Kyle Okposo scored the first of two third-period goals at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale on Sunday, May 5, 2013 (Photo by Joe Nuzzo/Long Island Press).

The New York Islanders’ played a rare sold-out playoff game Sunday at Nassau Coliseum—their first since 2007—filling the arena with fans feverishly rooting for their team’s first Stanley Cup since 1983.

Before the Pittsburgh Penguins took a 2-1 series lead with a 5-4 win, a sea of blue and orange flooded the Uniondale parking lot—tailgating parties fueled partly by Cinco de Mayo and die-hards soaking up their team’s last local home games until the Isle’s impending move to the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn in 2015, maybe sooner.

“MVP!” fans chanted for John Tavares, the Isles’ center and alternate captain who led the rebound from a 2-goal deficit to tie it up at 4-4 with his first career post-season goal before the game went into overtime.

Click here to view a photo gallery of NY Islanders’ fans tailgating at the coliseum on Sunday

“It takes four to win,” Islanders Coach Jack Capuano told reporters at a news conference Monday. “We’re confident we will come out and play a strong game tomorrow.”

The Islanders’ last post-season series win was 20 years ago—also against their longtime rivals, the Penguins, in game seven. Isles’ faithful can be forgiven if they weren’t too sympathetic to Knicks’ fans that saw their team win its first post-season series win in 13 years on Friday.

Adding to the spectacle Sunday was the fact that the NHL lockout forced a hockey season so short that May is typically when third-round playoff games are scheduled. And just days prior, four groups of developers—one of which included Jay-Z—pitched Nassau leaders their plans to refurbish and/or rebuild the 40-year-old arena.

Playoff fever breaks out at the coliseum again when the puck drops 7 p.m. Tuesday.

A satellite view of Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale.

Hip hop mogul Jay-Z was among four teams of companies that pitched their visions Thursday for the aging Nassau Coliseum property to a committee that will later pick the winning proposal.

The four ideas were split in two camps: Three groups that suggested refurbishing the 40-year-old arena versus one that wants to demolish it and build anew. All the plans reduce the number of seats from the current 16,800, which Nassau County suggested in its latest request for proposals for the infamously difficult-to-redevelop prime real estate.

“Long a victim of the Long Island ‘no,’ we are encouraged that one of the proposals today holds the key,” County Executive Ed Mangano said during the presentation hosted by his Business Advisory Council, which will decide the winner this summer.

Proposing a new arena is the Blumenfeld Development Group, which made its fourth pitch for the land since the 1970s. Refurbished coliseum plans were unveiled by New York Sports & Entertainment LLC, the Madison Square Garden

Jay-Z, right, shares a laugh with Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano on Thursday, May 2, 2013.

Company and Jay-Z’s group, led by the Forest City Ratner Companies, which built the new Barclay’s Center and lured the Islanders from the coliseum.

“We need to create a new identity for Nassau—one that’s bold and new and fresh,” said Brett Yormark, CEO of the Barclay’s Center and the Brooklyn Nets. The surrounding property would feature a movie theater, restaurants, an exhibition hall and an outdoor amphitheater.

“Programming is really the fuel for this engine,” he said, pointing to plans to host upward of 300 events annually, including six Islanders games, 38 minor-league hockey games and 54 family events among the line up.

MSG, which was spun off from Bethpage-based Cablevision Systems Corp. in 2010, likewise rolled out plans that included creating an “entertainment district” surrounding a refurbished arena.

“We don’t have time to pick a plan that doesn’t work,” said RXR Reality CEO Scott Rechler, who joined the MSG pitch team. He was alluding to his prior plans to redevelop the coliseum in the ambitious Lighthouse project with Islanders’ owner Charles Wang.

Wang has also reportedly been considering moving the Islanders to Brooklyn before their lease is up on their original Uniondale home in 2015—adding even more urgency to the proposal process.

Jim Johnson, who made the presentation for Bernard Shereck, CEO of New York & Sports Entertainment LLC, emphasized their Long Island roots and joked that “the Bernie’s our biggest celebrity” compared to the competition.

“Nobody can ever dispute that Long Island is a hotbed for lacrosse,” Johnson said while touting plans to bring a lacrosse team to the arena and create more space within the existing facility for an exhibition hall.

Starting off their presentation with a video of a Nassau Coliseum lookalike being demolished was Ed Blumenfeld, whose firm joined with SMG, the current Nassau Coliseum management company.

“We think we have something that will be difference and iconic to Long Island,” he said, adding that the company would buy a minor-league hockey team if it won the bid.

Jerry Goldman, the current general manager of the coliseum, expressed his support. “Long Island deserves a brand new arena, not a refurbished arena,” he said.

A probably-leaked-on-purpose image of the cover of the issue delivers a slim, toned Beyonce, a bunch of Beyonce skin and Beyonce hands sexily scrunching up some Beyonce hair.

(Grr. How do you do the ‘ over the e in Beyonce.. I’m trying to be official here…)

Anyway. Sexy? Sure. Sexiest? Of the century? Possibly. Sexy ENOUGH? Absolutely.

In any event, such lists are becoming entirely too commonplace, many would say. Top 100 this, bottom 38 that… It’s all subjective, right?

Then again, I think as human men, we can all pretty much agree that Beyonce got it going on. And on. And on.

Right?

A discussion with a friend suggested some may not be so convinced.

Friend: Does she even make music anymore?

Me: Does it matter? It’s a sexiest woman list, not a still-makes-music-sexiest-woman list.

Cynical friend: I’m just saying. All she does are Pepsi commercials and sleep with Jay-Z.

Me: And yes. Her album, 4, was released in 2011 and probably reached #1 on every chart imaginable because she is goddesslike.

Misinformed friend: Must have missed that one.

Me: But you caught the Pepsi commercials and are well informed about her sex life?

Lunatic friend: I’m very well informed about her sex life.

Me: I’m telling Jay that you said Beyonce tastes like Honey Nut Cheerios.

That deep and informative discussion aside, we’ll just have to wait until the entire un-leaked edition of GQ’s “100 Sexiest Women of the 21st Century” February issue comes out, but in the meantime, we’ll get our fill of Mrs. -Z performing at the inauguration of President Obama and the Super Bowl halftime show.