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Ondrej Palat gets massive praise after Islanders debut vs. Rangers originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Less than 24 hours after being traded by the New Jersey Devils, Ondrej Palat made his debut for the New York Islanders and everyone loved it when he went on the ice. Coach Patrick Roy immediately showed confidence in his new forward and paid dividends as the Czech torched the New York Rangers. He led them to a 5-2 win and his new teammates were amazed to see such talent on their side of the ice.
Palat catches fire at UBS Arena
The new Islanders forward was the one who started off the scoring for the Patrick Roy-led team. He found the back of the net at the 14:59 mark with some help from Simon Holstrom and Matthew Schaefer. Palat did not stop there. The Czech would also be the one to put the nail in the coffin as he delivered an assist to Emil Heineman for the Islanders' fifth goal of the game.
Coach Roy could not speak in anything else but praises after they won over the Rangers, via Stefen Rosner of NHL.com.
“I think the guys were excited to see these guys come in. It’s nice to see Palat get a goal on the power play. It was a nice shot by him, but I thought both adjusted very well. Palat and (Carson) Soucy, I felt like they played a solid game for us, for guys who didn’t have much time to understand or see our structure. You can tell they are good vets," he said.
The Islanders seem to be winning the trade. For Maxim Tsyplakov, they got a serviceable forward along with a 2026 third-round pick and a 2027 sixth-round pick. More than that, Palat seems to be liking the culture in the Islanders locker room and the chemistry that he immediately shared with his new teammates.
“I felt pretty good. The system is pretty easy but there's still room for improvement. As I play more games, I will get more comfortable. I think for the first game, I thought we played well. And with (Bo) Horvat and (Emil) Heineman, I thought those guys helped me so much, and the whole team," the new Islanders forward declared.
Before heading to represent Czechia in the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, Palat will have more time to develop chemistry with the Islanders system. He also has to deal with the Devils on February 5, before the break starts.
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