Today in Hockey History: Sept. 27

On this date, the National Hockey League did two things for the first time it would later do on a regular basis; play outdoors and in the city of Las Vegas. Also, a future dynasty made its league debut on Long Island to less than ideal results.

The NHL played its very first outdoor game, on Sept. 27, 1991, in a very unique place. The Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers met in Las Vegas game for a preseason tilt with a game played on a rink built in the parking lot of the Caesars Palace hotel.

Just over 13,000 fans showed up to watch the Kings hammer out a 5-2 victory after the Rangers built an early 2-0 lead.

“13,000 fans, and the fact that they wore hockey jerseys,” Legendary Kings’ broadcaster Bob Miller reminisced about the game. “Not only Kings and Rangers, but from all sorts of NHL teams, junior Canadian teams, European teams. They weren’t only in the stands, but they were staying in the hotels. We’d see it in the casinos, and then at the game. That was when I realized how many fans of other teams were there and wanted to see this outdoor game. I thought it was amazing to draw that many people for a preseason game.

This game laid the foundation not only for future outdoor games but also ones in warmer climates as we saw at Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium in 2014. The league returned to Sin City when the Vegas Golden Knights began play during the 2017-18 season, which ended with a historic run to the Stanley Cup Final.

The New York Islanders played on home ice for the very first time in franchise history on Sept. 27, 1972. Just over 11,000 fans walked through the turnstiles at Nassau Coliseum to watch the Islanders take on their natural rivals in the Rangers. Their cross-town enemies spoiled the party with a 6-4 win.

There were not too many highlights during the 1972-73 season for the Islanders. They won only 12 games and earned 30 points, both marks setting records for the least in an NHL season.