This day in NY sports history: Oct. 7, 1972

THIS DAY IN NY SPORTS HISTORY

Saturday, Oct. 7, 1972

Isles' first game

In the first game in franchise history, the Islanders lost to the Atlanta Flames, 3-2, before a crowd of 12,221 at Nassau Coliseum. Atlanta was also in its inaugural season in the National Hockey League. Ed Westfall scored the first goal in Islanders history on a power play with 31 seconds left in the second period to tie the score at 1. Atlanta's Rey Comeau and Bobby Leiter scored goals 1:05 apart in the third period as the Flames took a 3-1 lead. Billy Harris scored a power-play goal with 3:09 remaining for the final margin. Goalie Gerry Desjardins stopped 19 of 22 shots for the Islanders.