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Womens Corey Perry Jersey , N.Y. — The first game of the season between the New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets matches two Metropolitan Division contenders in a clash that could certainly impact the playoff picture come April.But everyone knows the main attraction Saturday night will not be the teams but the building in which they’re playing.The Islanders make their long-awaited return to Nassau Coliseum, which was the franchise’s home from the team’s debut in 1972 until the spring of 2015, when they host the Blue Jackets.Article continues below ...Both teams were off Friday after playing Thursday, when the Islanders fell to the host Boston Bruins 2-1 in a shootout and the Blue Jackets beat the visiting Minnesota Wild 4-2.The Blue Jackets (15-8-2) and Islanders (12-9-3) will enter Saturday separated by just five points. But the standings will be secondary for the first of the Islanders’ 21 scheduled games at their new/old home.As Islanders coach Barry Trotz walked into his post-practice press conference Friday afternoon, he began talking about the Coliseum before he even fielded a question.“It’s home,” Trotz said. “Guys are excited. They did a good job. Looking forward to tomorrow. I think everybody is.”Well, maybe not everybody. In typical John Tortorella fashion, the Blue Jackets head coach — who spent dozens of nights in the cramped bowels of the Coliseum as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Rangers — was decidedly less nostalgic when talking about the Coliseum earlier Friday.“I’m anxious to see the renovations,” Tortorella told reporters in Columbus. “I hope they put, in the coaches’ room, instead of a 40-watt bulb, they put in maybe a 75-watt bulb because you couldn’t see.”Everyone figured Nassau Coliseum — long a relic among NHL arenas for reasons well beyond its damp and darkened locker rooms — was finally and officially a thing of the past when the Islanders moved to Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the 2015-16 season.But Islanders fans, most of whom reside on Long Island, never warmed to the idea of taking oft-delayed trains or enduring traffic jam-filled commutes to Brooklyn. Nor did they enjoy the lack of atmosphere at Barclays Center
Kyle Brodziak Jersey Womens , which was built for basketball and “features” an off-center scoreboard as well as thousands of obstructed view seats behind one of the goals.In three-plus seasons at Barclays Center, the Islanders have never ranked higher than 28th in the NHL in average attendance.Nor did players, most of whom also reside on Long Island, ever really embrace the commute or the substandard conditions. The Barclays ice is known as the softest in the league because the building is heated by plastic pipes, not metal pipes, and to refit the building with metal pipes would require closing the arena during the summer concert season.The Islanders began plotting their return to Long Island last December, when owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin won a bid to build an arena on state land currently housing the Belmont race track at the Nassau/Queens border.In January, the Islanders announced they would split their schedules between Barclays Center and a refurbished Nassau Coliseum, which is operated by the same management company as Barclays Center, until they are ready to move into the new arena at the start of the 2021-22 season.While nothing is official, it is widely believed the Islanders will play their entire home schedule at the Coliseum starting next season. The new Coliseum only seats 13,000, but a packed Coliseum will look much better than a nearly-empty Barclays, where this year’s average announced attendance of 10
Jakob Silfverberg Jersey ,447 said one thing and the eye test scanning acres of empty seats said another.“I think the guys that have played in this building have really great memories of it,” Trotz said. “I think everybody recognizes that it has great significance on the Island and for its fan base.”There’s a little bit of serendipity to Saturday’s festivities. The Blue Jackets were the opponent for the Islanders’ supposed regular-season finale at the Coliseum on April 11, 2015, when Columbus posted a 5-4 shootout victory.And Trotz, in his first year as New York’s head coach, was the head coach for the Washington Capitals during the supposed final game at the Coliseum on April 25, 2015, when the Islanders extended an Eastern Conference quarterfinal series to a decisive seventh game with a 3-1 win.Cal Clutterbuck, who iced that win with an empty-netter in the final minute, is one of nine players from that team still with the Islanders. “I remember being at the press conference (at the Coliseum) for the Belmont announcement and talking about potentially coming back here for some games and here we are,” Clutterbuck said. “So it’s exciting.” Three games into the season, things are already taking on a familiar look for the Detroit Red Wings. The Wings, who lost an NHL-high 27 one-goal games last season, are 0-2 in one-goal games so far. After going 3-12 in overtime last season
http://www.officialducks.com/authentic-adidas-john-gibson-jersey , Detroit dropped its season opener to the Columbus Blue Jackets in OT. And after scoring 217 goals to finish 28th in the NHL in 2017-18, an average of 2.64 goals per game, the Red Wings are scoring at an even slower rate, with six goals during their 0-1-2 start.Article continues below ...“I feel like we’re definitely getting a lot of chances,” Detroit forward Andreas Athanasiou said. “I think the chances are right there. I’ve had two breakaways, missed the net.“Eventually, they’re going to go in and we’ll see everything start to open up after that.”The Red Wings will need to make the most of their chances Thursday, as they play host to the scoring machine that is the Toronto Maple Leafs. Off to a 3-1-0 start, Toronto has potted an NHL-high 20 goals, averaging five per game. The Maple Leafs have scored seven goals in each of their last two games, a 7-6 win over the Chicago Blackhawks and a 7-4 triumph over the Dallas Stars, opening their four-game road trip 2-0.Toronto center Auston Matthews leads the league in goals (seven) and points (10). Matthews has scored in every game and is on pace to finish with 144 goals. John Tavares has six goals, five in the past two games.“When we move the puck well and keep things simple, we’ve got a lot of talent and skill out there Authentic Josh Manson Jersey ,” Matthews told the team’s official website. “When we can find each other, we’ve got different weapons that can all score.”The Red Wings recognize that they’ll need to find a way to slow Toronto’s potent attack.“It’s going to be fun night,” Detroit defenseman Joe Hicketts said. “Hopefully they used up all their goals in the first couple of games here. They’re definitely a high-octane team, a team that thrives on the power play.“They got a lot of weapons that can put the puck in the net. It’s about managing the puck. Staying out of the (penalty) box is going to be a big key and then limiting their grade-A chances. If we can do that, I think we can set ourselves up for some success.”The last thing the Red Wings can afford to do is get into a track meet and trade chances with the Maple Leafs.“Against Toronto, we know if we turn it over it’s in the back of our net, so that’s going to be a hard and intense game,” Detroit forward Anthony Mantha said. “We want to get that win as fast as we can. I don’t think we’ve played bad, we just need to put a little extra effort to get that win.”The Red Wings will be without rookie defenseman Dennis Cholowski, out at least the next two games due to an upper-body injury. Detroit defensemen Mike Green (viral infection of the liver), Jonathan Ericsson (lower body injury) and Trevor Daley (upper body injury) are also out.On the plus side, defenseman Niklas Kronwall (undisclosed injury) will make his season debut.