Above all, this was strange.
It was a weird preseason hockey experience that occurred out on Long Island on Sunday afternoon, when some alternate reality of the past was projected onto the 13,917 people who sold out the revamped Coliseum. They rejoiced in the sight of their beloved Islanders, who called this place on Hempstead Turnpike home for the first 43 years of their existence but now ready themselves to embark on their third season as frustrated urbanites residing at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, with their more distant future completely in flux.
And it was their captain, John Tavares, seemingly getting more and more comfortable going into the final year of his contract without an extension, scoring twice, including the game-winner 34 seconds into overtime to beat the Flyers, 3-2. It was all like a bizarre throwback that couldn’t have been written with any more hyperbole, ending with the fans scratching their throats while vehemently chanting, “Bring them back!”
“I think they made their statement, that’s for sure,” Tavares told The Post, before gushing about the fans and the atmosphere. “They really set the tone for the identity of this organization. Just the loyalty and the passion. That type of atmosphere, that Islander type of hockey are what the Islanders are all about — from the tailgate beforehand, a lot of people bringing their families, and just how into the game they are and how they really just give us a boost.
“Just that type of atmosphere in this place makes your hair stand on end,” the captain continued, his second-period goal being the first Islanders goal here since April 25, 2015, when they lost their first-round playoff series to the Capitals. “It’s hard to replicate that [feeling from] these old buildings. With a place like this, it obviously means a lot with what’s happened here, from the beginning of the franchise, to some of the greatest years any team has ever had in the history of the game, to a lot of ups and downs and the team trending in the right direction when we left.”
Speaking of those dynasty years, there was old friend Clark Gillies in the locker room after the game, talking to Anders Lee about pumping up the crowd as the team left the ice after the victory.
“I know you would,” Lee told Gillies.
“Oh God, yeah,” the Hall of Famer responded. “They were on fire, might as well keep them on fire.”
But how to keep that passion going is the question at the feet of majority owners Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin. They want to stay in touch with the franchise’s history and still move into the present, likely culminating in their forthcoming bid to develop a new arena at Belmont Park. For as fun as this one afternoon might have been, it was clear from the overcrowded corridors and long bathroom lines, the $165 million renovation of the Coliseum was like putting lipstick on a pig.
Yet the fate of the franchise is still in the owners’ hands, and Ledecky was mobbed walking through the corridor as he tried to get to the locker room after the game. He, too, heard the chants to bring this team back to Long Island, but his response was predictably measured in the din of this strange day of hockey.
“I love our fans’ passion,” he said as he walked away.