Remove all the context — the injuries, the Islanders’ record, the desperation inherent in calling up someone with just four professional games under his belt — for just a second, because on Tuesday morning, some nine hours before taking his rookie lap, Isaiah George could not stop beaming.
He did not really have to say anything at all to get across the joy he was feeling at being here, counting down to his NHL debut, because it was spread all across his face.
His mom and dad came in to watch him in the Islanders’ 4-3 shootout win over the Penguins after George called them Monday evening with the news.
“I couldn’t really get a great grasp [of their reaction],” he said. “I think they were a little bit shocked. Just shock of the moment and stuff.”
What was not in anyone’s plans was for this to happen so soon for a player who made his AHL debut just last month.
Or, for that matter, for this haphazard call-up to end up with such good results, with George skating 15:41, making just one notable error and playing well enough that Patrick Roy trusted him to be on the ice in overtime.
“Outstanding,” Roy said. “Except for that one turnover, I thought he had a solid game. He skates and he’s moving well. I think the more he’s gonna play, I think he’s gonna feel more comfortable out there.
“I was very pleased with his performance. He even played in overtime. Come on. Good job, kid.”
That is where all of the aforementioned context needs to come in.
The Islanders are missing the entire left side of their defense.
They came into Tuesday at 4-6-2. George got this chance in part because Samuel Bolduc blew his in spectacular fashion at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
He is just 20 years old, with very limited professional experience, and did not have the benefit of a full practice with the team on Monday because, Roy said, the Islanders had not decided what to do before practicing.
“The mindset is, he’s 20 years old,” Roy said. “But like I said to Lou [Lamoriello] in our conversation, I was also 20 and I’m sure, probably, my teammates were s–tting in their pants, how nervous they were when I played my first game.”
Still. This was an incredibly hard circumstance in which to make an NHL debut.
George rose to the moment.
“You know what, once the game started, it’s just hockey,” George said. “I was pretty focused, dialed in. I felt prepared and ready. Just another day playing hockey.”
Alexander Romanov and Mike Reilly are still day-to-day, both with upper-body injuries, but neither has skated on their own, Roy said.
Roy wanted clarification from the league on his failed coach’s challenge for offside in the first period, saying he still believed Noel Acciari to be offside.
