Islanders opening season with 13 road games before UBS debut
NEW YORK — The New York Islanders know what it means to play away from home for a long time. They spent nearly two months in Canada for the 2020 playoff bubble — reaching the Eastern Conference finals — after the pandemic disrupted the season.
They now face a recordsetting stretch without a home game: The Islanders will begin the season with 13 straight road games while construction of their sparkling new UBS Arena is completed. It is the secondlongest road trip in NHL history — Vancouver had 14 in a row during the 2009-10 season, but that included the NHL’s Olympic break — and the longest to open a season.
New York won’t play at home until Nov. 20, more than five weeks into the season.
“It’ll be a challenge for sure,” center Brock Nelson said. “Probably the longest trip most of us have had outside of the bubble, which was unique in itself, so maybe we’ll lean on that personal experience of what we’ve done in the past. We have a tight-knit group, guys you can get together on days off, do some fun things, hang out, build some chemistry, take it one game, one day at a time and try to power through this and come up with a positive record on the other side.”