considerable change in the offseason Detroit Red Wings T-Shirts Authentic , with the makeover creating heightened expectations going into the season.That description perhaps relates to perhaps an even larger degree for the New York Islanders.After all, fresh off coaching the Washington Capitals to a Stanley Cup championship, Barry Trotz is on board directing the Islanders.Article continues below ...New York and the Hurricanes begin the season with a clash Thursday night at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C.Trotz became the Islanders coach two weeks after he guided the Capitals to the Stanley Cup in June. He has offered solid reviews for how his new team has responded during the preseason.“They’ve been fantastic,” Trotz said of his players. “They’ve been listening and doing the right things.”Former Hurricanes captain Rod Brind’Amour is the Carolina coach, taking over after Bill Peters opted out of his contract and landed as the coach of the Calgary Flames.Brind’Amour had been serving as an assistant coach, but he’s most recognizable as the captain of the 2006 team that that captured the franchise’s only Stanley Cup.“I like how young guys are playing,” Brind’Amour said. “They’re going to take some time to develop. As far as talent, I don’t feel we’re short anything. We want to play aggressively.”Another throwback to that title team is winger Justin Williams, who was named the Hurricanes’ captain.“I see us trending upward,” Williams said.The Islanders Detroit Red Wings Hoodies Authentic , who have missed the playoffs the past two seasons, have Thomas Greiss and Robin Lehner as goalies. Now it’s a matter of blending the roster.“We’ve got a lot of new players on the hockey club,” said Trotz, whose team will carry seven defensemen to start the season. “I’m a big believer in team building. If the group is strong, all that stuff becomes a tighter bond. We’ve got some guys getting an identity and I think we’ve got some guys going in the right direction.”The Hurricanes haven’t reached the postseason since 2009, so the drought is notable and comes with change.The roster makeover included the departure of former NHL Rookie of the Year Jeff Skinner, a forward who was traded to the Buffalo Sabres for prospects.After a splendid 5-0-1 preseason, the Hurricanes were forced to scramble when goalie Scott Darling suffered an injury in the last preseason outing that might keep him out for a couple of weeks. Carolina claimed Curtis McElhinney off waivers from Toronto.The opening-night starter in net for the Hurricanes will be Petr Mrazek.Darling, who was largely disappointing in his first season with the Hurricanes, had made an impression in recent weeks.“I hate it for him more than anything because he put in the work this summer,” Brind’Amour said. “In the little time we got to see him Detroit Red Wings Hats Authentic , he looked to different to me.”Carolina also is carrying seven defensemen at the start. One of them is newcomer Calvin de Haan, who played last season for the Islanders. New York winger Andrew Ladd, who began his career with Carolina, begins the season on injured reserve.The Islanders were 2-2 against Carolina last season, with Greiss in net for both the victories.This is the Islanders’ 47th season, but only the second time they’ll face the Hurricanes in an opener. In 2014, New York began the season by defeating Carolina.The Islanders are 9-19-8 when opening the season on the road. Overall, they are 11-23-11 in openers for the third-worst mark among current NHL franchises — with Carolina at 9-20-9 even worst (counting time as the Hartford Whalers).This marks the first opening of the season for Carolina under new team owner Tom Dundon, whose purchase of the team became official last winter. COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The evening started just fine for the reeling Los Angeles Kings, who scored first on the road against the Columbus Blue Jackets. But it went downhill from there for the visitors.Columbus Custom Detroit Red Wings Jerseys , which hasn’t won at home since Nov. 29, answered quickly and Sergei Bobrovsky denied the Kings the rest of the way as the Blue Jackets cruised to a 4-1 win on Thursday night.Lukas Sedlak got his first goal of the season — his first in 53 games dating to last Dec. 20 — and Artemi Panarin ended a personal five-game goal drought with two tallies as the Blue Jackets snapped a two-game losing streak. Coming into the game, they had lost four of the last five.“I think we needed a bounce-back game,” said Columbus winger Josh Anderson, who scored the last of two Blue Jackets goals in a 20-second span of the second period. “We all were expecting it tonight.”Bobrovsky stopped 29 shots, and Cam Atkinson had assists on both Panarin goals for the Blue Jackets, who held on to second place in the Metropolitan Division, three points behind Washington.Dustin Brown had the lone goal and Jonathan Quick had 37 saves for the injury-ravaged Kings, who have lost three in a row and seven of their last nine while languishing at the bottom of the Pacific Division.Poor special teams play continued to plague the Kings, who gave up a power-play goal and failed to take advantage of the man-advantage three times.“We have to be a lot better if we want to win games in this league,” Los Angeles center Jeff Carter said. “That’s the bottom line here. We need to have more from everybody www.officialoilers.com , myself included.”The Kings took the lead thanks to Brown’s tap-in goal 3:54 into the game.Sedlak found the back of the net two minutes later, getting a nice feed from Oliver Bjorkstrand at the goal line and poking it past Quick.“It was about time,” said Sedlak, who was a healthy scratch for the past two games.Halfway through the first, Panarin snapped a shot over the goalie’s shoulder from just inside the left circle to give Columbus a 2-1 lead.Panarin connected again late in the second period on the power play. He was in the right place at the right time to finish when a hard one-timer from Seth Jones was blocked but bounded right out to him in the left circle. Jones got his 200th career NHL point with the assist.Anderson scored 20 seconds later from almost the same spot to make it 4-1, and both teams played a scoreless third period.“They were creating way too much,” Los Angeles coach Willie Desjardins said. “(Quick) was great in net, made a number of great saves for us and gave us a chance to stay in it, but we didn’t do it.”NOTES: Columbus D David Savard got his 100th career NHL point with an assist on Anderson’s goal. … L.A. D Drew Doughty extended his franchise record consecutive games streak to 361. … Kings D Dion Phaneuf suffered an upper-body injury against Buffalo on Tuesday and flew back to Los Angeles for evaluation. … The Kings recalled D Daniel Brickley from Ontario on Wednesday when D Alec Martinez was placed on injured reserve, retroactive to Dec. 8. … Anthony Duclair was scratched to make room for Sedlak. … Columbus is 9-0 on Thursday nights this season.UP NEXT:Los Angeles: At Pittsburgh on Saturday.Columbus: Hosts Anaheim on Saturday.