It would be silly to put too much emphasis on the season’s third game, to declare the Islanders need to make some sort of bounce-back statement in Monday’s last-ever home opener at Nassau Coliseum (and, unlike 2014, we think we mean it this time with UBS Arena at Belmont Park on the horizon).
Or would it? The Islanders certainly looked slow and disinterested after intended starting goalie Semyon Varlamov was injured in warmups before Saturday night’s dismal 5-0 loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. There’s very little time in a 56-game regular season to recover from a prolonged slump.