Barry Trotz finally gets win No. 800

It took longer than the New York Islanders expected or quite frankly wanted, but Barry Trotz gained the 800th win of his career in the Islanders’ 5-4 Shootout victory over the Ottawa Senators.  The win on Tuesday night puts Trotz in very impressive company.

Trotz is fourth all-time in wins and now he’s part of the illustrious 800 win club that includes current coach Ken Hitchcock (Oilers), and former coaches Joel Quenneville and Scotty Bowman. Trotz passed former Islanders great Al Arbour earlier this season and looks to continue to add to the total as the Islanders season moves on.

Trotz was certainly happy, but he downplayed the accomplishment after the game.

“That was the least thing on my mind,” Trotz stated after a rough shootout win in which the Islanders twice led by two goals, 3-1 in the second and 4-2 in the third.

The Senators tied the score up with less than five minutes to go on a controversial goal by JG Pageau after Brady Tkachuk barreled into Robin Lehner in the crease.  The goal was originally disallowed but after Ottawa challenged, it was determined that Brock Nelson pushed Tkachuk into Lehner.  Lehner left the game and Thomas Greiss made three saves and got the win in relief.

Trotz will be looking for win No. 801 on Thursday and hopes for a better effort from the Islanders.  With just 16 games to go, the Islanders are still in first place in the Metro with the win but can easily find themselves out of the playoff race with an extended losing streak.

Trotz may have the track record, but he needs to keep his team on task if they’re going to win the Metro Division