Good Morning, Islanders Country.
“Sports brings families together. The Islanders are a family.”- Jon Ledecky
Last night was a family reunion - in a new home. After persevering through a 13-game road trip and three decades of arena uncertainly, no news - not even a growing losing streak and roster ravaged by COVID could damper what last night meant to the Islanders’ organization and their fans.
We’ll get to all the pomp and circumstance from last night, including Brendan finding the right words, the crowd showing off their pipes, a familiar connection dropping the puck, and a tribute to a former owner.
But first, let’s recap the action on the ice and the roster moves that preceded it.
Let’s dive in.
🏒 IN SHORT: The undermanned Islanders (5-7-2) dropped their fifth straight game, losing 5-2 to the Calgary Flames (10-3-5) in the first game at UBS Arena at Belmont Park. Brock Nelson scored twice, Richard Panik impressed in his debut and Robin Salo showed can stick at this level, but playing without six regulars, the Isles couldn’t overcome an early 2-0 deficit and failed to find the equalizer in the third period. Brad Richardson netted the arena’s first goal, Andrew Mangiapane scored twice on the power play, Noah Hanifin had three assists, and Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves for the Flames, who extended their point streak to five games (3-0-2).
🔑 KEY MOMENT(s):
🔻 The Islanders have opened up three buildings (Nassau Coliseum, Barclays Center, and UBS Arena) and have not scored the first goal in any of them. Last night, a bad Matt Martin turnover led to Richardson beating Seymon Varlamov and becoming an answer to trivia questions for all-time.
🔷 Nelson scored the first Islanders goal at the new arena, but in an “oh so Islanders” scenario, the crowd had to wait to celebrate. The shot ricocheted off of the camera inside the net and was originally ruled no-goal by the on-ice referee. Seemingly, everyone else saw it was a good goal. After a very short review, the first Yes! Yes! Yes! chant was heard.
🔻 The Islanders were buzzing after Nelson’s second made it a one-goal game early in the third period, but that’s when Markstrom was at his best, stopping a flurry of quality Islanders shots, including these from Zach Parise and J-G Pageau.
3 TAKEAWAYS
❶ THE REPLACELANDERS: Four players were called up from Bridgeport prior to the game and for the most part, played well. Richard Panik and center Andy Andreoff made their Islanders debuts, and defensemen Grant Hutton and Robin Salo made their NHL debuts.
GUYS RESPONDED: "We battled to the end and the young guys that came in and the effort that was put in was good," Trotz said. "The guys responded as I knew they would. They relied on each other, they played for each other and I wish we would have gotten a point. We probably deserved a point in this one tonight."
❷ COULDN’T BREAKTHROUGH: The Isles outshot the Flames 14-7 in the final period, and despite the makeshift lineup, 36-31 for the game. There was better puck movement and some quality chances, but New York went just 1-for-6 on the power play while the Flames were 2-for-4.
A CHANCE TO WIN: “I thought we played a pretty good game,” Nelson said. “We had some momentum down one — we just couldn’t get one to tie it. ... I thought we did a pretty good job trying to keep it simple. We gave ourselves a chance to win.”
❸ IT’S BEEN A WHILE: Last night was the first Islanders - Flames game since February 19, 2019 - 999 days ago. As fans may recall, the team was in Calgary was the 2019-20 season was paused due to the pandemic. The Flames (the Atlanta version) were the Islanders’ opponent for the first game at Nassau Coliseum defeating New York 3-2 on Oct. 7, 1972, in the Islanders’ inaugural game.
⏭ NEXT UP: The short-handed Islanders are right back at it tonight, welcoming former captain John Tavares and the Toronto Maple Leafs to UBS Arena.
📊 STANDINGS:
📰 NEWS
👨⚕️ IN PROTOCOL: It wasn’t unexpected to be without Anders Lee and Ross Johnston in addition to Josh Bailey, but hours before the game, the team announced Anthony Beauvillier, Adam Pelech and Andy Greene were all out due to COVID-19 protocol.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY: "I'm really disappointed," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "You think about the Anders Lee and the Josh Baileys and the Pelechs and the Pulocks and all the guys that are out. … I sent them a little text because they were the ones who put in a lot of the blood, sweat, and tears in keeping this team competitive, going through the Coliseum, Barclays... they grinded through it and they missed that opportunity."
👀 FIRST IMPRESSIONS: The opening was a long-time coming and even with lofty hype, neither the building nor the crowd disappointed. If there were any concerns that the arena couldn’t come close to sounding like the Coliseum, those fears eroded last night.
NEW SCHOOL: “This is a new school building that feels old school when you’re out on the ice," Trotz said. "The fans are there, the acoustics in terms of the volume back at the bench is outstanding. It looks like the way they set it up looks like the fans are on top of you just like the old Coliseum. Really good night in terms of what the fans brought, what the building brought, and I think what the players brought."
FANS BROUGHT IT: "It feels like the Coli kind of, the low roof, but it's state of the art" said Scott Mayfield, who sported an A on his jersey. "I hope the fans really enjoyed it and it was loud. We went from a Game 6 Semifinal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs to this one and the fans brought it.
ELECTRIC ATMOSPHERE: "It was great, having grown up in this area, played in this division for six-or-so years, these fans deserve a home like this and it's an incredible building," Smithtown native Kyle Palmieri said. "The atmosphere was electric. Our fans showed up, they were excited for us, they were excited to be here."
🎙 SETTING THE STAGE: MSG Network’s Brendan Burke is a world-class hockey announcer that Islanders fans are blessed to call their own. Beyond his play-by-play and ability to describe the big moment, he captures the feelings of Islanders fans when it matters the most. He did when they returned home to the Coliseum and last night, he did it again.
1255 Hempstead Turnpike in Uniondale is now 2400 Hempstead Turnpike in Elmont.
UBS Arena at Belmont Park - Welcome home Islanders fans and you can write ‘home’ in ink this time. For so many fans, for so many years, this is a moment they never believed would happen and year after year after year that idea was only reinforced. It is a 30-year saga that is hard to explain, it’s harder to believe and impossible to truly understand except for Islanders fans that lived through it.
But tonight is a celebration of a new Islanders era, a new feeling of stabiity, a shift in perception and persopective. a new beginning, but in this case the end is just as important as the beginning, the closure as important as the opening, it’s the end of the uncertainly, the instaility, it’s the end of relocation threats and the jokes. The end of worry and thought in back of your md that just wouldnt go away. This is the home the franchise desevres, a world class state of the art palace with a nassau county zip code.
So enjoy the night. enjoy the game, enjoy whatever this moment means to you, but know for the first time in forever the only thing Islanders fans have to worry about, is a hockey game.
Brendan had even more to say, and this morning, shared it with us.
👏 TRIBUTE: It’s a special occasion when Jiggs McDonald is in attendance wearing his blue vest and orange bow-tie. The Hall of Fame announcer led a pregame ceremony, welcoming Islanders fans "home" while paying tribute to Charles B. Wang, who played a large role in steering the Islanders towards Belmont Park as a home.
🇺🇸 LOUD AND PROUD: A tradition that began in the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs continued on Opening Night at UBS Arena as Nicole Raviv led the crowd in the singing of the National Anthem. Chills. Every. Single. Time.
📚 SOUND SMART: Via Eric Hornick’s The Skinny: Four Islanders made their team debut: Robin Salo, Andy Andreoff, Richard Panik, and Grant Hutton. It was the first time since October 11, 2001, that four Islanders had debuted in the same game (Garth Snow, Ken Sutton, Marko Tuomainen, and Alexandre Kharitonov)
It was the NHL debut for both Robin Salo (team-high 21:42) and Grant Hutton (13:49). The last time two Islanders debuted in the same game was on April 18, 2006, vs Philadelphia, when both Masi Marjamaki and Cole Jarrett appeared in their only NHL game.
🔗 Shorthanded Islanders drop UBS Arena opener to Flames by Joe Pantorno, amNY “The result was almost expected considering president and general manager Lou Lamoriello announced just two hours before puck drop that second-line winger Anthony Beauvillier along with defensemen Adam Pelech and Andy Greene joined Anders Lee, Josh Bailey, and Ross Johnston within the NHL’s COVID protocols. Just another blow for a team that also lost defenseman Ryan Pulock for four-to-six weeks due to a lower-body injury.”
🔗 Barry Trotz on Islanders' new UBS Arena: 'A new school building that feels old school' by Ryan Morik, Yahoo! Sports “After searching for a new home, finding one, then having two, then closing out the old home (again), UBS Arena finally opened its doors to the New York Islanders and their fans. As Brock Nelson put it, "It's been a long time coming." The Isles didn't christen the arena like they had hoped, but it was hard to not notice how excited they were to be back on Long Island in the NHL's newest arena.”
And we leave you with this …. The most famous assist in Islanders’ history was reenacted (sorta) as it was Tonelli to Nystrom for the ceremonial puck-drop.
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