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I don’t think many people expected to see the New York Islanders with just eight wins in 26 games heading into the Holiday Break.
Player absences due to COVID certainly didn’t help the team but even with a relatively healthy lineup at times, the Islanders have struggled to string together wins. Since their ridiculous 11-game losing streak though, the Islanders have started to turn things around, at least to an extent, going 3-2-1 in their last six games.
While that record is certainly nothing of significance, it’s a start. The other key is that they’ve seemingly started to get comfortable at UBS Arena, picking up five of a possible six points over their last three home games. This is key, considering the Islanders have still played many more games on the road than at home, and could have the chance to claw their way back up the standings with some success at home.
While the Islanders still suffer from a huge lack of goal scoring, Oliver Wahlstrom is emerging as one of the team’s top forwards, while Anders Lee has seemingly found his game and Brock Nelson is back in the lineup. There are still obviously way too many forwards not producing and a general lack of top talent to begin with, but hopefully the likes of Josh Bailey, Anthony Beauvillier, Kyle Palmieri and even Casey Cizikas are able to pick up the pace after the break.
On the blue line, the biggest issues have been Ryan Pulock’s injury and the team not being able to effectively replace Nick Leddy. While Leddy wasn’t perfect he was a capable member of the top-four group and I had noted in the offseason that moving a top offensive defenseman could be costly for a team who can’t score, even if the move was tied to the Expansion Draft. Zdeno Chara simply has not been good enough and has been forced to play more than he should have to, given the team's lack of a final top-four defender.
That said, Noah Dobson has taken a massive step for the Islanders this year. He’s averaging over 20 minutes per game and his 10 points in 24 games are more than what several top forwards have provided the Islanders. Even defensively, he’s been much, much better and looks more confident when handling the puck in his own end, even if he can still lack some intensity at times in battles. Dobson has been one of the bright spots for the team this season.
Given the Islanders’ lack of scoring, a portion of their successes or failures have relied upon goaltending. Ilya Sorokin has been excellent for the Islanders so far, posting a .926 save percentage through 19 games and taking on a huge workload before Semyon Varlamov returned from injury. Sorokin has established himself as starting-goalie material, even if that was seemingly inevitable, and if Varlamov continues to struggle going forward, New York shouldn’t be afraid to give Sorokin the larger workload.
We can also expect that Lou Lamoriello will be active in the trade market, in an attempt to improve the lineup. That said, he’ll have to be cautious as to what the team gives up, considering their predicament.
From now until the end of January, the Islanders will play 12 of their 18 games against teams who currently rank in the bottom half of the league in points percentage. On top of that, 12 of those games will come at home. Considering only 10 of the Eastern Conference’s 16 teams have a points percentage even above .500, it’s still possible New York can still turn things around.
If the Islanders are going to string together some wins and make a push for the playoffs though, they'll have to hit the ground running after the break.
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OTHER ARTICLES FROM DECEMBER
Islanders’ losing streak reaches 11 games
Islanders finally snap losing streak with win over Senators
Islanders place Anatolii Golyshev on waivers to terminate contract
Islanders allow late goal in loss to Predators, remain winless at UBS Arena
Islanders finally pick up first win at UBS Arena, beat Devils 4-2
Islanders fail to build momentum, lose 2-1 to Red Wings
Islanders pick up win over Bruins
Islanders lose to Golden Knights in shootout, game vs. Canadiens postponed
Islanders' upcoming game vs. Capitals postponed 
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