Islanders Hall of Famer Bobby Nystrom, along with other team Hall of Famers, drops the ceremonial first puck between Cal Clutterbuck #15 and Blake Coleman #20 of the Calgary Flames at UBS Arena on Saturday, Nov. 20, 2021 in Elmont. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Islanders fans finally got their turn on Saturday night.
For a decade-and-a-half, they had watched new or rebuilt sports palaces rise across the region, from Newark to Queens to the Bronx to East Rutherford to Brooklyn to, yes, Midtown Manhattan.
But it never, ever was about them, fans of a team that has been looking for a modern home to call its own for as long as many of those fans have been alive.