Islanders ready to open UBS Arena, turn around sluggish start

The Islanders will finally play at home Saturday night when they open UBS Arena against the Flames. It will have been 150 days since their fans saw them in person — Stanley Cup Semifinals Game 6 versus Tampa Bay — and the day the franchise has been waiting for couldn’t arrive at a better time.

As work continued on the Islanders’ new rink, the team faced a 13-game road trip to begin the 2021-22 NHL season. The players didn’t need to worry about hotel life the entire time as they were able to return home to get some needed days off through the first six weeks of the schedule.

While Saturday will be a new beginning in their 17,250-seat, $1.1 billion arena, the home-ice advantage will take some time to develop.

“It really won’t be our home rink for a while,” said Islanders head coach Barry Trotz. “Calgary will have been in that rink pretty well as long as we have. It’s like a neutral-site game for the first month. But we’re thrilled that we’re getting into a new rink. It’s great for the fans and it’s great for the franchise.”

The Islanders held their first practice at UBS Arena on Thursday and had the same experience anyone would when going inside a building for the first time. Finding their way to team-specific areas like the dressing room and offices required directions after a few wrong turns.

[MORE: Islanders limp to end of road trip]

But finally being in the new rink — their new home — after years at Nassau Coliseum and a short stint at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center could re-energize a team sorely needing a boost after losing four in a row.

“It was cool,” Trotz said of Thursday’s practice. “The best I can describe it to anybody is it felt like the Winter Classic, those NHL [Stadium] Series games. It’s got a different feel. There’s a little pep in the step.”

“We haven’t had a chance to play a home game yet this year and you know how much we feed off our crowd and how much of an impact they have on our games at home,”…