With half of the season lost to the lockout and many fans claiming that they would partake in a lockout of their own when play finally resumed it came to no surprise to me that opening night for each team up to this point has been a sellout.
Heck of the 33 games that have been played only two were not sell outs. The first came on Monday afternoon when the Tampa Bay Lightning played the New York Islanders in Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. With a capacity of 16,170 they fell 848 short of getting their second sellout of the season after doing so on Saturday. The second time this season that an arena has not sold out came just last night as the Nashville Predators traveled to Minnesota to take on the Wild. This was Minnesota’s third game at home this season and after doing more than selling out on Saturday and Sunday they fell 540 short of reaching the 18,064 needed to record a sell out at the Xcel Energy Center.
There are three teams remaining that have not had a home opener at this point. The Pittsburgh Penguins will get their home opener Wednesday night in Consol Energy Center with a capacity of 18,387. The San Jose Sharks will be up next at the HP Pavilion at San Jose (17,562) on Thursday followed by the Anaheim Ducks on Friday in the Honda Center (17,174).
With two teams in “traditional” markets failing to fill their own barn it only makes me proud to be a Preds fan knowing that the organization is currently riding a 16-game home sellout streak in the Bridgestone Arena.
