Islanders: 3 takeaways from 2021 season schedule

The New York Islanders 2021 season schedule came out on Wednesday, here are three takeaways.

On Wednesday we were given the New York Islanders 2021 regular-season schedule. After waiting for months to know when Islanders hockey might be back we not only get an announcement that there will be a season, but we get a full schedule days later. Christmas truly came early for hockey fans.

The Islanders season starts on the road. The season opener is on January 14 against the Rangers at MSG and the home opener is four days later against the Boston Bruins.

Looking at the 56 game schedule here are three takeaways:

Rivalries Front and Center

With the 2021 regular season played entirely within the division, it was going to be impossible for this schedule to not feature a ton of rivalry nights. But because of the condensed nature of the schedule (56 games in 114 days vs. 82 games in 184 days), we’re going to see a lot of back-to-back nights against the same opponents.

Right off the hop, the Islanders play the Rangers twice in two nights to open the 2021 season. The Isles play the Rangers in back-to-back games twice more in the 2021 regular-season:

• April 9 and 11
• April 29 and May 1

There are no five-game series like we heard might be a possibility*, but it’s safe to say with the regular season being played entirely within the division that by May, these teams will be tired of seeing each other and things may get – and this is putting it lightly – “chippy”.

(*The Anaheim Ducks play the Los Angeles Kings five times between April 20 and May. Wild.)

Non-Stop Action

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.