Sights and Sounds: Islanders vs. Penguins Game 1

Wednesday night was a pretty ideal opening to the playoffs, and Steve has your roundup of initial post-game coverage. We’ll have more between games as the Many Narratives (Penguins defensive woes, Crosby held in check, Wiley Veteran Kuhnhackl, stellar Lehner, etc.) are already flowing back and forth.

But before Game 2 comes around and quickly makes last night a fading memory, here are some of the better images and sounds we’ll remember from the first playoff game at the resurrected Nassau Coliseum. Sorry, you need to be able to view Twitter for these, but it’s worth it.

Before we got to The Big Moment, there was a priceless goal reaction by Nick Leddy, who scored what we hoped was going to be The Big Moment:

But once Leddy’s goal was equalized by the Penguins with the sixth-attacker, it was time for someone else to step up. Josh Bailey almost did it at the end of regulation, redirecting Cal Clutterbuck’s pass off the post right before the horn.

Instead, he had to wait for overtime, following up and cashing in off Mathew Barzal’s breathtaking moves. Okay, let’s watch those again and again.

Hard not to use this immediately-iconic image for the morning back cover...

...but there were a few more in the series by photographer Dennis Schneidler for USA Today Sports.

Those are the on-ice hugs. There is also the bench reaction, always a joy:

And this is brilliant: Slow-mo freeze on the crowd reaction, as they watched Barzal carry in, open up space in the slot, make his moves, and then have Bailey convert:

Here’s how it sounded without play-by-play. A buzz, steadily building, then Full Coliseum Mode:

There was some fun in the post-game with Barry Trotz praising the atmosphere, then saying you know, a little too quiet in the second period though.

And finally...you don’t mind a traffic jam so much when you’re on that kind of honk-honk, honk-honk-honk high:

Indeed.