The Daily Faceoff Show: The Islanders finally return home

The New York Islanders’ slow start has been one of the league’s biggest surprises early on.

Or has it? The Islanders, who own a 5-6-2 record, have played all of their 13 games thus far on the road as they waited for their new facility, the UBS Arena, to be ready.

They’ll finally make their home debut on Saturday night and Frank Seravalli and Steve Greely both believe this is a prime opportunity for them to start a climb back up the standings.

Seravalli: “A little bit of a disappointing start for the Islanders, 5-6-2, as they enter their first home game of the season on Saturday night. Yes, November 20, 38 days on the road. Take a look at the map of this odyssey for Islanders to start the season.

Everyone’s saying ‘what’s wrong with the Islanders dragging up the rear of the Metro Division?’ What’s wrong with them? I say they’re doing just fine.

One of my favorite quotes of the offseason was Lou Lamorellio when he saw the schedule. ‘Hey Lou, what was your reaction?’ he said ‘I needed to go for a long walk.’ I’m surprised he didn’t kick any dogs on the way on that walk because 13 games on the road to start the year before finally getting home.

This is a launching point moment for this team.

Greeley: “I think it’s the longest or second-longest start on the road in the history of the league or something crazy like that. I hope these guys were getting Delta miles or something because that’s a free vacation for the families.

The big thing for the Islanders coming up, and I had them as a playoff team and a lot of us had them winning the division, is they have 14 games between now and January 1, of those 14, 10 are at home.

Here’s your opportunity to make up some ground. It’s going to be very difficult in the Metro. Every night it seems teams are at least getting to overtime and earning a point.

They have some work to do, they have to get healthy, but it’s exciting for them to open up the new rink, too.

You can watch the full episode here…