Isles opener a thrilling contest

It's only Game 1 and it resulted in a loss, but the Islanders put on a good show for opening night at the Coliseum.

John Tavares had a heck of a debut, scoring his first career NHL goal and recording his first assist. He also missed a key breakaway, flubbed a shot in the sudden death shootout and whiffed on two shots from the left flank on power play situations. The good thing is that he was able to get himself in those situations and through time, he'll make good on those opportunities.

The crowd was electric - more so than any other regular season game at the Coliseum in the last five years. That was expected.

As for the game, no one was expecting the Islanders to pull out a win, but for most of the contest- all while surprisingly being out shot - it seemed like they were going to prevail. But just when the win started to sink in, with 3:45 left the Penguins scored to tie it at 3. And so it goes, the Islanders will have a long season as always. It might not be as bad as last year, but don't expect fireworks.

On a positive note, Kyle Okposo looked great - no signs of a concussion from two weeks ago. The team's physicality was remarkable, especially after many ripped the organization for not going after tough guys in the off-season. There were two fights, two scrums that were almost fights and numerous big hits from Islanders.

During the game I got an email from the organization saying weekend game tickets are buy one, get one free for the first half of the season (Only if you received this special email). I don't know if that's a good thing to see, or not, but if every game was like last night's I'll be happy.

The Lighthouse

Charles Wang announced that he'll be looking into other options for the Islanders, officially after not hearing by the October 3 deadline about the Lighthouse Project. Town of Hempstead Supervisor Kate Murray said she will be having a discussion with Wang on Monday afternoon to talk about amending the proposed plan. Wang was not happy and 2015 could be the last year of the Islanders if something doesn't change drastically.