Isiah George didn't know exactly how many friends and family members were in the stands at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday night because he outsourced the job of fielding ticket requests to his parents.
All he knew was that it was hard.
George grew up in Oakville, Ont., just a 35-minute drive from Toronto, and admitted in a slightly lower voice in the Islanders' dressing room that he was a Maple Leafs fan as a child.
The building he played in for the first time Saturday served as his gateway to professional hockey.
When George stepped onto the ice for his morning skate, he took a moment to look up and take it in.
For some reason, this was his first time playing in this building, even though he had played in the Greater Toronto Hockey League and Ontario Hockey League before coming to the Island.
So it was here that he scored his first NHL goal and ended up winning the Islanders' 6-3 win over the Maple Leafs in what might have been their best overall performance on Hockey Night in Canada on Saturday. was to be the winner. Seasonal?
It was a dream come true for the 20-year-old defenseman.
“It's really special,” George said with a smile. “I think it really started during the game when all the players started getting excited. It was a really special moment. I saw the reaction of the players and I was like, this is what I was talking about, this is what I came here to do. Since then, I have seen what great teammates they are.”
George's shot from the top of the left circle deflected off Toronto's stick, and Kyle Palmieri quickly grabbed the puck and kept it safe.
The other Islanders on the ice surrounded George, hugging him.
In the waiting room, the entire team led the reporters to George's stall in the corner and told them, “Georgie is over there.''
In just a few weeks, George has made such an impression on this dressing room.
“He's a very happy kid,” Matthew Barzal said. “He always has a smile on his face and he seems to be laughing about everything. I mean, he's one of those kids and he gets excited about everything he does.”
This gave George some credibility.
He blew everyone's expectations away after George was called up after just four AHL games due to a rash of injuries on the blue line after the game against the Islanders and Samuel Bolduc's sloppy shooting performance against the Rangers. The same goes for his play. It was essentially an act of desperation.
At this point, there's a good chance he's only ever played in four AHL games.
Even after being given a healthy scratch for the second straight game since Adam Pelech returned to action last week, the Islanders kept him on the roster and placed Grant Hutton on waivers in exchange for sending George off waivers. I needed to expose it and make some space. Anthony Duclair.
He got his chance Saturday night and showed once again that the Islanders' highest ceiling is in the lineup.
In addition to scoring his first NHL goal, George also scored two other goals on the ice, both of which were scoreless.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the club's scoring chance percentage of 73.33 was the best on the team over George's 14 minutes, 51 seconds on the ice.
This was the kind of turnaround the Islanders had hoped for after suffering a speed bump with a rough performance against the Kings a few weeks ago.
“Sometimes it's just a reset,” coach Patrick Roy said. “Mentally, I think it was tough in a lot of games. Don't forget, last year he [in] Juniors. So it's probably going to be different to get on a bus or get on a plane or go to an NHL city. ”
You wouldn't know it even if you looked at it.
“This was amazing,” Roy said. “I was very happy for him. He played a strong game. In fact, he's been good ever since he's been here.”
