You know something? I owe an apology to Islanders’ fans for setting the bar so low before John Tavares’ return to the Coliseum on Thursday that when it had ended, I actually wrote that it had not been an ugly night at the old barn.
Because, and I knew it in my gut in the press box and even more so on the drive home after I had written, the venom and vitriol aimed at No. 91 from a crowd that acted more like a mob, was ugly, only I excused it in the name of passion and because, I guess, the game was not disrupted by folks throwing things onto the ice at their one-time beloved captain or otherwise breaking the law.