Islanders Hopes Rest With Trottier

There are four things the New York Islanders cannot forget.

The first is winning the Stanley Cup. So are the next three.

There are three other things their star center Bryan Trottier can’t forget:

--The media, which last season questioned whether he was over-the-hill and the victim of too many forays into the corners.

--The linemate and friend who didn’t question anything, right winger Mike Bossy.

--That the best way to prove his critics wrong and Bossy right is putting the puck in the net.

The coinciding resurgence of Trottier and the Islanders indicates that the longer he remembers those things, the better chance they have of making the Stanley Cup more than a memory.

The truth is that the NHL’s most recent dynasty is suddenly an underdog; the team that won four straight Stanley Cups from 1980-1983 is a longshot to recoup this year.

But while Trottier’s return to form guarantees nothing, without it the Islanders have no shot at vying for the Cup they came to view as team property.

Exactly one week after scoring the decisive overtime goal in the NHL All-Star Game on Feb. 4, Trottier scored the only goal in New York’s 1-0 triumph over the Vancouver Canucks, giving the Islanders an 8-2-1 record in their last 11 games. In that span, Trottier was averaging close to two points per game.

His latest goal was the 29th of the season, one more than his career low total last season, when he was nagged by injuries.

“That’s pretty expectable,” Trottier said of already surpassing his 1984-85 total. “I wasn’t healthy last year.”

Trottier never has been one to make excuses, and his reluctance to take credit for himself, even during years he scored 40 and 50 goals, has often frustrated the media. And so his steadfast refusal to acknowledge last season as a bad one should have alerted his critics that he doesn’t take kindly to this one being called a comeback.

“I wasn’t out to prove anything,” Trottier said. “I didn’t have to, because I know. When you know, you don’t have to prove.

“I wanted to be healthy this year. I wanted to contribute. I did not want to prove because I didn’t have to. I’ve got to give a lot of credit to Boss, for everything he did on and off the ice.”

On the ice, Bossy’s contributions to Trottier’s well-being are obvious. For example, Trottier’s All-Star game-winner went in off his skates after Bossy stole the puck from Mark Messier and passed through Paul Coffey’s legs.

Off the ice, Trottier was told, it is well known he and Bossy are longtime friends, but what is it that Bossy did?

“That’s it,” he interrupted. “We’re friends. He’ll know. I don’t want the world to know what I owe him for, I just want him to. And he will.”

As pure a goal-scorer as ever picked up a stick, Bossy is better known for something other than being Trottier’s moral support. Bossy’s 58-goal 1984-85 season--his NHL-record eighth straight 50-goal campaign--was like a perfect, unset diamond lying on a rockpile.

The guts of the New York Islanders may be best represented by Billy Smith, their combative, clutch goaltender; but then, their heart is the guy Smith sees straight in front of him at the opening faceoff, Trottier.

Long considered the best two-way player in the NHL, Trottier until last season was the only serious candidate ever mentioned as a rival to Wayne Gretzky as the NHL’s best player.