"Hellooo? You play. To win. The game. You don't play to just play it. That's the great thing about sports."
>>some guy named Herm Edwards
When the Islanders returned from the Olympic break, passed the trade deadline, and permanently put to rest their playoff chances (in my eyes, anyway), commenter Rickfansince76 put up a FanPost with some milestone targets for individual Islanders players.
The targets were hopeful but realistic, and what do you know? Here we are with seven games left and several of them are within reach. Among them were those round numbers we humans with our five-finger, Base Ten system love so much:
- Will Matt Moulson get to 30 goals? He's at 27 now.
- Will Kyle Okposo get to 20 goals and/or 50 points? The Isles leading scorer is at 17 and 46 now.
- Thankfully John Tavares rebounded and zipped past the 20-goal mark in his rookie year. Sitting at 21 now, could he reach 25? (By the way, Moulson has 45 points, Tavares has 44, so...50 for either of them?)
- Mark Streit has both potted a few more PP goals and inched up toward 45 points. He's at 42 now (a drop from the 56 he put up to lead the team last season).
- If Richard Park scores again, he'll give the Isles their tenth double-digit goal scorer -- something that probably would have already occurred had Rob Schremp Hockey not been felled by season-ending Islanders Joint Sydrome.
- And Dwayne Roloson won't match his career high of 28 wins set with Edmonton last year. But at 23 wins in only 47 games, he's already matched his high in seasons when he's only played 50 games or less (alas, this time it is shootout-aided).
Oh, and if anyone is going to break triple-digits in PIM, it would be Tim Jackman, who currently has 80. But that would take a couple of fights and/or a well-timed misconduct. With him having to wear a cage for the rest of the season and Avery out of the lineup tomorrow, I can't imagine what would incite that kind of crazy.
If you have any other "milestone" scenarios or theories on how the above might be reached, do share.