The New York Islanders started off 2021 the way they ended 2020, playing a viciously methodical game that would seem to indicate the bubble run to the conference final was no fluke.
It’s just one game, of course, and their crosstown rivals look severely unprepared, but the 4-0 thumping was also the Isles’ first season-opening shutout since 1976.
Technically it was a home game for the Rangers, but the pandemic-fueled empty seats meant we were deprived of that delicious hush — interrupted by LGI chants — that befalls Madison Square Garden when the Rangers lay an egg.