Islanders 21-22 schedule features NHLs second longest road trip

The New York Islanders 2021-22 schedule has been released. And the first thing everyone was looking for was the first home game. You had to look for a bit because the Isles first game on home ice won’t be until the end of November.

That’s right. The Isles first home game will be on November 20th against the Calgary Flames. That means they’ll be on a 13 game road trip to start the season. (The season will open on October 14th against the Carolina Hurricanes.)

New York Islanders will embark on second-longest road trip in NHL history

Now. The reason we were all looking for the first home game of the season was to scope when the UBS Arena, the Islanders brand new home on Long Island, will be ready. The fact that there’s a big break before the Isles and their fans get to christen the new barn wasn’t a big surprise.

We all knew the building would open for 2021-22 and we all knew there would be some sort of delay in opening the new state-of-the-art arena at Belmont Park.

A 13 game road trip will be the longest road trip in franchise history. The previous record was from 2016 when the Isles went on a nine-game road trip going 5-3-1 under the stewardship of Doug Weight. You’ll remember that Thomas Greiss was particularly impressive in that span.

That road trip will also rank as the second-longest in NHL history. Currently, the second-longest road trip belongs to the San Jose Sharks. They played 12 straight road games just last season.

With the Isles 13 game swing in October and November 2022, they’ll pass the Sharks by one game. And fall one game short of equalling the longest road trip ever. That was set by the Vancouver Canucks back in 2009-10 when the Winter Olympics were hosted in Vancouver.

Hopefully, the 2021-22 version of the Isles will be better on the road than last year’s team. The 2020-21 Isles went 11-13-4 on the road for the tenth worst road record.