Now that we have had time to get accustomed to the idea, it is easy to lose sight of the fact the Islanders' return to NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum _ concurrent with a revival on the ice _ is the coolest, strangest story in the NHL.
Monday night's regular-season home finale is a good time to step back and remind ourselves of that, before the playoffs begin and all that matters is final scores.
A home venue that seemed to be dead and buried after one last home victory, in Game 6 of a first-round 2015 playoff series against Barry Trotz's Capitals, instead lives on after a 3 {-year hiatus.
Now Trotz coaches the Islanders, and on Monday he will face the Maple Leafs, one of whose star players, John Tavares, you might recall being involved in that supposed finale four seasons ago.
Things only will get weirder if the Islanders advance and go back to Brooklyn for the second round and beyond.
It's something out of the early-to-mid 20th century, like when the Rangers played the entire 1928 Stanley Cup Final in Montreal because the circus was at the Garden.
Or when the Knicks decamped to the 69th Regiment Armory in the early 1950s for the NBA Finals.
Only this time the issue is not lions and tigers, but rather fat cats in corporate suites and other users of high-end amenities at Barclays Center.
I digress. Back to Uniondale. The drama this week will center on whether the Islanders can secure home ice for a playoff series for the first time since 1988.
That would be impressive, but the truth is, home ice is not a huge factor in the NHL playoffs. And even the Coliseum is not that much of an edge in wins and losses compared with Barclays. The Isles are 12-8 in each venue heading into Monday night.
What really matters about the two, three or four games the Islanders will play on Long Island in these playoffs is that it is a proper reward for their fans _ both those who have schlepped to Brooklyn over the past four seasons and those who declined to do so.
There was a time over the winter, during a stretch of eight out of nine games at the Coliseum, when empty seats started to appear, and the novelty of the Islanders' return seemed to lose a bit of steam.
But the place showed what it can be like on nights such as the first game back against Columbus in December, Tavares' first game back in February and the playoff clincher against Buffalo on Saturday.
"From that first game back to that Toronto game and then (Saturday night), it was probably three of those most emotional games I've played in," Anthony Beauvillier said after scoring two goals against the Sabres.
Said Trotz, "I'm a little bit old school; I like the old-school buildings. They've got the vibe. The great thing is (the fans) are on top of you."
The coach, who won the Stanley Cup with the Caps in June, said he could relate to the strangeness of it all, in a positive way.
"My life in the last four years is probably surreal in some ways, all the different events we've had to go through," he said. "It's good. I'm glad this building is back and running and back on the Island, where it should be and where the majority of the fan base is. You see the passion.
"It's got a great vibe, and to me, it just feels right."
