How Islanders goal-fest evoked one of franchise’s tastiest nights

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Toward the end of Anthony Duclair’s scrum with reporters Tuesday night, a reporter asked whether he ever had seen a promotion tied to a hat trick like the one the Islanders ran in their 9-0 win against the Devils at UBS Arena.

Duclair, who had scored three goals in a game for the first time since 2019, prompting a 30 percent off sale on hats at the team store, said he had not.

Had the Islanders scored a 10th goal, which would have been their first time reaching double digits since 1984, whichever business executive made the call on the hat sale would have faced another question: How quickly could the Islanders get Wendy’s on the phone?

Nov. 13, 1979 was, maybe, one of the only days of the pre-Internet era when that would have been easier than it is now, because, famously, a Wendy’s executive already was in attendance at Nassau Coliseum that night to watch the Rangers face the Islanders.