Longtime Islanders’ observers spotted the historical mirroring immediately.
The Flames were once again the opponent for an Islanders’ arena opening.
Saturday, the Islanders christened the $1.1 billion UBS Arena against the Calgary Flames before a sellout crowd of 17,250. On Oct. 7, 1972, the Islanders and Atlanta Flames, both new to the NHL, both played their first games in franchise history at Nassau Coliseum.
“It’s a nod to everything, including practicality,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said on Friday after a ribbon-cutting ceremony at UBS Arena.
With the opening of UBS Arena and Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena for the expansion Kraken — both developed by Oak View Group — Bettman acknowledged on Friday that the Flames and the Arizona Coyotes are the next two NHL teams in need of a new arena.
The practicality in scheduling the Flames is they are in the midst of a seven-game swing to the East, which concludes on Sunday in Boston.
But the Islanders and Flames are as close to complete strangers as teams can get in the well-scouted NHL. Saturday marked the first game between the teams in 999 days, since a 3-1 Flames win at the Coliseum on Feb. 26, 2019. The Islanders were in Calgary on March 12, 2020, preparing for a game that night when that NHL season was halted because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Flames were the only team the Islanders did not play that truncated season.
The Islanders practiced at UBS Arena on Thursday before a private charity event was held in the new building on Friday.
The Flames became the first opposing team to take to the UBS Arena ice when they conducted their morning skate on Saturday.
“Having just been here for a playoff series, I know how rowdy these fans can get,” said Flames left wing Blake Coleman, who was a member of the Lightning the past two seasons as they defeated the Islanders in the NHL semifinals en route to back-to-back Stanley Cups. “Anytime you can open a new building and be a part of history, it’s pretty sweet. It’s just unfamiliar dressing rooms and things like that. It’s new. It’s fun.”
“It’s a new building, it looks great,” Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson said. “But, on the ice, you just try to prepare for the game the same way you usually do. The ice was fine this morning. The boards and everything is pretty much similar to a few other rinks.”
The Islanders entered Saturday’s game having lost four straight in regulation to conclude their season-opening, 13-game road trip. Still, great expectations remain , fueled by back-to-back berths in the NHL final four and three straight playoff seasons under coach Barry Trotz.
Plus, the Islanders are counting on their new arena to be a recruiting tool for seasons to come in attracting free agents to Long Island.
The expectations were much lower in 1972 as the Islanders entered the NHL. The expansion draft was not rigged as it is now to help facilitate quick success and the Islanders also had to compete with the upstart WHA to sign players.
The Associated Press reported prior to that season opener the NHL wanted to pit the two expansion teams against each other for the first game because, that way, at least one might start off with a victory (ties were a part of the NHL then).
“The NHL figured there’d be plenty of losing for them the rest of the way,” the AP wrote.
And that was true. The Islanders finished last in the eight-team East Division with a 12-60-6 record, 90 points behind the first-place Canadiens. The Flames did better, finishing seventh in the eight-team West Division at 25-38-15.
The Flames won that first game at the Coliseum, 3-2, before a crowd of 12,221.
Captain Ed Westfall scored the first goal in Islanders’ history on the power play and No. 1 overall pick Billy Harris also scored on the man advantage to cut the deficit to one goal late in the third period.
The headline in Newsday the next day read, “Islanders Bow, Artistic It Isn’t.”
Forty-nine years later, the Islanders and Flames got to do it again.
