from Mark Herrmann of Newsday,

Three little words can fill an entire arena and describe a whole occasion. No one even had to say them, either. On a night marked by playoff-caliber choruses of “Let’s Go Islanders!” the magic words were the ones everyone was thinking: “Where they belong.”

The Islanders were home, truly home, for the first time since April 2015. Technically, the team has had plenty of home games since then, but let’s be honest. The fans had not had a single one in 3½ years until Saturday night at NYCB Live’s Nassau Coliseum. That is why there was so much anticipation, so much hearty noise, such a full house for a real game on Long Island, their real home.

What the crowd realized and what it expressed with its hearts, lungs and tailgate parties before, during and after this 3-2 Islanders win over Columbus is that the Islanders were born and shaped as a Nassau-Suffolk team. The overwhelming majority of the fans still live on the Island. When they learned that 21 games this season would be played at Nassau Coliseum, they pretty much chose to stop going to Barclays Center. And who can blame them?

To a ludicrous degree, the franchise violated the first rule of business by making it tough on the customers to get the product.

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Highlights of the 3-2 Islanders win over Columbus can be watched below.