There was nothing resembling a learning curve for Isaiah George through two games within the NHL.
The 20-year-old has as an alternative walked in and looked like a veteran, twiddling with poise and stabilizing a back end that’s missing all three players who made up its left side on opening night.
When Patrick Roy put George on the nominal top pair with Noah Dobson ahead of Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Senators in Ottawa, the assumption was that “nominal” could be the operative word and Roy would likely spend the sport rotating his defense pairs and leaning heavily on Dobson, Scott Mayfield and Ryan Pulock.
As a substitute, George rarely missed a shift, finished with 23:49 of ice time — barely more playing time than Mayfield — and didn’t put a foot flawed within the win together with his family watching from the Canadian Tire Center stands.
“Just unbelievable, truthfully,” Pulock said. “As a young kid coming in, he’s done a fantastic job of keeping his feet moving. He’s moving with the puck. He’s poised with the puck. You’ll be able to see his confidence growing shift by shift.”
It is tough to overstate just how big a risk it was to call up George, who had played just 4 games with AHL Bridgeport.
Nonetheless good he looked in training camp, the Islanders were tossing him right into the deep end and will probably not afford for him to fail given the present state of the blue line.
For George to not only are available and hold his own but to earn that type of ice time and excel is a mammoth feat.
“He skates well and moves rather well on the ice,” Roy told reporters in Ottawa. “I assumed for a man that it’s only his second game, he was getting an increasing number of confident on the market. I used to be more than happy with the best way he played.”
George doesn’t yet have a degree, but offense shouldn’t be his modus operandi.
Moderately, he’s billed as a stabilizer and an eraser on the back end, and that’s just what he has been to this point, repeatedly putting himself in the correct place and making the correct decisions with the puck.
He might just be creating some tough decisions for Roy and Lou Lamoriello in the method.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, an Ottawa native, was honored by his minor league hockey team Wednesday night together with his family making the trip to attend.
“It was great,” Pageau told reporters. “There have been loads of memories, lot of sacrifice from me, from my friends, from everyone around me. I believe it was an honor for all of us, not only me, however it was a fantastic moment to lift that [banner] with everyone.” … Ryan Pulock played his five hundredth NHL game.
There was nothing resembling a learning curve for Isaiah George through two games within the NHL.
The 20-year-old has as an alternative walked in and looked like a veteran, twiddling with poise and stabilizing a back end that’s missing all three players who made up its left side on opening night.
When Patrick Roy put George on the nominal top pair with Noah Dobson ahead of Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Senators in Ottawa, the assumption was that “nominal” could be the operative word and Roy would likely spend the sport rotating his defense pairs and leaning heavily on Dobson, Scott Mayfield and Ryan Pulock.
As a substitute, George rarely missed a shift, finished with 23:49 of ice time — barely more playing time than Mayfield — and didn’t put a foot flawed within the win together with his family watching from the Canadian Tire Center stands.
“Just unbelievable, truthfully,” Pulock said. “As a young kid coming in, he’s done a fantastic job of keeping his feet moving. He’s moving with the puck. He’s poised with the puck. You’ll be able to see his confidence growing shift by shift.”
It is tough to overstate just how big a risk it was to call up George, who had played just 4 games with AHL Bridgeport.
Nonetheless good he looked in training camp, the Islanders were tossing him right into the deep end and will probably not afford for him to fail given the present state of the blue line.
For George to not only are available and hold his own but to earn that type of ice time and excel is a mammoth feat.
“He skates well and moves rather well on the ice,” Roy told reporters in Ottawa. “I assumed for a man that it’s only his second game, he was getting an increasing number of confident on the market. I used to be more than happy with the best way he played.”
George doesn’t yet have a degree, but offense shouldn’t be his modus operandi.
Moderately, he’s billed as a stabilizer and an eraser on the back end, and that’s just what he has been to this point, repeatedly putting himself in the correct place and making the correct decisions with the puck.
He might just be creating some tough decisions for Roy and Lou Lamoriello in the method.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, an Ottawa native, was honored by his minor league hockey team Wednesday night together with his family making the trip to attend.
“It was great,” Pageau told reporters. “There have been loads of memories, lot of sacrifice from me, from my friends, from everyone around me. I believe it was an honor for all of us, not only me, however it was a fantastic moment to lift that [banner] with everyone.” … Ryan Pulock played his five hundredth NHL game.
