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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 Custom Calgary Flames Jerseys , 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, 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 www.officialhurricanes.com , 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, 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. DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Avalanche had New York boxed in from the start.All game, really, with Colorado going on 10 power plays to keep the Rangers on the defensive throughout.Nathan MacKinnon and Mikko Rantanen set the early tone with power-play goals in the first period Carolina Hurricanes T-Shirts Authentic , helping the Avalanche end a six-game slide with a 6-1 win over the Rangers on Friday night.Colorado finished with its most power-play opportunities since Oct. 16, 2008, when the team had 11 against Philadelphia.“The way we’ve been struggling lately it feels so good to get a win,” defenseman Tyson Barrie said.Gabriel Landeskog added a goal off his right skate, Alexander Kerfoot tipped in a shot, Rantanen deflected in yet another and Ryan Graves closed out the scoring with his first career NHL goal as a struggling Avalanche squad won for the first time since Dec. 19.Colorado finished 3 of 10 on the power play, with two of the goals scored following a 5-minute boarding call on former Avalanche player Cody McLeod just 2 1/2 minutes in.“It’s been losing hockey. It’s been negative — negative video, a negative vibe around the rink,” MacKinnon said. “It’s nice to finally end it.”To Rangers coach David Quinn, this loss boiled down to one thing — all those penalties. The Avalanche had 15:23 of power-play time.“You have zero chance to win a hockey game in that way,” Quinn said. “It wasn’t our night from the get-go. We created a lot of our own problems with the penalties.”Philipp Grubauer made 24 saves, including one on a penalty shot by Jimmy Vesey late in the third.Ryan Strome scored the Rangers’ lone goal midway through third period on a night they were outshot by a 47-25 margin. Alexandar Georgiev attempted to keep things close while giving Henrik Lundqvist a night off. Lundqvist was pulled Wednesday after allowing six goals in a loss to Pittsburgh.Barrie had three assists to give him 278 career points, the most by a defenseman in franchise history. Barrie broke the mark held by John-Michael Liles.“Finally nice to get it out of the way and put it behind me,” Barrie said. ” It’s something I can look back on and take pride in it. Johnny’s a great guy and a great player Carolina Hurricanes Hoodies Authentic , so it’s nice to pass him and take him out to dinner.”After the morning skate, the Avalanche reiterated over and over the importance of a fast start to break out of their 0-4-2 skid.This helped their cause: Going on the power play early when McLeod slammed the face of defenseman Samuel Girard into the glass on a big hit. MacKinnon scored on a high wrist shot over Georgiev’s glove at 4:40, with Rantanen adding another 2:13 later when his pass went in off the stick of New York defenseman Neal Pionk.“It’s hard to play games when you sit that long in the box,” Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello said. “At the end of the day, they were the better team than us.”Colorado was getting all the bounces, with Landeskog knocking in a goal with his right skate midway through the second period. The Avalanche led 5-0 in the third before Strome ended Grubauer’s shutout bid on a breakaway.Graves scored his first career goal following a rebound in the third. He was selected by New York in the fourth round of the 2013 draft, before being dealt to Colorado last February.“Regardless of who we were playing, it’s pretty sweet,” Graves said of his goal.NOTES: Rangers C Kevin Hayes missed the game with an upper body injury. … Avalanche G Semyon Varlamov remains day-to-day with a lower body injury. … The Avs are stumping for Landeskog to make the All-Star team through the “Last Men In” vote from the fans. There were buttons and signs that read, “Vote Gabe in.” … MacKinnon and Landeskog each have 25 goals this season.UP NEXT:Rangers: Stop No. 2 on a three-game trip will be Sunday in Arizona.Avalanche: Open a five-game trip Tuesday in Winnipeg.