Open and Close
Isles open in New Jersey on Saturday October 4. Isles are 0-4-0 when opening season vs. Devils. The home opener is Saturday, October 5 vs. Columbus, marking the Isles' first home opener ever against their new (Metropolitan) division mate.
There are 2 seasons left on the Coliseum lease, but if the Isles move to Brooklyn early, the final regular season game will be Tuesday, April 8th vs. Ottawa.
For the 2nd straight season (and only 3rd time ever), the Isles will end the regular season in Buffalo (on April 12th).
By the Calendar
Isles games by month:
- October 12
- November 15
- December 14
- January 16
- February 4 (Olympics)
- March 13
- April 8
Saturday is Hockey Night. Isles will play every Saturday from October-January except January 11. Isles have 16 Saturday home games this season.
Isles have 20 Tuesday games and 13 Thursdays. There are only 3 on Wednesday, including 1/29 against the Rangers at Yankee Stadium. (Note that the Yankee Stadium game is an Islander home game).
Isles play 12 Friday games, including two at the Coliseum, two at The Garden and two in Newark. The two in Newark are the first weekend and the last weekend of the season.
Traditional Dates
Isles host a Black Friday matinee (as they did in 2011), but do not play traditional Columbus Day or President Day (Olympics) games. The Isles will once again host a game on Thanksgiving Eve.
Traditional Opponents
The Isles will play only two opponents five times each this season, the Rangers and the Devils.
The Devils, for the second straight season, will be the only team to make three regular season trips to Long Island.
The Rangers will be at the Coliseum only once (October 29th) and will face the Isles at Yankee Stadium on January 29th. There will be three games at the Garden. Two of the Garden trips, as well as the Yankee Stadium game, are in an 11-day span in late January.
Rest of the Schedule
- 3 games vs. the eight Atlantic Division opponents (24 games)
- 2 games vs. the seven Central Division and seven Pacific opponents (28 games)
Where Are These Places?
With the new schedule, the Isles will visit Anaheim, Phoenix, St. Louis and Columbus for the first time since 2012.
The Isles will visit Calgary, Chicago, Colorado, Dallas, Edmonton, Minnesota and Vancouver for the first time since 2011.
The Isles will visit Detroit, Los Angeles, Nashville and San Jose for the first time since 2010.
Jack Capuano has never coached a game in either Los Angeles or San Jose. The Isles lost November 11, 2010 in San Jose (shootout) and November 13, 2010 in Los Angeles in Scott Gordon's final two games as the Islander head coach.
Streaks
Eight of the Isles' first 12 games are at home; eight of the next 12 are on the road.
Fast start is a must for Isles; seven of first 8 are against teams that missed the playoffs in 2013 (the other game is in Chicago).
Isles play in Philly on January 18, and then leave the metro area for only 1 game until March 4.
Starting January 20th, Isles play 18 of 29 at home (including Yankee Stadium), with two of their 11 road games at The Garden
Besides the Olympic break (Isles play Feb 8 & Feb 27, off for the 18 days in between), Isles have 4 consecutive days off only twice: between games December 23-28 & March 18-23.
Back to Back
After only playing seven back-to-backs in 48 games last season, Isles will play 18 back-to-back sets this year (compare that to 13 in 2011-12, 20 in 2010-11, and 19 in 2009-10)
And Finally…
Remember all the noise about a 48 game/99 day NHL schedule in 2013? (The Isles were off on the final Saturday and thus played 48 games in 98 days)
From October 25 to January 31, the Isles will play 48 games in 99 days.
77 days
Let the countdown begin. The Isles opener in New Jersey is 11 weeks away.
Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick
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