New York Islanders hockey is back, and today’s afternoon game could be the start of a long, fascinating journey, or the first glimpse of something that is here and gone by Tuesday.
The Islanders had an unblemished record against the Florida Panthers this season, but when the pandemic suspended — sorry, “paused” — the season, the teams were trending in opposite directions: The Islanders on a skid, the Panthers finally getting things together.
Of course, each team’s lone exhibition game was the inverse, with the Islanders in disciplined lead-preserving smothering of the Rangers (who lost Game 1 vs.