Courtesy Twitter: @NYIslanders

The Islanders finally open the UBS Arena on Saturday night against the Calgary Flames.

Leen Amin

The wait is finally over. After spending the first month and several weeks of the 2021-22 season on the road, the New York Islanders play their home-opener at the brand-new UBS Arena on Saturday.

It’s been a couple of years, but the arena is finally ready and fans couldn’t be more excited.

https://twitter.com/UBSArena/status/1462192311123824648/photo/1

The Islanders took on the Calgary Flames on this historic night. The Islanders played their first-ever game at Nassau Coliseum in 1972 against the then-Atlanta Flames, too.

This was also an interesting night because several Islanders players would miss the game after being placed on COVID-19 protocol. What a night it was for RHD Grant Hutton and LHD Robin Salo to make their NHL debuts.

To celebrate the special night, the Islanders invited some familiar faces to participate in puck-drop.

Some of the greatest Islanders of all time, members of the team’s hall of fame, partook in the honors: Butch Goring, Denis Potvin, Bobby Nystrom, and Clark Gillies. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman was also in attendance.

Brock Nelson will go down in history as the first-ever Islanders goal-scorer at UBS.

The Islanders can finally call Elmont their home and this marks the beginning of a new era in this storied franchise’s history.

Leen has written about the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, and international soccer. She is currently the primary NHL writer for ESNY. Leen's work has been featured on Bleacher Report and she was formerly a contributor for FanSided's New York Mets blog, Rising Apple. She is a co-host of the Yankees-Mets Express podcast.