New York Islanders vs. Minnesota Wild: The Aho 100 [Game #43]

Game 2 of a pretty darn important five-game New York Islanders homestand brings the Minnesota Wild to town. The Wild are 22-14-4 and occupy third place in the Central Division, which is also home to the {blinks} 6th-place, reigning Cup champion Avalanche.

The Isles remain in sixth in the Metro, five points behind the Capitals and one point behind the Penguins, who have two games in hand.

Ageless ex-Wild Zach Parise’s 12 goals would tie him for fourth on his old squad. Former unsigned Isles pick Jared Spurgeon’s 19 points would put him just behind Noah Dobson if he were in orange and blue.

Speaking of Isles defensemen who almost never were, Andrew Gross of Newsday caught up with Sebastian Aho, who will be appearing in his 100th NHL game. Whatever you think of the roster, Aho deserves some serious congratulations for persevering to reach this milestone. As an import who spent over 150 games in the AHL and untold months as a healthy scratch in the NHL, it’s impressive that he stuck with it to finall secured a regular spot in the NHL lineup this year.

Drafted in the fifth round, 139th overall back in 2017, Aho just has 1,200 more games to go to catch Roman Hamrlik.