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The New York Islanders will have their first-ever home opener in Brooklyn on a Friday night, Oct. 9, 7:30 p.m. at Barclays Center against the Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks.
That follows the Blackhawks' home opener Wednesday, Oct.7, where they will raise another Stanley Cup banner in front of the visiting New York Rangers.
The full NHL schedule will be released tomorrow morning, June 25.
The Friday opener will be the first regular season game ever held at Barclays Center, the second home the franchise has ever had after playing in Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum from 1972 to 2015. The 7:30 p.m. start time is also a departure, and a reflection of the franchise trying to find a sweet spot for fans in their new location as well as the ones who will travel from Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island.
The Isles have previously played two preseason games at Barclays against the New Jersey Devils. (It would have been three if the 2012 lockout hadn't canceled the first "first" game there and cast it into an alternate universe.) They will feel out the new building with three more preseason games there this fall.