Some days, Miroslav Satan would be joined by only one other skater at the New York Islanders' practice rink at Iceworks in Syosset, N.Y.: Lenny DiCostanzo, a former minor league goaltender who was the visiting locker-room attendant at Nassau Coliseum. Satan knew him only as Lenny.
Satan, the former Islanders forward, was out of work for the first half of the NHL season, and he would ask DiCostanzo to play goalie as Satan stayed in shape.
Some days, injured Islanders, including goaltender Rick DiPietro, would show up.
"It's no pressure," Satan said last week of those workouts. "You can work on whatever you want."
DiCostanzo would move on to better things - he became the head equipment manager for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Islanders' top farm team - and so would Satan, who signed with the Boston Bruins on Jan. 3 and has had a remarkably noteworthy season.
The Bruins have won seven of 10 Stanley Cup playoff games, and Satan, the 35-year-old native of Slovakia, has five goals and five assists. He scored goals in each of the Bruins' first three games, all Boston victories, in their second-round series against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Bruins lead the series 3-1 with Game 5 on Monday in Boston.
"He's a veteran guy who's been in the league many, many years, and he's got that scoring touch, that scoring feel, that not many guys have," said defenseman Zdeno Chara, the Boston captain, who is also a native of Slovakia. "He's got that instinct to be at the right place at the right time."
Satan, who has a pointy goatee and arched eyebrows, said other NHL teams were interested in him, but he wanted to join a playoff contender that was coached, as he said, by a staff he could trust.
Everything, he said, is in place. But that was not exactly the case last year.
After playing three years for the Islanders, Satan signed a one-year, $3.5 million contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins in July 2008. In 65 games, he scored 17 goals - fifth on the team. But he was waived, in part, because the Penguins had salary-cap issues.
"It's difficult to produce when you're playing 11 minutes a game," Satan said.
