Islanders 2019 Home Opener will be at Nassau Coliseum

In the shuffle before the Friday night’s opening round of the 2019 Entry Draft, the NHL announced the slate of home openers for the coming season.

For the New York Islanders, that announcement carries a little more intrigue since they are again splitting the 2019-20 season between two home venues until they, hopefully, get a building all to themselves in a couple of years at Belmont.

The Islanders start their 2019-20 home schedule at Nassau Coliseum on Friday, Oct. 4, vs. the Washington Capitals. Last season, the first of their part-time return to the Coliseum, this wasn’t possible since the building was still undergoing upgrades to make it quasi-fit for the NHL’s needs during the second half of the season (and the first round of the playoffs, it turned out).

No such obstacle in 2019-20, however.

Full schedules will be released on Tuesday, June 25. We do know this will not be the Capitals’ first game of the season: The 2018 Stanley Cup champs will open the season in St. Louis on Oct. 2, when the 2019 Stanley Cup champion Blues will raise their banner.