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Return of Jean Potvin was a big lift for Denis Potvin, his younger brother

Islanders alumni Jean Potvin speaks to people during an event held at the Fox Hollow Country Club to celebrate the life of Former Coach Al Arbour. April 7, 2016. Credit: Newsday/Thomas A. Ferrara

Denis Potvin still remembers the shock of walking into the Islanders’ dressing room at Nassau Coliseum in January 1978 and seeing his brother Jean’s locker stall empty.

“My brother would sit directly across the room from me,” Potvin told Newsday recently. “His stall was empty. I couldn’t believe this. I didn’t get a call or a warning or anything. That’s the way it was in those days.