’s the ref? Uh do I have if you have a good relationship with them you might be able to squeeze away with more. But, um, yeah, there’s a lot of those little things that go into it, but the the they’re do the linesmen are doing their job and, uh, the rules are there for a reason, but how much how much can you push him as a centerman to get away with it? Um, I think going back to what you’re saying the last shift, Cal, even there was one play I liked where, uh, as you were talking about the fourth line there, I’m a big fan of guys keeping plays alive, especially on a power play, but even even five on five. Case came around the net and I saw I I thought it was open, too. So, I looked and I’m like, I kind of had Mac and he decided not to give it to him. Thank you. He decided not to give it to him and I thought it was the right play. If he gives it to him, it gets turned over and then you’re out out of the zone. You just kill all the momentum you just got. He hung on to it, made the play, it kept the play alive a little longer. Um, but I think there’s there’s a time and a place to go for one and then there’s a time to just you know what, let’s just keep the puck. We got a good thing going here and I thought it was a good decision by Case there. So, I’m in the chat and I think one of my buddies just chimed in. Sushi boy goal. Now, this is a joke. We have my friend and I seen Simon Holmstrom at a local sushi restaurant a numerous times. Simon obviously a big fan of sushi. They have nicknamed him in their household Sushi Boy. Now, I think it’s one of the funniest nicknames I’ve heard. We’ve got a Sushi Boy goal. Obviously, we got a merchandising opportunity here with Sushi Boy. Let’s get a couple rolls and get a Homer out there with uh you know, a couple stick handle in a California roll and we got something going. But I just thought of something funny. I wanted to mention that for my buddies is I think just a hilarious offbeat nickname for Simon Holmstream. He’s such a good player, you know, and a lot of people chiming in on the chat about his development and how they see him turning into a perennial 30 goal scorer. And I would have to agree, Bails. He’s got the talent. He’s got the skill set. And I think for me, my my the most impressive thing about his game is he’s got that Datuke ability to take the puck away, sorry, to back pressure and pick people’s pockets. I think that’s he he that’s his greatest asset at the moment is his ability to turn pucks over. Makes him a great penalty killer. Makes him very dangerous. Five on five. Matthew Schaefer with a chance to score his ninth, I believe. Ryan Pulock doing what he does. P&P Security is making sure Mark Stone doesn’t get anywhere near the front of that net. But uh you know getting no getting around Pulley there. No, we always joke on MSG. It’s like farm boy strength. He is just he is built differently. And you don’t get that strong unless you bail hay and milk cows your whole life. And Bully definitely is one of the stronger human beings that I’ve seen. And a lot of times for Pool, it’s like, oh yeah, you know, you want him to you want him to show it a little more. Get in there and toss the body around, but he plays so many minutes, it’s tough for him to do it. But he is an absolute moose. Yeah, there’s just there’s no moving him down there. He’s got tree trunks for lags. Sneaky always had one of the highest verts on the team, too. He’s just explosive. Um, but he’s just such a big dude. It must have been fun playing the game being that big and going into a corner pretty well knowing no one’s going to be able to knock you around. Uh but he he holds it down back there. He’s been a great leader for this team for a number of years now. I’m we’re both big uh big Pulley fans. Yeah, I I found his maturity actually the last couple years and doing TV now. I don’t know if I just didn’t pay attention to it earlier, but his his interviews are so insightful. They’re concise. I feel like he’s grown into such a good leader for this team. And you know, he spent his care his entire career here. comes from a great family, you know, just a really good guy and uh you know, he’s he’s playing really well. And you can see what happens. Again, last 30 seconds of a period. The fourth line’s out there. I feel like this team has their responsibilities and roles slotted in as the period ends here. 3-2. The Owls will go into the intermission up by a goal and shots are 20 to9 Vegas. But Islanders at the edge on the scoreboard. We’re going to cut away here. I’m going to have a little something for you at the intermission. The third period, we’re going to have the one and only, well, the original one and only 91 Butch Goring. Stay tuned. Just how you draw it up in practice. What a stop there. [Applause] Is it okay? Has to be. [Music] Oh yeah. Oh yeah. [Music] The first game is the first impression. It’s like when you meet someone for the first time, that first impression is always very important. [Music] Tonight’s a chance. All right. Our first chance at the real deal. Let’s be ready. I talk a lot about urgency and desperation, but we be a tough team to play against, a tough team to defend. Okay, let’s go. It doesn’t matter what they did the year before, how they were playing the night before. There’s never an easy game in this league. Our division’s been solid for a really long time. I’m going to expect Pittsburgh to look great and be firing on all cylinders. It’s their home opener. We’re going to have a big task at hand. Water. All the way. All the way. [Applause] Nasty, baby. Good job, guys. We had a great training camp. Tonight’s our first game. Let’s have some fun. Lot of fun out there. A lot of fun. What’s the message from the guys? Yeah, obviously I mean just enjoy it. I mean it’s going to be pretty cool. obviously playing against such a talented uh you know guys, but I mean we got such a talented group of guys you know um I’ve been you know training with you know for you know the last month. So um we’re uh we’re ready to play and we want to you know start the season off hot. So uh once the game gets going it’ll just be you know fun cuz you’ll be in the game and you’ll be you know so dialed in. Where do you guys feel like you’re at at this point? Yeah, I feel good about it. Um we liked our last preseason game. We had a lot of chances, a lot of looks and uh like you said we speak a lot. We we’re kind of on the same page hockeywise. So, um it’s been good so far, but it might take a little time. So, will Matthew have to change anything? Sydney Crosby and whoever they play in junior, it’s a little different player. So, no disrespect for what what’s going on in junior, but I think he’s going to have to make some he’s going to learn and that’s all we want. We want him to learn. We want him to u be himself and we’re certainly not going to change his offensive skills, but I’m sure he’s going to have to make some adjustment um especially at the beginning with this this the strength of the the players. We play tight. We’re going to have to move that puck quick. We’re gonna have to get open in those find those lanes, but by moving quick and make those play and attack in it and attacking it, guys. We’re gonna have to back check. We’re gonna have to back check because they’re deep. S L Let and and and Carlson, they’re going to be in every rush. So, if you fall asleep behind the goal line, they’re going to take advantage of it because they’re going to have four guys into the rush. Let’s go. They’re almost ready for puck drop. that every season is exciting for every team all around the National Hockey League. It’s a new kind of excitement though for the New York Islanders tonight. Yeah, there’s always excitement, but has there ever been this much anticipation leading up to a New York Islander season in my recent memory? Absolutely not. A couple first games as an Islander [Music] Drew. [Music] Couple first NHL games. [Applause] [Music] Come on, Romy. Be a fan. Huh? Right out of the cage. Come on, Sh. Come on, Chevy. Let’s go, baby. [Applause] [Music] You know, going out there, getting the lap. Um, it’s pretty cool. I mean, I love when uh I love when they boo us, too, cuz you just know you’re like you’re doing something right. [Applause] comes in back door play and it got hung up initially. Siroken thought he had it. He did not. The Penguins have an early one. [Music] All right, guys. We got our next one. We got our next one. your first point in your first game. It’s pretty cool. And uh um yeah, I was definitely one of the happiest guys on the ice there. Nice change up. You know, Shabby and and Sha’s first game and I thought they played great and obviously both of them getting on the board was was definitely big for us. Matt Shabov in his first NHL game has his first NHL goal. Quick look like right away cuz that guy I’m trying to guess. Yeah, I’m gone. Yeah, the looks that we had, we had a lot of good chances. So tracking, let’s do a good job on the reload as well. And also stick and talk. We’re not changing anything in our game plan. We keep playing the same way, boys. You know, I think we we kind of fell asleep a little bit there in the third period and kind of gave them momentum and got them back in it. And I think there was definitely room for improvement in our game. Um, you know, just being able to, you know, play a full 60 minutes. You’re going to get used to this. But there that lane’s there. That lane’s there. And that last one is what happened. Here he gets the puck. 5 seconds left. Matt Barcel to tie it. J one last save to rescue the home opener for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Oh, the Islanders nearly pulled off the impossible. Thought there was a lot of good shifts and a lot of good things. It was nice to get on the board. Well done, boys. Uh we’ll just keep trying to build and and make an impact every night. It feels like you’re at home when your family’s there and your friends are there and you’re you’re able to give them a hug. And just from all the years from minor hockey to you know your first game in the NHL is pretty cool. They always support you um you know throughout the ups and downs in life and all the tough times and good times. Book your next group outing at an Islanders game. Score exclusive pricing when you purchase 10 or more tickets. Plus, receive add-on perks such as hats for your entire group or a postgame photo on the ice. Learn more at new york islandlanders.com/group. [Music] Islanders fans, Belmont Park Village is just steps from UPS Arena. Shop the North Face before the next game and enjoy hands-free shopping. Your bags will be ready for pickup at Isles Lab before you head home. Make game day even better with Belmont Park Village. [Music] Leonte. Boy, I’ll tell you, he’s a determined person. He’s a determined athlete. Now to Leonte. He scores. Oh, it’s that pretty to watch. Tell me what’s better looking than a play by Pat Leonte. Give the greatest gift of all this holiday season. The GOAT Holiday Plan gets you exclusive pricing for plans starting just three games. Plus, with each seat you buy, you’ll get an exclusive Islanders Goat USA hoodie. Get the GOAT holiday plan today at new york islanders.com/goat. [Music] I grew up in Williams Lake and my dad got us out there and we water the rank and we put nightlights and we spend all weekends playing chinny and pick up hockey with minor league hockey buddies. So, Williams Lake became this unbelievable outdoor experience that I think most kids hopefully have. When I retired from hockey in 199899, Tim Robbins, I was living in Greenwich, Connecticut. And he said, “Hey, listen. You know, you’re retiring. You should come skate at the house.” And we would go to his place. Spent a couple winters going there all the time. And every time I came home, and I’d say, “Marbeth, this reminds me of a kid in Williams Lake.” I said, “If we ever get the chance to create this, it’s what my dad did, my mom and dad.” And so we did. It’s on Long Island Sound out in Lloyd Neck. We found four acres. We found that you could actually put chillers underneath the cement and you could have ice for 4 months. I ended up being the rink manager, making the ice, driving the Zamboni, sharpening skates. My son’s team would play there and we play threeon-ree hockey. We had a bunch of buddies that we met during my hockey career and local and we developed kind of a senior group of guys called the Huntington low tides. And so my dad said, “Here, here’s the Williams Lake Cup. We call the WLC.” And every year Dennis Liry’s team would come out. The NHL had the Gotham City Snipers. We had the Ice Holes, the Heath and Low Tides. Microsoft would fly out two teams. One was the Virus, one was the Hackers. Clarky came all the time. Bobby Nia came all the time. Stevie Webb, Benny Hogue, the guys still talk about it was the greatest every Sunday morning, Sunday mornings at the barn. But what it did was it brought people together. It created these amazing memories. Again, I go back to the gratitude of this great game. What it teaches you, the friendships, the relationships. It all stemmed from Sheet of Ice and being out on Williams Lake and then seeing that you could create this environment. So everyone wants to kind of relive their childhood. Just how you draw it up in practice. What a stop there. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] while we work on that. I understand we can use Google, but we have to be able to dictate to Google and we haven’t been able to do that so far. So, big hearts and hugs out to the people in Brazil. Um, thank you for watching. We’re so glad that the Islanders have um global reach. And uh the other thing I was looking at the chat during the intermission, you pointed out to me, it looks like somebody under the code name Oki21 had a question for us in the chat. Now, we’re not sure if it’s our boy Kyle Aoso, but he obviously knows us very well. He wants to know, Bails, what kind of shape you and I are going to be in for this alumni game tomorrow against the Shores the Shoresy cast. And I’ll let you take this one away because I’d rather not talk about my physical conditioning at the moment. Something that uh could use a little work, but I think my hands might still be there. So, we’ll see tomorrow. Yeah, I think we’ll be fine. I know. I mean, I don’t know. I think you’re you maybe couple times more than me put the gear on. I I put the gear on for the first time at Ladders Foundation event last February or this past February and I realized very quickly that I am no longer in game shape. Um I’m more in dad shape at this point. But I think we’ll be fine out there tomorrow night. We’ll be keeping them short and I don’t think we’ll be expending ourselves expending too much energy on back checks and and whatnot unless unless we really need to. But I think we’ll be just fine there. Oak speak for yourself. if I’m going to be backing like a madman tomorrow. I really want this. I’m seeing looking this as my opportunity to potentially make an NHL comeback. So, if there are any uh professional scouts out there that want to come check out the game tomorrow, uh I’m planning on putting my shoulder pads on and going to work tomorrow. I think these Shoresy guys have a little something coming. You know, I chummed it up with them today a little bit, but when that puck drops tomorrow, I’m going to be game facing it. Just trying to catch some eyeballs and seeing if I can get myself back into an NHL jersey. Obviously joking about that. All all jokes aside, but if that is you, Oki, thanks for watching. Uh we got to get him on at some point here. We got to get him involved in this. We got Matt Molson coming back tomorrow. Friend of the show. Um it’s going to be nice to see him. He’s still relatively local. A lot of guys coming in tomorrow that that we haven’t seen in a little while. It’s going to be great. I mean, I know uh my colleague at MSG networks, Thomas Hickey, uh is throwing on the skates for the first time in I think he said two years. So, a lot of guys are going to be shaking the cobwebs out for this one. Just just an indication of how much fun and how important this game is. We got a really good roster, Robbie Shrem coming into town. Johnny Boychuk, Mattie Martin strapping on the skates, putting the jersey on for the first time since he ended his career now in the front office. So, uh it’s going to be a great time. No, it really I think we’re all looking forward to it. It’s one of those things you miss the most about playing is that camaraderie in the locker room and I think all of us get together tomorrow in the room and share some laughs and go out there and have a good time. They’ll be supposed to be a good crowd here, too. So, it’ll be it’ll be fun to get back out there and and move the puck around a little bit, have some fun, and those guys all seem like good dudes on the other side. So, it’s uh it really should be a good event. Yeah, it’s going to be fun. And if you don’t have your tickets yet, go get them. I think it’s at ubs.com. You can get tickets for that game. Uh I don’t know if it’s going to be as intense as the firefighter FDNY versus NYPD games are around here with, you know, line brawls and everything on the line, but we’re going to we’re going to try and blend fun and and competitive spirit all together to to provide you with a a pretty good product. And those guys are a lot of fun. We got a chance to interact with them today again. Um it should be a lot of fun. on the Islanders just took the ice about 50 seconds before a puck drop here 3-2 Islanders against the Vegas Golden Knights and again we talked about it Bales the Islanders dug themselves a hole early but were able to score three goals you know in a in a matter of 30 minutes and for the Islanders scoring at home for a stretch was starting to look Rangeresque you know the Rangers earlier this year went five games getting shut out at home in the first seven or eight games and for a stretch there the Islanders were on the road and doing what they needed to do to win games. Went six and one on that long road trip in November. Came home and the scoring dried up. What do you think? He is has been Oh, we got Butchie Goring. Cutting me off. But Butie’s here. He’s in the house. We’re going to get his headset set up. We’ll skip that question to Bales. Really good. The Island Allen is doing a really good job of of scoring goals at home and and really turning the tide on the Vegas Golden Knights. Let’s see if we can get Butchie hooked up here. Second period highlight ain’t it? New York lottery. No, no, no. Fail, you want to handle that? Yeah. We just want to make sure that Butchie’s voice doesn’t blow my eardrums out. Yeah. There you go. How’s that? Yeah. Yep. Butchie, can you hear us over there, buddy? All right, Butchie can hear us. All right, Butchie, thanks so much for joining us on this uh alternate broadcast. I know you’re such a veteran at the the Rio broadcast game. This is a little looser than what we’re used to at MSG Networks. Um how’s it going? Well, I I’ve been really busy today. just a military award for and uh visiting sweets, shaking hands, kissing babies, and No, I’m not kissing the wives. No, but I’m I’m I’m having fun. That a boy, Butch. Well, I I know you’re you’re a hardworking guy when you’re here. A great ambassador for the franchise, obviously. And um let’s talk about this year’s Islander team. I I know we talk about uh the Islanders a lot over dinner when we’re working and you know bouncing ideas off each other and and what’s the thing that’s that’s different about this Islander team? Why are people a little more excited about this team than they have in years past? Number 48. I mean it’s it’s Oh. Oh, Barb. Well, it’s a three-3 game now. Go ahead, Butch. We’ll cover that later. We’re not We’ll let the TV crew take that one. Yeah, that’s exactly right. No, you know what? It’s uh I mean he’s an exciting young player. He he he makes everybody else better around him and and the kind of person that he is. Uh the fans have really just got all really excited about him. And now and Matthew Dar has done a tremendous job and bringing in some different players, some youth, some speed, and and uh it’s just all everybody just feels like they have just so much more confidence in in in the game. And it seems to be Josh, it seems to be a little more fun. No doubt it looks that way, right? You can see it in their play. I think you’re you’re absolutely right. Hit the nail on the head with with Sha. I mean, for an 18-year-old kid kid to come in and do what he’s done to this point. Um he’s just all over the ice. And you can tell there you get those young guys that come in from time to time that just and and being on both sides. We were all a young guy at one point. We were all a veteran. You got to earn the vets respect and you got to earn I don’t think it took him too long for guys to be like, “Yeah, here you go, Sha. Yeah, I’ll give you the puck.” Um, but he’s earned that with his play and and his 200 foot game is is is pretty special. Butie, uh, is there a guy that you played with on those great Islander teams that really reminds you of Schaefer? Did anybody come in and make that kind of impact? Did somebody come in and really kind of elevate the whole group? I mean, as an 18-year-old kid, he’s come in and he’s elevated a group of veteran guys, which to me is the most impressive part with him. Was there anybody that came in for you guys as a young kid and and really right away elevated the level that of everybody else? Well, you know, when I think back to my uh LA King days, I think a guy like Dave Taylor came in and took everybody by surprise. I mean, I played with him for a little while and you could see that he was really skilled. Uh played with a lot of uh competitiveness. He was physical. He could be nasty if he wanted to. Just played hockey and it was just to get him on your wing was a was a real bonus. It was a a big a big change. So for me in LA, uh uh Dave Taylor was a welcome sight. Well, you played on some great Islander teams, obviously, Butch, and people call you the missing link, I think, when you got traded here from those LA Kings. Was there a difference in culture when you got here with the guys in the room and and we everyone talks about Clark Gillies and and Bobby Nye and John Tenelli and those guys and just tell the people at home. I’m sure they’ve heard you tell this story, but again, tell the people at home what it was about those guys that allowed you to to to compete at a level that was so high that you were able to win so many games and and win so many playoff series and be so successful not only during the regular season but in the playoffs. Well, the biggest change, Clutter, is, you know, when I when I walked in that dress room the first time and then we got ready to go on the ice, you could feel the difference between the two organizations right off the bat. In LA, it was if you play hard, play your best, then that was acceptable. The wins or the losses didn’t really matter as much. But on the island, the expectations to win was huge. And I could feel it. We weren’t going out there just to play. We were going out there with the need to win hockey games. And for me, that was a whole different culture that I hadn’t been used to. It was welcome. It was really nice because you knew that every one of the guys on that team was going to be ready to play. And then when you play with guys like Bobby Nestrom, Clark Gillies, and John Tenelli, and you see the effort that they put forth, the competition, the competitiveness in them, I mean, it’s easy to to get yourself excited about playing with them. And of course, you play with Gillies or you play with Nicer or Gordy Lane and they come up to you and they say, “Hey, nobody’s going to hit you. Nobody’s going to going to goon you in any way, shape, or form.” Well, when you’re a guy that doesn’t play that way, it’s pretty nice to hear that know that you can just go out and play your game. Oh, no doubt. You love having those guys on your team, right, Butch? It’s uh it just settles you down a little bit, right? Makes your game that much easier. Well, I was just going to say, Josh, you know, when when when you’re playing the the Flyers and the Boston Bruins were really physical hockey teams and and if it didn’t go their way, you could expect a bench clearing brawl or you could expect a fight of somewhere along the line. And so if you when you knew you had the guys that could handle that part of the game, well, it just makes it so much easier for you because you know, you know, someone’s not going to grab you because as I said, Nestrom, Gillies, Livan, Ghy Lane, I mean, it just goes on and on. Bobby Bourne, Sutter, they could all fight and they did really well. So, you know what? By the time anybody got to me, they were really low on the totem pole as far as fighting and I was pretty comfortable. pretty comfortable but on that point now we’ve got obviously the Islanders have a prized possession in an 18-year-old kid. A lot of people a couple people have chimed in in the chat asking if I think or if we think that the Islanders are going to go out and find a quote unquote enforcer. What do you that comment from you I think resonates with when it comes to him being able to play his game. We saw him get dumped once in the first period here today. Do you think the Islanders need to go out and find somebody who’s going to be able to protect him a little bit? I if it’s available, I certainly would, but not not a goon. I mean, if you could grab uh, you know, a guy that can play the game, you know, like a Clark Gillies, like a Bob Nestrom, uh, even even Wilson in in in Washington. Yeah, you need someone that can play. today’s game just doesn’t allow you to carry someone just to fight because as you know Clutter if if that was happening you just never would you you would never go near the guy and he’d be useless on the ice. So um so I I think if you could get someone that could uh just it would be more like it would deter people from picking on Schaefer Ra or anybody else on the team rather than having to get in a fight all the time. That’s right. It’s the deterrent, right? I mean that’s that’s what everybody wants in a player. It’s it’s it’s the deterrent and I’ve seen it a number of times with teams who have come in and played the Islanders and Tom Wilson actually did it when I was between the benches the other day. You know, the temper tempers were flying in the first period. Tom circled in and just said, “No problem. You either going to fight me or I’m just going to go and I’m going to start running your best players and the temperature of the game cooled down right in that moment.” But I think that’s bang on. Today’s NHL doesn’t really allow you to have somebody who doesn’t have the skill set to go and take a regular shift, right? You need someone who’s going to impact your lineup. The problem is for the people at home, there aren’t that many players available that can do both, right? And it’s a dying breed and and and so it becomes a really difficult thing. I think Matthew Dar touched on it. He wants somebody that can protect him, but he wants somebody that can play and be in his lineup. And you know, I you’ve been talking about the fourth line throughout the year, these last four or five games, Butch, they’ve got three guys who are playing the same style. They have the same attitude towards the game and they’ve had a real impact on the game and you know for me that’s what really has elevated the Islanders as a as a team and as a whole. They’re not just relying on Barcel. They’re not just relying on Horvette to score goals. That fourth line has provided them a spark. How how have you seen them play the last number of games? Well, you know it better than anybody whether how important a fourth line is. Uh what what trend it can set and establish uh sort of attitude. And I’ve been saying it for quite a while. Well, I I Mark Gatcom went down. I was not a big fan of that. I think this guy’s a good player for the Islanders. He He knows his game. He knows his role. He can score goals. We saw what he could do last year. He has bite to his game and he’s smart. And Casey, you know, Casey and then I think Mlan has been a good addition because I think him having to watch for a while has kind of settled him down a little bit in this game. And now this line is doing exactly what it should be doing is playing a good solid game. They’re physical. They’re keeping it simple. Yet they’re scoring goals. So hey, my hats off to them. They’re doing what the Islanders need to win hockey games. They’re taking away from minutes. Go ahead, Bills. Go ahead, Bills. Go ahead. Well, you can just see see now, too, like Patty’s putting them out in offensive show draws midway through the third period in a tie game. Might not have been doing that a couple, you know, month ago or so. So they they’ve earned that opportunity and it’s good on them. They’ve been they’ve been playing the right way and those lines like that can change the momentum as we know for a team. They go in and muck it up a little bit and have one of those ozone shifts and they score a big goal. It’s it’s a boost to your lineup and and feel the confidence from those three guys like you said. I mean Patty’s a guy that plays people who are doing something on the ice. He’s not scared to bench people give them a shortage of ice time. So, I mean, that’s a big confidence boost for the fourth line to know, hey, coach is putting us out there, as you mentioned, offensive zone late in the game, late in the period, winning draws. So, you know, they’re going to be ready to play and they’re going to give you what they got. Opportunity is everything, right, Butch? For these guys, they get a chance to go out there and play real minutes and they have a real impact. But to, you know, for me, it’s just I I obviously being in that position for a number of years, you know, that when three guys have the same mindset and that skill set to go out and execute, uh, it’s a big deal. Butch, I don’t want to keep you too long. Um, thank you so much for stopping by. This is obviously our first Altcast. We wanted to have you on here being the legend you are around the rink and you’ve helped me so much with my broadcast, my broadcasting skills and and my new venture and you’re a veteran at that. So, I’m the rookie in that game. Um, thank you so much for giving us your time and uh you can go back up to the suite and shake some more hands and kiss some more wives. Uh, thanks so much for stopping by. Thanks a lot, guys. Look, look, look forward to doing it again with you. Thank you, Butchie. Appreciate you, bud. Thanks, guys. You got it. All right, the legend himself, Butch Goring, the missing link for the Islanders. A lot of people say it. Um, greatest helmet in the history of the game. Um, not sure it was a helmet. Looked more like a leather head to me. Book your next group outing at an Islanders game score exclusive. had a lot of fun with Butch the last couple years. Having some meals with him on such as hats for your What’s funny about Butch is his perspective of the game is, you know, it’s been a while since he played, but there are some things in hockey that are that are inherently true and that that won’t change with time. The game has changed so much, but his opinions uh are are are true. And he says things like Chip and Chase game and move your feet and toy department. Those things are all still true in hockey. And I love the fact that the game has that quality to it that the fundamentals of the game don’t change. Yeah, there might be some extra skill. There might be some extra skating. The equipment improves, the the skill improves, but you know, at the end of the day, it’s it’s just hockey and it’s the game we all grew up playing on the pond. The Islanders drawn a penalty here. Big opportunity, Bales. This power play has scored a couple big goals for them lately to win them games. We’re deadlocked here halfway through the third period. What do you want to see out of this Islander power play with 1116 left here in the in the third period? How do they how do they take a lead here on this power? Well, I think be patient. I think sometimes you get car caught up in the moment. The crowd gets chanting, shoot, shoot. You got two minutes. Let’s get set up. First things first, let’s get this puck back. Let’s get set up and let’s let’s make our plays. Let’s get let’s find our looks. Like what are we looking for here? They obviously go over a lot of video before games. you know what Vegas is going to do. You know what they know what the Islanders are going to do, but it’s what what can you do to create that look? And sometimes it it takes two to set up the look you’re looking for. Um and again, I think after after a stretch of time, if you’re not getting that look, all right, time to put it to the net and let’s go to work. I mean, you got a horse in front of the net with Ley. I always love sending it to him there and and letting him do his thing. U but I think at the beginning be patient, use your time with the puck and and and and wait for that look and then obviously if if it starts winding down, all right, let’s pepper some pucks on net and see if we can get a dirty one. I say this on TV all the time about the power play and to me the efficient power plays know their options. They know how to set them up and they know how to run through them and they do it relatively quickly because the more chances you can get to run through your options. We do you do a pre-cout, you know what might be available, it’s not always the case. Some teams will scout you and they they’ll alter a little bit, but how important is it to have that plan and that little discussion that they’re having right now on the ice, those five guys as they’re going out, we’re looking for this play or we’re looking for that play and and from the same setup, you could have three different plays and it’s up to the power play quarterback to make that decision. Um, how did you approach that as a player when you were when you were going through your options? How you mentioned patience, but what is it that you were looking for? Were you trying to deceive to look for a certain play? Did you and and would you tell Brock Nelson or Anders Lee, I’m coming to you right away off this draw every once in a while. Certain times maybe. I think a lot of it too is just Yeah. Yeah. You need to talk and be on the same page. But I I like a power play that has movement and freedom and not too stationary. I think you get stuck in your position. You’re just snapping it around. It’s easy for the kill. Move around a little bit. And that’s where I think Sha a lot of that comes from your your the guy that you have up top, the QB. And I think Sha does such a good job at moving it. And then you see even we haven’t talked much about Barsy. I think Bars is playing really good hockey right now and and it gives him that freedom to move a little more and um but I think the QB and the half wall guys are the guys kind of setting it up and uh for these guys right now it’s it’s a great opportunity and again now they lose the draw. It’s like okay first things first now we got to get the puck in the zone and let’s get into our set after that. Let’s see what they give us and and find it. And I think like I touched on earlier with with that play Casey made where or that he didn’t make that I thought was a good play. Don’t be the power play killer. You get some guys that force something. Don’t force it. Let’s let’s take take what they give us. Sure, there’s going to be times you got to make that play. You got to go through a guy’s triangle or you got to make one. But right like right there, Barzy just lays one in there. It’s not forcing anything. Take what they give you. He knows he’s in that soft spot, right? Like there’s a spot on the power play that doesn’t exist. Five on five. Five on five, you’re going to get closed on there. There’s a spot about eight feet from the boards a in between the defenseman and the forward. Neither one of them want to go and commit to you. And Nick Wall actually on that replay right there commits a little bit to Barsy. He just th lays one in for Sha. Sha has the option to one time that thing or send it over to Shabby for a one-time. Those are the types of things that power play quarterbacks are so aware of. The amount of time and space that you have in that pocket feeling comfortable almost like a Here we go. Barzy. Oh, good block by Theodore. Good keep by Schaefer. Those are the those are the that’s the power play skill that everybody wants. The ability and the skill to back penalty killers off. Nice little seam pass there. A nice double seam try by Shabby. And you’re probably going to see replay of that. Here it comes right here. There he goes. Try to go back door. Those are the types of plays that break down penalty kills. Again, my alternate perspective is I killed the penalties. you did as well, but for the sake of giving me something to talk about, my the most difficult thing for me was when a D would drag it past center across the line and throw it back the other way because that forces two forwards on the same side, right, as a penalty killer. You never want two forwards up on one side of the ice and then the defenseman has to come up and it almost rotates the box. And so, you know, Sha does a really good job of that and you we have a great perspective of this power right now with Bars’s options. I love this like you said. Shoot it. Here we go. We got the fans yelling shoot around us. Bales hates that. So if you’re in the vicinity of Josh Bailey right now and you’re yelling shoot, be careful. You might catch a stray. Listen, listen. You hear that? Oh my god. I promise it’s not coming from me. See, and this is what you like too. You see Theodore doesn’t have a stick. There it is. [Applause] Good goal. It’s a power play goal. Oh, Horvat. That handle’s so hot right now. He doesn’t miss. And that’s why you don’t shoot the puck from the corner on a power play, everyone. That’s why you don’t shoot the puck from a corner on a power play. The same guy who was yelling shoot is now jumping up and down being like yes yes yes. Okay, I knew it. Let’s leave it to the Let’s leave it to the experts. Let’s leave it to the experts out there. Trust me, these guys know what they’re doing. I know it doesn’t look like it all the time. These guys know what they’re doing. Great job by Bo Horvette popping up. He’s covered in the middle of the ice. What’s he do? We used to call it an Oshi slide. The Oshi slide was when the Washington Capitals would try and free up Alex Ovuchetkin on the backside. TJ Oshi would slide up into the high slot so that the forward who’s killing the penalty had to make a decision. Who am I going to cover? Well, Bo Horvette just did that right there. He slides up about 6 feet from the hash marks. Probably Bales probably doesn’t even get everything he wants on that thing, but it ends up sliding hole. It’s just about getting it off quick and getting it getting it on the net. No, it almost it almost looked like it kind of jams him or it was a little back in his in his stance and he just powered through it. But I think they they did all those things we were talking about. They didn’t force anything. They waited for their moment. They took their couple chances, but it was just let’s keep this thing going. And then Theodore loses the stick. And I think the best PPS too is when you get all guys that are on the same page that are working for the guy with the puck. Okay, how can I like even Bo there recognizes, okay, there’s my space. I got to go now. He backs up. You got the seam guys that move into the lane. They’re not just standing still. They’re everyone’s moving. Sha does a good job at it. Barzy does of where can I go to help the guy with the puck and that just leads to good power plays and guys working together and ultimately they get rewarded on that one. You know, I I’m just scrolling through the chat here. I just want to see what the general opinion is. Um, you know, people seem to agree mostly, which if they don’t, we don’t really care, right, Bill? I mean, it’s, you know, it is what it is. We’re welcoming all opinions. We don’t have to agree with them. But, you know, you actually nailed that because the Islanders were patient for the first minute of that power play. And when nothing was really materializing, it was up to Schaefer and it it was a couple pucks on the net. Anthony Duclair had a little tip rebound. You get a whistle, you go back to it, and that’s what frees it up, right? I mean, that that’s what softens up penalty kills, the threat of a shot from the top. And yeah, um you nailed it, buddy. I mean, obviously, you know, but um we’re going to take a break here. We got a TV timeout. Uh I got to take a little drink cuz I’m getting a little parched running in my mouth over here. Send some questions into the chat. We got about 9 minutes left in this game. The Islanders are up 43. Um we’re going to go to break, but send some some questions into the chat. Something good, something funny, something off the wall. We’ll try and answer when we come back. [Music] What a stop there. [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Book your next group outing at an Islanders game. Score exclusive pricing when you purchase 10 or more tickets. Plus, receive add-on perks such as hats for your entire group or a postgame photo on the ice. Learn more at new york islandlanders.com/group. Just how you draw it up in practice. What a stop there. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Islanders player gear is now available for you to own. Shop gloves, sticks, and skates that were issued to your favorite Islanders player. Shop these items and much more at Islanders game originals.com. All right, I asked you guys to submit some questions. You guys responded in overwhelming fashion. So, I got one right here. Um, Isles Meetup Meetups Raleigh Kush Bailey, how do you feel about your song? Because I know how I feel about it. I want to hear how you feel about it. I’ve I’ve always enjoyed it. I mean, how can you not enjoy uh everyone serenating you in front of the in the whole stadium? You got 18,000 people sing your song. I think it’s it’s been more of a funny I’m not much of a dancer, so I think it’s uh it’s taken on a different term when we go to weddings for the guys or whatnot. So, usually it was bavilier, but someone’s always putting the song on and they’re all gathering around me trying to get me to dance and whatnot. But, it’s uh it’s all in good fun. And I I’ve always enjoyed it and u you know hopefully we can get it get it going here tomorrow night. Oh, I loved it. I I loved it. We we’ve done some really really fun things with with Josh Bailey’s goal song. We had one in the bubble where we were on a bus the whole team and there was like two Carolina Hurricanes on there on a shuttle and we broke out into it. One of my favorite memories of all time. But let’s get to another one. Um Bales, how many blue and orange bagels have you actually had? I think I I mean I might have had a couple bites. They used to send them over to the practice rank and say I’ll sit. Uh but I I’ve had some bites, but I don’t think I’ve had too many. No. I know my I was going to say we we’ve had our share of blue and and orange bagels over at Ice Works. When we were uh when I first got here, that was our breakfast of choice. We just would have a bunch of colored bagels sent over. Obviously, all this information coming out about, you know, colored food dyes and, you know, we had to get rid of those. But, uh, I liked a blue and orange bagel every once in a while in the morning just to get me going. But, uh, no, that was good. I think it was Blue Line Deli out there in Farmingdale or something. They used to give them to us. Um, one more. Uh, that’s another Bales Josh Bailey goal song question. Seems to be a popular one. Uh, Clutter, who’s the worst fighter you’ve ever seen grace the league? It’s Jags. That’s a tough one to answer because there’s a lot of guys who never fought. So, and not to mention fighting in front of 18,000 people and then the people who are watching on TV is not an easy thing to do. So, uh, you know, let’s just the guys who fight, that’s why we have so much respect for him. Everybody gets mad every once in a while in fights, but listen, fighting and and and risking your personal safety in front of a bunch of people I is is not advisable. So, there’s a lot of guys who don’t touch that part of the game. If I was good enough, I wouldn’t have touched it either, but um Bails, yes, yes, yes, man. Yeah. Bails, if Clutter had a a a goal song of his own for the fans to serenate to him, what would it be? I’d have to think. Honestly, the first thing that came to mind was like a Creed song or something like that. 100%. Uh, hold me now. I’m six feet from the edge and I’m thinking maybe six feet ain’t so far down. Yeah, we we went to a Creed show a couple years ago last year. Oh god, that was fun. All right, enough of that. Thank you so much for your questions. That’s awesome. We want to continue to answer your questions. If you didn’t get your qu question answered, don’t worry. It either wasn’t good enough or I didn’t have time to get to it. So, uh, keep working on those. Let us know what you really want to know. We’re here to tell you a little bit about us, a little bit about the team, a little inside info. Um, we’re getting down to the nitty-gritty here, Bills. We got 545 left. Yeah, with a onegoal lead, what what what does a team have to do in this situation? Uh, they’re doing it right now in my opinion. What does a team have to do to try and conserve a onegoal lead? Well, I mean, you you know as well as anyone. I think right now it’s let’s not give them anything to get excited about. It’s let’s just play smart. Let’s get that puck in when we need to. Get it out when we need to. All those little things. There’s nothing wrong with taking an icing if you’re in trouble. It’s just let’s just bore them to death as much as we can. Let’s get that goalie pulled and try to ice this thing. What do you think? Yeah. Yeah. I think, you know, it’s about the blue lines for me. It’s about making sure that you don’t try and make a play, but it’s the marriage of punting that when you need to and having the poise to make the play to get up the ice and having the poise to hang on. You mentioned Casey, his best play of the game may be a play that he didn’t make. And so, you know, it’s just the recognition and that’s why when people talk about NHL teams and experience, especially experience, experience is not just how many games you’ve played. It’s it’s do you have the mind to go out there and be highly focused at 100% and then when you get that puck settle yourself down in order to have the poise to make the proper play, right? I mean, how do you react sharply but also be under control so you can get that thing up the ice? And you know, when you’ve got six or seven minutes to kill with a onegoal lead, the more time that you can spend holding on to that thing down here, you’re really not even trying to funnel that thing to the net. You’re just trying to kind of move it around the zone and kill a minute, a minute and a half. you’re trying to change uh your lines while they’re hemmed into their end. I mean, that’s ideal. I think we had I don’t know if you remember, there’s one game against Washington in the bubble. I think we had a one-goal lead to to close them out and I think we spent the last 6 and 1/2 minutes in their end straight. They didn’t get a chance to even come out. I ended up I’m shamelessly plugging that I ended up scoring a fluky goal. Pedro tried to center one to me, hit my shaft and went in the net. We took a two-goal lead, but Braden Holy was still in the net. But, you know, it it just comes from poise and execution out of your own end. Things get frantic. Who are the guys that you trust to go out there and make those plays and and I think for Patrick Wah, the guys who go out in these moments in the games are it’s indicative of the trust that Patrick has in them. And when you say trust, that’s what it means, right? It’s just do I trust that he’s going to go out there and make that play in that moment. Yeah, I completely agree with I think it’s understanding the situation that you’re in, not panicking, realizing, okay, there might be the one where it’s just like it’s near the blue line. Let’s get this thing out. This thing has to get out. I’d say this to my 9-year-old team. There’s just realizing those situations and it’s hard obviously at their age, but um realizing when it has to go out, when it’s time, okay, let’s just make a poise play here and move it to the next guy and advance the puck. Let’s get on the for check. Like you said, the more time you kill in their zone, the better off you are. And I think that’s that’s not just rushing things. That’s not chucking pucks to the net for no reason. It’s let’s make the smart plays and let’s grind them out down low. But I think a lot of times too, it’s just making those subtle reads, especially defensively and and just keeping your poise. Like even right there, obviously Homer would like to have that one back. He he sees a guy open, he ends up giving it to them. Now they’re back in their own zone. That that happens, but now it’s how do you react after that? Do do you have guys panic and go to position or do we just okay we know our structure get to our structure find our guys settle down get the puck back like they do right now and then away you go out the other way. It’s there there should be no panic and the biggest thing is these Vegas guys coming off Bradley Smith banging his stick right now because Vegas is trying to enter with possession and the gaps for the Islanders to me this year have been the biggest change. These defenseman are up. You can see Matthew Schaefer he trusts his skating ability. Tony D’Angelo has good gaps. Ryan Pulock and Pelly’s gaps have been unbelievable. Vegas has tried to enter three times. They get stick checked three times at the blue line. That puck goes the other way. Simon Holstrom comes down, tries to make a play. It gets turned over. Well, who’s the first guy back to help out his defenseman? It’s number 10. Making sure he gets back because when you do make that play, you come back. That’s the part where it’s it’s the poise. Okay, I made a bad I I made a a read that didn’t work out. How am I going to go get that back? It’s not automatically going to cost you. It costs you if you compound mistakes, and it’s just about not compounding mistakes. I completely agree. It’s stay calm. We’re all We all made mistakes. We made tons of mistakes, right? It’s what are you going to do after the fact? And I think that’s where you got your your guys behind you that are going to help you out, too. And uh they showed it perfectly there. There was no panic. Shot came to the net. Soka kicked it out. Dookie took it out and they’re out of the zone like nothing happened and and back to work. And then you change it up and send the next line over and try to rinse and repeat and and find a way to close them out. And like like you touched on too, there’s structure in the neutral zone is has been so good and it’s frustrating, right? When you’re on the other side of it, you’re trying to get something going. You’re down one and you just keep running into a wall of guys that that keep stopping you at the blue line and even if you do chip it in, they’re the first the Islanders are the first one on the puck. They get it back and they get it out. But here they are in their own zone now. And let’s see what happens. Vegas gets a little opportunity. It’s a sorry it’s a bad angle shot from Brad McNab, but you know, it’s no different than when you’re in an old cast and and your producer forgets to turn off your microphones when you’re going into the first break and the world gets to hear, you know, what we have to say during a break we thought we were in and we weren’t. So, you know, uh, but guess what? He didn’t make that mistake again. You make that mistake in the first period, you’re going to work a lot harder to get it back the rest of the game. That’s what they’ve done upstairs for us. And you got to give them a lot of credit. This this is not an easy setup. We’re sitting here in 106. There’s a lot of Wi-Fi connection reliability. There’s a lot of audio reliability. And this really has been pretty smooth for us. And I’m hoping that the fans at home have enjoyed it. Seems like they have. But um it’s just been a great time. Hopefully uh again, give us your feedback in in the chat. Let’s uh we got a little break here. We don’t want to talk too much because this is kind of the nitty-gritty of the game. Maybe maybe give us one more fan question that we can answer. something with a a short answer um that we can maybe just dive into a little touch here while they’re setting up this face off. But another face off goalie’s pulled now. Faceoff plays. You got to know your assignments, right, Bales? I mean, the Islanders win this draw. Py’s going to come around the net. Look, that’s Oh, I think he’s There you go. I mean, it looked to me like it might have hit the top of the glass. Um it was close. They’re going to talk about it, but I that was a pretty emphatic call. I think that’s Peter McDougall, the referee. Um, so you know, this is again, this is this is the right play, right, Bales? This is this is win a face off round the net and send that thing off the glass down the other end. And this one just kind of happens to sail on P. And I always give P a hard time. Yeah. Right over. It looks like he has different curve. Hopefully he put a little toe on his curve because I was imploring him to do it for years. use for those of you at home. He’s not you look at Py’s stick, you can’t really see it there, but he had the straightest curve that you’ve ever seen. Now, it’s important for him because he’s he’s used that curve his whole life, right, Bell? Like his flat stick, his his stick is so good. But I was you be able to shoot the puck a lot easier if you if you put a little toe on that thing, you know, and so I’m I’ll take the blame on that one. I I told Kelly to put some toe on it and then he went and he sailed it over the glass. Let’s see what the Oers can do on a on a five on four situation. The Vegas goalenders back in the net now. Um, how’d you feel uh in this situation? Would you rather have six guys out there or would you rather just go normal power play set? No, I’ I’ I’d do exactly what he’s doing. I go normal power play. You don’t want to give if you’re in Vegas, you don’t want to give them a chance to just ice the game with one rip down the ice. I like this. I think maybe as it gets down near the end of it, maybe the last minute, 45 seconds, maybe then you start thinking about it. But I’d give him a chance to score first and then see what comes. [Applause] by Siroka. What a save by Alia Sroken. What a save. I mean, two in a row. That was unbelievable. The first one and then the rebound. There goes Sushi Boy doing his thing. I mean, this is what a goalender of his caliber does for you. Now, the goalie comes out for the Vegas Gold Knights. Good gap by Scotty Mayfield. Vegas manages to get that thing out of here. Jack Eel, one of the best in just calming it down. You got a minute to work at this. This is where Mitch Marner is just so good in these situations. Same with Eeko. But yeah, you can see these guys are all working together. They’re in their spots. These are things you work on in practice, especially to start the year, but you work on them throughout. That’s a big clear. Nice job by Case there. He got try and pick up that stick. These clearers are so important. Oh, good save. Great save. You can see Eel just running through his options. He’s obviously running out of time. 4 seconds left on the power play now for the Islanders. The net is empty. So this draw is obviously crucial thing down the ice. It’s going to take Vegas 10 seconds to collect that thing and get back in. This draw being so crucial. Bails, um, you know, talk about what are they talking about in this timeout right now? I’m sure people always wonder what they’re drawing on the board. What are both teams talking about right now? Well, they’re just talking about their assignments, right? It’s it’s find your know what to expect. I think I typically in this situ we’ll talk from the Islanders perspective, too. But I’m thinking for Vegas, it’s they know where they’re going with the puck. They know who they want to have the puck with. They know they got to if if the Islanders have one, they’re sending two at the puck. If they have two, they’re sending three. It’s let’s get this thing back. I I do love the one play Eeko made there. And it’s such a subtle little little look. If you guys can see it at home when it comes up, but um Scotty’s pressing out on him a little and and you could see Aiko looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking looking right here. He looks Yeah, he looks up and kind of opens his blade and his stick and then it that’s initiates the pass down just to create the lane to get Scotty to move his stick. Those are the little things you love to see. But I think for uh for the Islanders right now, first things first, just win the faceoff, right? It’s like let’s just get this thing down the ice. Goalies, you got 5 seconds with the goalie still out. You won’t even commit an icing. That’s that’s the key right now. Win this and and get this thing out. They’ve added a second to the stoppage and that’s not abnormal. Big faceoff win by Pager. Little keep by Mitch Martner. So good at that. Good job by Schaefer. Long body there. Oh my gosh. Tough. Well, it happens. It does happen. They didn’t really do anything wrong either. I mean, Mitchi makes a sick play at the blue line to keep it in. Poise. Sometimes you got to tip your cap. Drov. Yeah, Dorv buries that one on a little rebound. And I think it was Ryan Pulock in front of that trying to stop this one. We’re going to see it on the replay here. Down to the goal line it goes. And then nothing there. Good job by Schaefer up to the middle top. Adam Pelock in an unfamiliar position. You could see Pulley’s in a battle net front with hurdle there. And that thing just happens to hit somebody and go to Doria of no chance for Sroen. A lot of times bales, those are the five six on five goals that are scored. You can see it hits Pulock skate. Nothing you can do. They’ve got an extra guy out there. Um well, we’ve got a tie game. Looks like the Islanders wanted us to keep going on the alt. They’re having a good time with it. Um, so we’ve got we’ve got potentially a high stick here on Brett Hen. I don’t know what how the referees are going to handle this, but uh if he’s bleeding bails, they have the ability to call a double miner and review this, which would be a Yeah, that would a bad break for the Islanders. That would be tough. I don’t know if they’re going to do it, though. They’re going to talk about it. Love to see another look at it here, but this is pretty new. Uh, he’s not bleeding, so I’m not sure they can actually review this. Scott Bogs, there he is, our former equipment manager. Old Bogsy and uh well, it’s a little bit of a high stick, but you know, I’m not sure it hurt all that much. It looked like it grazed the top of a helmet. Probably more of a cell job by Hen there. Kyle Mlan just a little careless with it. Hits him in the side of the visor. Um, dangerous situation here for the Islanders. And we mentioned the goal. You know, it’s a bad break. But now, if you end up down short-handed, it’s a real bad break. And, you know, I still feel confident the Islanders could win this in overtime, but if they go down two, it’s going to be a Yeah, they gave it to him, too. They gave it to him. And that’s that’s where we talk about like and you can’t blame a guy for selling it a little like he’s fine. Catches him in the visor, but I don’t know. It’s obviously an accident by Macker. He wasn’t trying to do it. Trying to bat the puck out of the air there. It clipped up in the air and he tried to bat it. And you know, he’s going to spend hopefully a long two minutes in the box. Hopefully he spends the full two in there. That’s a lonely feeling in there, isn’t it, Bells? Oh, yeah. You don’t want to be the You don’t want to be in that situation. I think uh for Mac right now, it’s Please, boys, please find a way. Yeah, but we’ll see. They only got 3 seconds left here and then they’re going to get their uh get their break. And I I always found four and threes to be tough. They’re tough to really get the look you’re looking for. So, um you got to rely on their uh their penalty killers to get it done here. We get the guys behind us saying that going in would have been the worst case scenario obviously. Um we’re going to take a little break here while these guys get it all sorted out. Uh we’ll be back in a second with the overtime. The uh Vegas Golden Knights 1 minute 57 seconds on the power play. Four on three power play here to start the OT. Give the greatest gift of all this holiday season. The Goat Holiday Plan gets you exclusive pricing for plans starting just three games. Plus, with each seat you buy, you’ll get an exclusive Islanders Goat USA hoodie. Get the Goat Holiday Plan today at new york islanders.com/goat. Just how you draw it up in practice. What a stop there. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] It was the same situation and JG Pacio made it won a face off in his own Dzone, made his way up the ice and iced the game for the Islanders. So maybe, dare we say, Josh Bailey’s goalpool pick has another little bit of magic left in him. But let’s see how this unfolds. This is a tough situation. And there’s a lot of room out there for a lot of good players. There is. And they got some they got some good ones out there right now. So, we’ll see what happens. But even this Drov, if I’m saying it dorv he’s he’s got a great shot, too. They’ll be looking to tee him up. But like I said before, four and threes aren’t the easiest. You’re really really trying to find your your your look. And if the the Islanders are playing it the right way right now, too, they flex out when it comes up as you’ll see. And uh if they stay tight in position, it’s going to make it tough on Vegas. But they got some good players over there. Well, Jack Eel, you’re going to see it right here in a second. Just misses his mark. He creeps in the middle of the ice. And that thing makes its way out. Okay, the Islanders looking at 50 seconds now. They can try and make a stand here at the blue line. Pretty good job here making Eel turn back. Mitch Marner, the king of the entries. They get that thing down. Let’s see if they can kill this last 40. Even those two plays Mitch made there like just no panic subtle little right under him. But even even too we were talking like I remember Troutz used to say it all the time too, right? It’s about collecting points. You’re playing against a team that’s in the Western Conference, it’s as much as it sucks to not get the two right away, let’s just find a way to get it in overtime in the shootout, it’s still two points against a team you’re not really competing with within your conference. So, um, find a way to kill it off and and stay with it. Just that that replay there, Adam Pollock, his value to this team, you know, he slides out of the corner, puts a little pressure, recognizes it’s time to get out, he gets back into his position, long stick, gets down on one knee, to flex that thing over. They’re at 32 seconds. Adam Pel, one of the best at just gobbling pucks up with his stick. Ryan Pulock’s got a chance to ice this thing. It’s outside. Here we go. That thing’s actually going to stay in the zone. That’s a tough bounce again for the Islanders. Pulley, not many more options there with three guys on the ice. You know, talk about penalty kill all the time. You want to share the clear. And what that means is you want to if you’re in a tough spot like that and you’re not on your forehand or you don’t have the opportunity to use the yellow to get that thing out, you want to look to the middle to try and use one of your teammates to exit the zone. Not many options for Ryan Pulock when there’s only three guys on the ice. Bo Horvette, you don’t want to take the chance of throwing that thing to the middle. He got a lot of wood on that. Mark Stone stood up. That thing hits his chest, bounces into the net. Down to 24 seconds. The Islander’s done a pretty good job so far. Um Kyle Mlan’s ready to go and and when he gets out, if he gets out, look for him to get sprung here. That’s the other thing. If they turn this thing over when he comes out of the box, good job by Pulley there. That’s one thing you’re always thinking when you’re in the box, right? It’s like, oo, please one time find me. 5 seconds. Uh, put some pressure. There you go. [Applause] All right, Pedager trying to find MLAN out of the box. It doesn’t connect. That thing goes down for icing. But couple tired Islanders out there. JG Pio, we talked about his value to the team. This is where the value comes in to me. He hasn’t played in a couple weeks. I’m sure he’s tired. Here’s the thing. If he can manage to win this draw, it’s back to threeon three also with that icing, which is an interesting thing. Kyle Mlan gets to go off the ice. Three on three is a possession game. Look for JG to win this thing and try and change so that the Islanders can get their offensive weapons out there and try and win this game. Yeah, the these guys it’s crucial right now too, right Clutter? Like these guys are already tired with it being a possession game. Vegas can just rag them and hang on to that puck. But good face off by Pedra. Now it’s just find a way to pull it off. Almost want to turn back. There’s the possession game right there. That’s what Mitchi is so dangerous at is getting it back. Good job by Ped again. Just slow it down. Great job. I mean, fans applauding as they should be. That was a really gutsy play. Good job by Barzy using the net. Now they got to get themselves collected and try and win this thing. Yeah, you got to think the momentum shifted to them now with Vegas not scoring. So put the pressure on him here. They do say they do say if you don’t score in your four on threes and five on threes, your chances of winning the game go down significantly. We’ve experienced that throughout our our lives in hockey and our careers. And good recognition there by Barzy. B a little ahead of him. And threeon three such a possession game. You don’t want to make that play that’s going to turn that puck over. You want to hold on to that thing for the next minute 40 seconds and make sure you get your looks. Good try. It was a good look. Didn’t work out, but a good look by uh by Boa to Sha. Yeah, if Sha Fedor, a likely Canadian Olympian, isn’t there to gobble that up and it’s probably an Islander win. And there there goes Simon Holstrom. I mean, just just an elite stick lifter. And it sounds hilarious, but you know, yeah, just a skill that that can change a game, you know, and whatever happens from here on out, if the Islanders end up scoring on this play, you go back to that play where he just quickly picked the pocket away the Islanders go. And this is kind of a danger zone, Bales, when you get circling the net, you get cut off by a second guy and Yep, there you go. Yeah, you don’t really want to put yourself in that spot if you can avoid it. But good job by Homer playing D there. Get that thing back. back. There you go. All right, going to be in survival mode here for the next 30 seconds if you can find a way to turn it over. Good change there by Shabanov. Change is so crucial as well in threeon-ree overtime. Look at Barzie poaching. Smart poach by Barzy. Yeah, he’s trusts his legs. He knows that Eel is not going to be able to turn up on him. Isles doing a good job right now. Just making sure they’re marking up. Good change by Homer. Horvette gets back in time to negate the ELEL chance. Good job by Barsy sticking with his guy. Looks like we’re going to a shootout. Little shin pad tap for Barner there after Bo didn’t shoot that one. It’s been a great game. It really has been a great game. We haven’t We’re very blessed to have a great game for this inaugural Bales and Buck live altcast. This has been a lot of fun. We had a couple great guests on. Again, we’ve got another big big alumni game. As big as the games get for us these days, Bills. A big alumni game tomorrow night uh against the Shores Cast. If you don’t have your tickets, come go and get them. UBS.com. Go ahead, buddy. I was going to say outside of the uh the wolf game. But the wolf game, that’s a golf game that Bales and I play. Group of guys. If you don’t know how to play Wolf, if you’re a golfer and you haven’t played Wolf yet, go out and grab some buddies and play Wolf. Gamble a little, have some fun. What a game. I might even play tomorrow if it doesn’t rain. But, um, shootouts, what was your favorite shootout move? What was your, what was your go-to if you were under the gun and you needed to go to keep a game alive or to win a game? I think if it was probably probably coming in and from the right side and leaning towards low blocker, but trying to see what he gives me. I didn’t I never really went in with too big of a plan. depending on what side you come in from would kind of narrow that down, but then you leave it open to what the goalie gives you. I didn’t mind coming in from the left either. Obviously, you’re a righty, so it’s a little different, but uh for a righty, I don’t know. It’s it never really thought about it too much. A lot of guys like to go low glove now, right? Like Yeah. What seemed to work for me was going in with a ton of speed, doing the Patrick Kane snowplow, and slowing down quite a bit, letting the goalie back off a little, and either going high glove or low glove. Let’s see what Dorafio’s got in his bag of tricks. It was a good try. I mean, great great patience by Sroen. And you know, for me, his side to side movement, Bill, is just is so electric. He trusts his feet in that situation. And Doria of the cell wasn’t good enough in order for that backhand to get by. So Sro, let’s see what Bars goes with here. He likes that low glove shot, but he tried it last time. He might mix it up. You know what, Bills? Barsy again trying that over the glove. Carter Hart getting a piece of it, send it over the glass. But you know, the best was Fron Nielsen had two or three options off of the same setup. I think those are the most dangerous shootout guys is they can go in and show one look and they have three options off that look. Mitch Marner, one of the best. I mean, just a creative guy. Let’s see what he’s got. Yeah, it’s a tough move to pull off, right? Like you you really got to sell the guy. He almost had him. He just Sroken gets a piece of him, I think. But I I think it’s that extra stick handle. And Mitch Kin, the goalie coach, used to say like, don’t get too close. I think he just got in a little too close. I think he might have had him with just a simple forehand backhand. But hey, we’re Island Islander fans here. Let’s see what Sushi Boy’s got. A little forehand, back hand. That same move. Little change up from Simon Holmstrom. I like that. I like that him uh Simon changing it up. That move is is so good. That hard cell that long stick, but goalies in the NHL are so good. This was a a great try just trying to sell that little backhand pop to a forehand. Let’s see what Jack Eel’s got. All right. You got to give Bo the chance to win it, right? Yeah. What an opportunity. And you know, um, Islander fans on their feet here. I like when Bo shoots the puck, personally. I mean, he he’s got almost 20 this year. Let’s pick a spot and let’s rip it. And if he does, the Islander crowd is going to go crazy. Just sailed it, huh? Almost looked like it got on. Just sailed on him a little bit. Yep. Kind of hard for us to tell. I was going to try and stand up to see, but I didn’t think the people at home would want to stare at my crotch regions, so took a seat and watch it on the jumbotron, but we got shape Theodore forehand backand. Oh. Oh, you hate to see it. The ice monster. The ice monster strikes again. Shay Theodore with the bobble. And now it’s Emil Heinman. You got to know this guy’s going to fire the pill, right? I mean, he is just going to whip this thing out. Question is, where’s he going to shoot it? I think he’s going to go five hole bells. I really do. But let’s see what he’s got. Hey, did it. [Applause] Yeah, he let it rip. That was a good shot. [Applause] What a great game for the inaugural. What a game. What a game. The goal helmet is undefeated when it’s on my head. Everyone at home, I take Venmo, PayPal, anything, anything you want to thank me for that win wearing this helmet. Islander fans are thrilled walking up the aisles. Jubilant. I’ll tell you what, Bills, I’m thankful I’m not on the MSG postgame tonight because when we win in this building and I got to do a postgame show and they bring that drum by, my eardrums take an absolute beating. I don’t know how many years I’m going to be able to do that job because if the Islanders continue to win at home in exciting fashion like this, I’m going to be hard of hearing by the time I turn 40. Everybody at home, thank you so much for tuning in. Bales, this has been so much fun. I know we’ve This concept started with with Josh Bailey calling me last December, almost a year ago today. Just saying thank you to our seatmates here. He called me about a year ago and suggested this. He was watching uh an alternate cast, a Manning cast, and suggested we should try this. And a lot of people have put a lot of hard work into doing this over the last year to make sure we can be here. Um it’s been a thrill. Uh, we’re going to continue to do it. The next the next alt cast is on January 6th. Make sure you mark your calendars. We’re going to just continue to get better and better at this. We’re going to make sure that our marks our mics aren’t on during commercial breaks. We’re going to make sure that everything runs smoothly and we’re going to give you guys the alternate perspective. We’re going to we’re going to unbroadcast as many games as we can again. Um, what do you think, Bales? How’d it go? Oh, I didn’t want it to end. It was such a great game. It was fun doing it with you. And again, thanks to all the people involved. Thanks to you guys for watching tonight. We’ll uh I’m sure we’ll be looking forward and excited to doing the next one. And great job hosting, buddy. It was great. Let’s do Let’s do our three stars of the game before we let the people go. I know that, you know, the press picks the three stars. Who are the three stars of the game? I got to think about it for a sec. I mean, obvious game with Siroken, you tend to lean towards him. You and I both know how good he is. Um, I’ll throw him in the three hole. Um, you know, you score the shootout winner, you’re typically getting a nod, too. So, we’ll give uh Heinaman two and then one. I don’t know. Who do you think? You know, uh, I’m going to put I’m going to put uh I’m going to put the fourth line in that three. I’m going to put uh I’m going to put Bo Horvad in at two. Actually, you know what? I’m going to put Pager in a two. Coming in off a couple weeks, he ate that penalty kill in overtime was everything. And I’m going to put Emil Heinman at number one because I think I just scored the inaugural uh goalpool goal. Uh that does count as winner. It it we did not discuss that. I just decided that I am up one- nothing in the goal pool. So, uh, early lead in the goal pool for Cal Clutterbuck. Again, thank you guys so much for tuning in. We won’t keep you too long. We got to get home. Islander fans are thrilled. January 6, the next one tomorrow night, Shores alumni game at UBS Arena. Josh and I and a bunch of our old Islander buddies going to be taking on the Shores cast. It’s going to be a lot of fun. Thank you so much for tuning in. We’ll see you next time. Thank you guys. Appreciate it. [Music] Good stuff, guys. Good stuff. I had a lot of fun. Uh, this is going to this is going to work. Yeah, good job, guys. [Music]
Watch the new Alternate Broadcast hosted by Josh Bailey and Cal Clutterbuck! Tune in for an unscripted watch-along, convos with guests, polls, live Q&A and much more!
10 comments
This is amazing. Please fill my feed with isles content.
Great 1st altcast!
Great Job Guys! nice win
Heeeeeeeeey Josh Bailey!
Now we’re talking
This was great! Keep it going please!
Loved this! So good!
Good to see bails again
Dream come true
This is so awesome. Clutterbuck is a natural, Bailey is getting better everytime he's on a call.