BOSTON — This will be a first. Never before has a game in a once-abandoned 46-year-old arena seemed like a brand-new experience. And some of the Islanders players, like many of their fans, can assure you that there is nothing like a first game in Nassau Coliseum.
The team’s official return to its old home Saturday night will allow a lot of people to live it all over again. For Matt Martin, for instance, it will be another shot of the adrenaline that filled him on Feb. 9, 2010, when the Islanders hosted the Predators in Uniondale.
“It was my first NHL game, actually,” he said.