NEW YORK — The season opener Thursday night marked the official start of a new era for the New York Islanders. But Saturday night will truly reinforce the uncertainty upon which the Islanders have embarked.The overhauled Islanders will begin their vagabond home existence Saturday night Youth Leonard Fournette Jersey , when New York hosts the Nashville Predators at Barclays Center.Both teams earned wins in their openers Thursday night, when the visiting Islanders edged the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 in overtime, while the Predators beat the host New York Rangers 3-2.Article continues below ...Saturday’s game is the first of two home openers this season for the Islanders, who are scheduled to play 21 games at Barclays Center and 20 contests at a renovated Nassau Coliseum, where the franchise played from its inception in 1972 until 2015. The first game at the Coliseum is scheduled for Dec. 1, when the Columbus Blue Jackets visit.The split schedule — which originally called for the Islanders to play 29 games at Barclays and 12 at Nassau Coliseum — was announced Jan. 29, a little more than a month after the Islanders announced their intentions to leave Barclays by winning a bid to build a new arena at Belmont Park on the border of Nassau and Queens counties.The move thrilled Islanders fans, who loved the confines of the Coliseum and never warmed to the sight-lines of Barclays nor the commute into Brooklyn. “I’m absolutely thrilled that we’re going back to the Coliseum,” new Islanders head coach Barry Trotz told a television station in September. “That’s where it should be. I think that’s where the fans want it.”But the commitment to Belmont turned the Islanders into lame ducks at two arenas, both of which are operated by the same company (Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment), for an indeterminate period of time.An environmental study of the Belmont area is scheduled to be completed by the spring, after which Islanders ownership hopes to break ground with the goal of opening the arena by the start of the 2021-22 season. But the Islanders have been trying to build a new arena for decades Brandin Cooks Jersey Elite , so when the team will actually begin play at Belmont is anyone’s guess.It is also anyone’s guess as to which player will be leading that team into Belmont after star center John Tavares left for the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent in July. Tavares exited despite the recent arrivals of Hall of Famer Lou Lamoriello, who was named the Islanders’ president of hockey operations May 22, and Trotz, who was named head coach on June 21.With Lamoriello and Trotz in charge, the Islanders are sure to be more defensively sound than last season, when they allowed an NHL-high 296 goals. Even after a stout effort on Thursday, Trotz made it clear he believes New York has a long way to go.“As a coach, you always want perfection,” Trotz told reporters. “We didn’t have perfection tonight.”Neither did the Predators, the Stanley Cup contenders who were hanging on to a 2-1 lead over the rebuilding Rangers before Colton Sissons scored an empty-netter with 1:24 remaining. “I thought we did some good things,” Predators head coach Peter Laviolette said. “There are things that we could be better at.”Pekka Rinne, who made 34 saves in goal for the Predators on Thursday Authentic Robert Woods Jersey , is likely to draw the start on Saturday. The Islanders are expected to split goaltending duties this season between Thomas Greiss and Robin Lehner, though Greiss’ 45-save effort Thursday night could earn him a second straight start. Two teams coming off disappointing opening-night losses will look to get to the .500 mark Saturday night when the Vegas Golden Knights start a five-game road trip against the Minnesota Wild.Vegas’ 5-2 loss at the hands of the Philadelphia Flyers Thursday evening was surprising for several reasons, not the least of which was that goalie Marc-Andre Fleury lasted just 30:11. That was long enough for Philadelphia to pump five goals past him on just 16 shots.“We left him out to dry there,” Golden Knights left winger Max Pacioretty said. “That’s frustrating. He’s the backbone of this team, so it’s frustrating when you leave your best player out to dry like that and we’ll make it up to him.”Article continues below ...After making it to the Stanley Cup Finals in its expansion season, Vegas loaded up for another run by acquiring Pacioretty from Montreal and inking Paul Stastny as a free agent in the offseason. They basically took the place of James Neal and David Perron, who are now skating in Calgary and St. Louis, respectively.There was no immediate impact by Pacioretty and Stastny in their Golden Knights debut. Neither scored a point, both were minus one and they combined for just four shots on goal.Vegas center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare referred to the loss as a slap in the face. Coach Gerard Gallant said it’s just a matter of the team getting back to work.“I think the expectations started late last year when we got into the playoffs,” Gallant said. “We were a good team. We know we’re a pretty good team again this year … obviously, things didn’t go our way tonight at all.”They also didn’t go Minnesota’s way in Denver, where not even another Zach Parise opening-night marker and a terrific performance by goalie Devan Dubnyk could save the Wild from a 4-1 loss to Colorado.Parise’s tap-in marker just 6:14 into the game marked his 10th goal on opening night Robert Woods Jersey Elite , second among active players. He nearly notched his 11th to snap a 1-1 tie in the second period, but his backhand bat of a rebound caromed off the right post.“That’s where he’s made his living,” Wild coach Bruce Boudreau said of Parise. “He goes to the front of the net, he’s going to score a lot of goals. That’s what he did.”While Parise scored, Dubnyk mostly denied. He made 36 saves on 38 shots, keeping Minnesota in contention for two points on a night where it was outshot 40-21. Among his best saves were a glorious glove stop of Nathan MacKinnon and a sprawling pad save on a Colin Wilson attempt that seemed certain to find net.But two empty-netters in the last 1:53 tagged the Wild with a loss that it probably deserved, given the Avalanche’s nearly 2-to-1 advantage in shots on net.The good news for Minnesota is that it’s entering a home-heavy stretch of its schedule. Saturday’s game kicks off the first of two three-game homestands in the next three weeks. Of the next nine games, seven will be played at Xcel Energy Center.
