Islanders Send Top Forward Prospect Calum Ritchie To Bridgeport
The New York Islanders have sent forward prospect Calum Ritchie to Bridgeport of the American Hockey League.
Video Transcript
What is up, Islander fans?
Islanders fall 4 to 2 to the Washington Capitals in their home opener, but the story tonight, and by the way, I'm running to a wedding right now, a little after-party action, but let's get through this first, shall we?
So the Islanders lose 4 to 2, but the story of this game was Matthew Schafer.
I mean, this guy.
First, he scored his first NHL goal, right?
And the noise in this building was deafening.
I mean, as long as he scored, he went nuts and reacted to the fan base and things like that and just embraced it.
But the Washington Capitals took about an hour to decide if they wanted to challenge the goal for a hand pass.
After that long, the review happened and they called it a goal, the place went nuts again.
He got like 3 celebrations for his goal, but he played over 26 minutes tonight.
He was by far the Islanders' best player.
They were really sloppy early in the first period.
Anders Lee told me, you know, they just couldn't really slow him down, slow down their attack, and it wasn't the first period they wanted to have.
But Schafer comes flying in, flying in to score on a puck that's loose in the, in the crease.
It is an ode to Simeon Varlamov for those that know the sliding movie did when they scored in overtime in the playoffs a few years ago and it was an unreal play.
But all night long, every time Schafer touched the puck, things happened and the Islander other defensemen, you know, struggled.
D'Angelo-Romanov pairing really struggled and it was just, he said he had no choice.
He had to play Schafer.
So he plays over 26 minutes, fantastic night, trucks going by.
Hold on one second for the loud noise.
But yeah, he was just, he was unreal, and we go on and on about.
About Schafer and really the question now is how many minutes can he play?
You know, Patrick Watt was asked how do you balance playing Schafer for that many minutes, but also looking back and seeing that he only played 17 games last year and Watt goes, there's nothing to balance.
I'm not looking at last year.
I'm looking at it right now.
Right now, this is a kid that deserves these minutes.
So this guy, he played on power play 1 tonight.
D'Angelo and him swapped.
Just ultra impressive.
I thought Shabanov had a great game tonight.
Um, he almost scored from a wicked angle, but yeah, the Islanders were sloppy early.
It's hard to play comeback hockey.
Sarokan made some big saves to keep them in it.
Like he did the other night against Pittsburgh, but just not good enough at certain areas of the game.
There was one play where he and D'Angelo, the puck was coming towards Sarokan, but he didn't come and play.
The puck got out and it led to a goal.
But again, Islanders dug themselves in a hole early, didn't play well enough, and that was really the story.
But thankfully Schafer found a way to score a goal, and it was just a game changer for the building, game changer momentum-wise, and Islander fans, wherever this season goes.
Um, one thing that's certain is that not only is he a good player, not only is he a good kid, he's a fantastic hockey player, a fantastic kid, and the Islanders fan base.
is going to back this kid all the time, and he's going to always have your back.
So if you're an Islander fan and you're contemplating getting tickets and you see the team's 0 and 2, do it because this guy is much watching TV.
So with that guy, the Islanders do fall 4 to 2 to the Washington Capitals.
They're 0-2-0.
They play the Winnipeg Jets 1 o'clock on Monday.
That's all.
I got to go to this wedding and we'll talk later.
