'Hey, Josh Bailey,' you're in a zone during Islanders' best run of your 12-year tenure

Josh Bailey debuted as a New York-area pro before CC Sabathia or Mark Teixeira, before Victor Cruz or Bart Scott, before even John Tavares, all now retired or relocated.

At the time, no games had yet been played at Citi Field, new Yankee Stadium, MetLife Stadium or Barclays Center.

Scott Gordon was the Islanders’ coach; Doug Weight was one of his players.

There was no Snapchat or Instagram, no “Glee” or “Modern Family.” George W. Bush lived in the White House.

The date was Nov. 11, 2008, a month after Bailey’s 19th birthday, for his NHL debut against the Flyers. And here he still is, 12 years later, facing the Flyers again as a central figure in the Islanders’ best playoff run since 1993.

This has occurred in keeping with a personality so low-key that one can excuse most casual metropolitan-area sports fans — and even some avid ones — for not knowing exactly who he is.

During the Islanders’ 10-3 start in the Toronto postseason “bubble,” Bailey has demonstrated his hockey IQ not by scoring goals — although he does have two of those — but by setting them up. Repeatedly, often brilliantly.

With the Islanders one win away from advancing to the Eastern Conference finals entering Game 5 of their second-round series against the Flyers on Tuesday, Bailey has been credited with 11 assists. (He had 29 in 68 regular-season games.)

And he has earned them. Secondary assists sometimes are meaningful but often are cheapies. Eight of Bailey’s past nine assists have been primary ones.

That includes Game 4 on Sunday night, when he set up both of Brock Nelson’s goals.

On the first, he kept the puck in the zone off a Flyers turnover, then found Nelson in the slot. On the second, he fed Nelson with a perfectly timed backhand pass on a give-and-go play during a two-on-one break.

But Bailey’s best summer pass so far came in the clincher against the Capitals. He skated down the ice, split two defenders and made a lovely feed that Anthony Beauvillier popped over goalie Braden Holtby.

Can a player be “in a zone” as a passer? I asked Bailey that after Sunday’s game.

“I mean, guys are putting the puck in the back of the net,” he said. “So I think I’m fortunate to play with Brock and Beau, two great finishers and all-around players.

“It’s one of those things you really don’t focus on too much. You’re taking it game by game. You’re going along for the ride here and you want to make sure you bring your best every day.”

Said Nelson: “I think he’s done that for quite a while, and maybe it goes unrecognized sometimes .  .  . But Bails is one of the best passers in the game, might be the best on our team.

“He makes a lot of little plays, underrated plays, and it’s easy to kind of read off him, knowing that he’s looking to pass and find that open guy.”

Bailey, 30, signed a six-year contract extension early in 2018 under former general manager Garth Snow.

The one thing missing for him in these playoffs has been the song snippet, “Hey, Josh Bailey,” which Islanders fans often serenade him with at home games — a chorus that started as something derisive and evolved into a tribute.

But after all these years, empty arenas in Toronto — near where Bailey grew up — and perhaps Edmonton are a small price to pay for a deep run more than a decade in the making for him.

“He’s one of the most intelligent players that we have on our hockey team, for sure,” coach Barry Trotz said earlier in the postseason. “He’s not afraid of big moments and he takes a lot of personal pride and responsibility.”

Now as much as ever.

By Neil Best

neil.best@newsday.com@sportswatch

Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.