UNIONDALE, n.y. — One of the NHL’s “old barns” will be vacated after this season, when the New York Islanders will say goodbye to the Nassau Memorial Coliseum and say hello to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn next year.
The Avalanche, unless it meets the Islanders in this season’s Stanley Cup Finals, will play for the last time here Tuesday night against a 9-5-0 New York team. For Avs coach Patrick Roy, he said he will remember the Coliseum well — particularly because he had some great playoff games there in 1993 as a member of the Montreal Canadiens.
Roy led the Canadiens to a conference championship in a series against the Islanders, back when the Eastern Conference was called the Prince of Wales.
“That’s definitely the No. 1 thing that I’m thinking of,” said Roy, when asked his memories of the Coliseum. “Winning in overtime here in Game 3, and then winning (the series) in Game 5 in Montreal. I remember coming here in my rookie year, and it was at the end of their dynasty years, but they still had (Denis) Potvin and (Mike) Bossy and (Bryan) Trottier. It was pretty intimidating. But we beat them 3-2 and it was probably Montreal’s first win here in nine or 10 years.”
Butch Goring, a former Denver Grizzlies coach who serves as a television analyst for the Islanders now, played on all four Islanders Stanley Cup teams from 1980-83.
“It’ll probably get a little more emotional for everybody here the later the season gets. Just so many great memories here in this building,” Goring said.
The Avs hope to get back to winning ways against an Islanders team playing its first game after a long road trip. They will start Semyon Varlamov in goal, against Jaroslav Halak. The Avs beat the Islanders 5-0 last month in Denver, but nobody from the Avs seemed to think much of it.
“It doesn’t mean anything. We know it’s going to be a tough game tonight,” winger Alex Tanguay said.
Adrian Dater: adater@denverpost.com or
