Lou Lamoriello was sitting in a small room that first night back at the Nassau Coliseum on Dec. 1, just before the Islanders welcomed themselves and the Blue Jackets back to Long Island. Lamoriello is not often given to schmaltz or sentiment, but he couldn’t help himself as the booming noise from the arena bled into the space.
“It was literally shaking,” Lamoriello says, “and I got chills just listening to that vibration, and I told the coaches who were in there with me, ‘I hope the [players] are feeling the same thing but not letting it get to them.