Along with LHH’s Steven Smith, we remember Viktor Kozlov, the big center who had a big season and an enormous game at a famous arena in his one season as an Islander.
Going from draft bust to valuable player after a trade from the Sharks to the Panthers, Kovlov eventually joined the mercenary 2006-07 Islanders and immediately became one of their most reliable scoring threats.
But it was a game in December of that season at Madison Square Garden that he cemented his legacy, scoring four goals in a back-and-forth contest that showed that while they may have been put together in haste, that Islanders team had a lot of pride and a drive to win that took them all the way to one of the most astonishing playoff clinchings ever - which Kozlov, of course, played a part in.