Islanders: 3 takeaways from 2021 season schedule

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With a condensed schedule, games will come quickly for the Islanders. The first week of the season will see the Islanders hit the ice three times in the first five nights.

The longest break between games is in March with two four-day+ breaks from March 1 to March 5 and again from March 21 to March 24.

Outside of those two breaks, the longest the Isles go without a game is two days.

Just to compare, last season the Islanders had two four-day breaks in October, a three-day break in November, a three-day Christmas break, and then had a three and ten-day break in January.

This season the Islanders will see a number of weeks with a ton of action. In February, for example, the Islanders play five games in seven nights. It starts with Boston on the 13, then they’ll play games on back-to-back nights in Buffalo, before two games against the Penguins on the 18 and 20. And that’s just the first one I saw, there are more five-game weeks on the schedule now that I look harder.

The NHL clearly wanted to maximize the number of regular-season games, get a full playoff in, and get the whole thing done in time to have a full off-season in order to start the 2021-22 season on time. And they certainly achieved that.

The takeaway here is clear, we went months without New York Islanders hockey and it seems like we’re going to get our money’s worth with this new season.