“All I know is both are here and both will play. Having two No. 1 goalies is great.”‘ISLES COACH BILL STEWART Tommy Salo has come a long way since the Jan. 9 night Mike Milbury had him stay back in the Montreal hotel while the Islanders faced the Canadiens.
That afternoon, Milbury dealt Bryan Berard for Toronto goalie Felix Potvin. Milbury appeared on the verge of dealing Salo. Unable to squeeze anything close to equal value from Calgary, Nashville or Edmonton, Milbury has had to hold on to the Swedish goalie.
In the oddest of twists, Salo has temporarily reclaimed the No. 1 job from the struggling Potvin.
Salo made his second straight start last night when the Isles returned from the All-Star break by playing host to the Bruins in Bill Stewart’s Coliseum head-coaching debut.
After the Potvin trade, Salo didn’t even dress for two straight games because Milbury feared he might get injured. After Potvin lost four straight starts, Salo got the call last Thursday in Pittsburgh and backstopped the Isles to a 5-2 victory in Stewart’s head-coaching debut.
Salo is very much on the trading block but he has earned another start. And every start he succeeds, the Berard trade looks worse and worse.
“Tommy won the last game so he’ll get an opportunity to win the next game,” Stewart said after yesterday’s morning skate. “I still think Felix is in a transition period as far as acclimating himself to the NHL level, the speed of the shots and so forth. He was out a period of time. It takes time to get back into it. It’s almost like a training-camp situation. When we do put him back in, we want Felix to be confident not only with himself but we want everyone to know he’s on the same page as us.”
If anything, having Salo play can only increase his trade value if he excels. The Isles didn’t trade for Potvin to ship him again. But the demand for Salo has been low, especially since Calgary has found a netminding answer in Fred Brathwaite.
What has to be vexing to Milbury is Salo has looked like the better goalie, even after sitting out 12 days. Potvin has the worst save percentage among the four goalies who have played for the team this season at .861. Potvin’s goals against average is a chunky 3.47.
“All I know is both are here and both will play,” Stewart said. “Having two No. 1 goalies is great. Hopefully they can be competitive amongst one another.”
Salo is still expecting to be traded. But he feels less wounded after strutting his stuff Thursday and proving to some he is at least comparable to Potvin.
“I’m glad the way it worked out,” Salo said. “It shows I can play hockey after sitting on the bench. I don’t know what’s going on. Mike [Milbury] is the only guy who knows what’s going on.
“Something has to happen,” Salo added. “They have to do something. We both want to play.”
Salo believes it’s vital he plays well when called upon to increase interest from other teams. “I want to show, if the Isles aren’t interested, we’ll wait to see if another team picks me up,” Salo said. “It’s important for me to play well.”
Potvin is taking his demotion in stride. After all, this limbo situation is nothing compared to the Toronto fiasco when Curtis Joseph was signed as an unrestricted free agent, leaving Potvin on the outs. Potvin waited five months before the Leafs finally dealt him. So exasperated was Potvin, he left the team in early December in protest of the delay.
“It was different in Toronto,” Potvin said. “It was a different situation and I’m happy to be out of there. I’ve been through frustration before and this is not frustration.” *
After missing last seven games with knee sprain, D Rich Pilon returned to the lineup last night. D Kenny Jonsson (knee sprain) is about two weeks away from returning … Stewart will keep same lines he had in Pittsburgh, meaning newly formed Robert Reichel-Ziggy Palffy-Bryan Smolinski unit will stay intact. Stewart also liked his checking line of Joe Sacco-Claude Lapointe-Sergei Nemchinov and planned to use the unit against Boston’s Dmitri Khristich line. “Don’t take the car to the mechanic if it doesn’t need fixing,” Stewart said … Although Isles are 16 points out of the eighth seed, occupied by Boston, Stewart said he still won’t dismiss playoff thoughts. “Until they tell me the door’s shut, we still have an opportunity,” the rookie coach said. “The hole’s very deep. Whether we have enough dirt to fill the hole, who knows.”