Islanders honor Josh Bailey for his 1,000th game
Josh Bailey #12 of the New York Islanders is honored for having played in 1,000 NHL games prior to a game against the Colorado Avalanche at UBS Arena on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2022. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Josh Bailey played in his milestone 1,000th game on the road but got to celebrate the achievement on home ice Saturday night. The Islanders honored their longest-tenured player with a ceremony before topping the Avalanche, 5-4, at UBS Arena.
Bailey became the third player in franchise history to play 1,000 games with the Islanders — trailing Hall of Famers Bryan Trottier (1,123) and Denis Potvin (1,060) — in Friday night’s 6-2 win over the host Hurricanes. Bailey scored what proved to be the winning goal.
“Everybody is just thrilled for Josh,” coach Lane Lambert said. “His career. His successes.”
Bailey, 33, was joined on the ice by his wife, Meg, their three young children and his parents as they watched a video highlighting his career, starting with his being selected ninth overall in the 2008 draft. The video included teammates past and present talking about Bailey’s legacy, and it ended with the Hey Josh Bailey song and a standing ovation.
Teammates Brock Nelson and Cal Clutterbuck presented flowers to Bailey’s wife and Anders Lee presented an engraved silver stick to his teammate. Bailey also was given a team-signed jersey and a painting commemorating his career.
Record-setting PK
The Isles finally yielded a power-play goal, but their penalty kill is still 29-for-30. They are the first NHL team since records started being kept in 1977-78 to not allow a power-play goal in a season’s first eight games.
Isles files
The Islanders had 12 players record a point without a multi-point game from the lineup . . . F Zach Parise took a game-high nine shots . . . F Mathew Barzal extended his point streak to four games
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Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
