ELMONT, NY — A goal in a player’s debut with their new team usually takes an immediate and inordinate amount of pressure off their shoulders. Consider Ondrej Palat the exception.
The veteran forward, acquired on Tuesday night from the New Jersey Devils, had a two-point night with a goal in his New York Islanders debut on Wednesday in a 5-2 win over the Rangers.
In just one game with the Islanders, he already has 20% of his previous season output with the Devils. Palat had just four goals with six assists (10 points) in 51 games before the trade.
“I’m not judging my game off scoring or points,” Palat told amNewYork. “In my career, I had many games where I thought I had a great game, and I didn’t have any points. Sometimes you just have an OK game, and you end up with a couple. I just want to help the team win and play a two-way game.”
He held up that end of the bargain, as well. He recorded two hits, blocked a shot, assisted on Emil Heineman’s 15th goal of the season — the Islanders’ last of the night — and opened the scoring 14:59 into the first period when he one-timed a Simon Holmstrom feed into the roof of the net past Rangers netminder Spencer Martin.
“Palat never stopped,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. “He’s always moving, blocking shots. He’s playing the game the right way, and, to me, it’s a great addition.”
The 34-year-old admitted that the Islanders’ system is an “easy” one for him to get used to. He played a similar brand of hockey during his 10-year run with the Tampa Bay Lightning, which featured a pair of Stanley Cup titles under assistant general manager Mathieu Darche, now the Islanders’ GM who acquired him.
“The system is pretty easy, but there is still room for improvement,” Palat said. “As I play more games, I’m going to get more comfortable. But for a first game, we played well.”
