Islanders 2021 Regular Season Schedule: Familiarity will breed much, much contempt [now with times]

The Islanders schedule for the 56-game 2021 regular season has been released. Hope you like back-to-backs! Because this season is gonna be chock full of ‘em.

Start times are all TBA right now, but the schedule has also been posted at the Islanders official site so keep checking there for updates.

From the official NHL release:

As previously announced, in reaching agreement on the format for the 2020-21 season, the NHL and NHLPA determined that the ongoing closure of the U.S.-Canada border required realignment and the League and the Players also sought to minimize team travel as much as possible by shifting to exclusively intradivisional play.

The Islanders will start at Madison Square Garden on January 13th with two straight against the Rangers. Then it’s home for games against new division-mates Boston and old division mates New Jersey, before hitting the road for five to close out January. Their first games against their other new division-mate Buffalo will be at Nassau Coliseum on February 2nd and 4th.

May 8th will be the final day of the regular season. The playoffs will feature a different format, ashewing Conference Finals and going to intradivision play, semifinals and finally a Stanley Cup final.

The top four teams in each division will qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with intradivisional play in the first two rounds (#1 vs. #4; #2 vs. #3). The four teams that advance to the Semifinal Round would be seeded by their regular season points total, with the No. 1 seed playing the No. 4 seed in one series and the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds meeting in the other.

More Notes:

• Also from the official NHL release: The Rangers and Islanders are in the same division for a 48th consecutive season (big shock, there). But the Sabres, Rangers and Islanders are all in the same division for the first time in almost 50 years. The Islanders first two seasons saw them share an East Division with Buffalo, but since then, they’ve been separated. It’s not too late to call this the Pat LaFontaine Division, guys.
• The Islanders have the third least amount of back-to-backs in the league. Pity the poor Sharks.