PARTY POOPERS

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. - Way back on Oct. 7, 1972, the New York Islanders played their first game in the new Nassau Coliseum against the Atlanta Flames.
The visitors wrecked the night, winning 3-2.
On Saturday, history repeated as the now Calgary Flames skated to a 5-2 victory against the Isles in the first game to be played in the NHL's newest building, UBS Arena.

NEED-TO-KNOW
POSTGAME VIDEO
Game Over with Brendan Parker
Game Highlights
Postgame Interviews
STAT PACK
Stats & Scoring Summary
Scoring Leaders
Standings
MORE
Photo Gallery
Say What - 'A Great Atmosphere'
UPDATES

Brad Richardson became the answer to a trivia question by scoring the first goal in the fancy new barn, which is built beside the legendary Belmont Park race track where one-third of horse-racing's vaunted Triple Crown - the Belmont Stakes - is held annually.
The red-hot Andrew Mangiapane had his second straight two-goal game, notching his team-leading 13th and 14th tallies of the season.
He became the fastest player to reach 13 road goals in franchise history.
Trevor Lewis and Johnny Gaudreau rounded out the scoring with empty-netters.
Jacob Markstrom got the start in net for the Flames and was magnificent, making 34 saves in the victory.
Calgary improved to 10-3-5 on the campaign.
It was a penalty-filled affair, with the teams combining for 10 minors
The Isles - who started the first 13 games of the season on the road while the final touches were put on their new home - fell to 5-6-2.
New York had a handful of players in Covid protocol, including stars Anders Lee and Josh Bailey.
Mangiapane got the first shot in the new rink, Blake Coleman the second. Both were stopped by Semyon Varlamov.
The Isles went to the powerplay just 1:23 in when Gaudreau was called for a slash but the Flames stellar PK - which came into the game ranked fifth in the NHL at 87.3% - got the job done.
Richardson made good after a turnover in the New York zone and walked in alone on Varlamov and snapped it blocker side 4:05 into the first period to open the scoring.
The play started with Milan Lucic harassing Matt Martin, who tried to spin away and coughed up the puck.

Calgary failed to convert on their first powerplay not long after when Kieffer Bellows was called for interference on Tyler Pitlick.
Markstrom made a huge stop near the midway point of the frame, stopping a one-timer in the slot by Brock Nelson, who came into the game as the Isles leading scorer with seven goals and nine points.
The Flames went to their second PK right after when Matthew Tkachuk was sent off for slashing. Same result for the visitors with another big kill as the Isles swarmed with a few good cracks at Markstrom.
Mangiapane made it 2-0 on the powerplay at 13:18 when he tipped Noah Hanifin's point shot home. Johnny Gaudreau got the other helper.

The ice in front of the penalty box continued to be thoroughly worn in, with Richardson sent off less than a minute after Mangiapane's extra-man tally. They killed that, too.
The Isles then got their fourth powerplay chance with 28.2 seconds left when Chris Tanev was called for a hook.
The Islanders thought they scored six seconds into the advantage when Nelson fired one from the top of the crease but the ref waived it off as the puck went careening into the corner. After review when time expired in the period, the official said the puck hit the camera inside the net and rebounded out, making it a 2-1 game.
New York got their fifth powerplay of the night 2:11 in on a hooking call on Sean Monahan. No go.
Mangiapane tipped home his second of the night on a Flames powerplay at 6:43, redirecting another Hanifin point blast at 6:43, with Mikael Backlund also collecting an assist.

Monahan nearly made it 4-1 with less than three minutes left in the second when his blast through a crowd beat Varlamov but clanged the post.
The Isles made it a one-goal game when Nelson got his second of the night at 1:49 of the third from in-tight again.
Varlamov made his way to the bench for the extra attacker with 2:01 left and the Isles took a timeout 11 seconds later, but Lewis and Gaudreau eventually iced it with a pair of ENGs.

BY THE NUMBERS:

Shots: CGY 31, NYI 36
Powerplay:CGY 2-4, NYI 1-6
Hits:CGY 19, NYI 21
Face-offs: CGY 48%, NYI 52%
\Scoring chances: CGY 19, NYI 24
\High-danger scoring chances:CGY 5, NYI 12
\According of Natural Stat Trick (5-on-5)*

ONE-TIMERS:

This is the first of two matchups this season between the Flames and Islanders. These two teams didn't get a chance to play each other during the 2019-20 season. They last played on Feb. 26, 2019, during the 2018-19 season, when the Flames took down the Islanders 3-1 at the Nassau Coliseum ... These two teams were supposed to play on March 12, 2020 at the Scotiabank Saddledome the day the NHL season was paused due to COVID-19 ... The Flames are now 7-0-1 against the Metropolitan Division this season and 10-1-2 against Eastern Conference opponents ... Elias Lindholm is just one game away from hitting 600 in his career.

THEY SAID IT:

ANDREW MANGIAPANE ON THE ISLANDERS' THIRD-PERIOD PUSH:
"They're a good team. They were playing fast and we just wanted to play together, play as five in the D zone, break out as five - talk, communicate. Still, I think we need to do a little better job of slowing up their forwards and doing a bit better. But all in all, it was a good win for us."
ON THE RAUCOUS CROWD:
"It was a great atmosphere. Pretty cool to play in. You could feel the energy as soon as we went out there the first time. Even before warmup, you could see all the fans. It was fun to play in, right? We just almost fed off that energy, (being) the away team, hearing some boos and yelling and stuff like that. But at the end of the day, it kind of fires you up."
BRAD RICHARDSON ON SCORING THE FIRST GOAL AT UBS:
"It was nice. Obviously, you're trying to get that first goal, and especially in a rink like this. They always start that heavy line and they're trying to get the fans going and all that, so that was a nice way to quiet them down early.
"We were just saying, in 30 years from now, my name will come up, so that's always nice."

THE LINEUP:

Lines
Johnny Gaudreau - Elias Lindholm - Matthew Tkachuk
Blake Coleman - Mikael Backlund - Andrew Mangiapane
Dillon Dube - Sean Monahan - Tyler Pitlick
Milan Lucic - Brad Richardson - Trevor Lewis
Pairings
Oliver Kylington - Chris Tanev
Noah Hanifin - Rasmus Andersson
Nikita Zadorov - Erik Gudbranson
Goalie
Jacob Markstrom - starter
Dan Vladar

UP NEXT:

The Flames fly straight to Boston for a tilt with the Bruins Sunday night to wrap up this seven-game road swing. They return to the Scotiabank Saddledome Tuesday night when they host the Blackhawks.
Click here for tickets