New York Islanders Need a Strong Start In October

By far, the biggest reason the New York Islanders missed the playoffs last season was because of a terrible start. The Isles went 6-10-4 in their first 20 games last year. The Islanders need a strong October this season.

The New York Islanders entered last season as a favorite to make the playoffs by the hockey experts. This year those same experts have not shown the blue and orange any love. A strong start is needed to make them wrong about the Isles.

October Schedule

The Isles have a busy October ahead of them, starting with their opening night game on October 6th. The Isles play a total of 12 games in October.

October features seven road games for the Isles. This includes a west coast trip to Anaheim, San Jose, and LA, as well as tough road games at Columbus, Minnesota, Nashville, and at the Garden versus the Blue Shirts.

More from Editorials

• Islanders key to success: Load management with goalies
• Islanders Zdeno Chara trending in the right direction
• Islanders: Semyon Varlamov Deserves Benefit of the Doubt
• Islanders Ilya Sorokin becoming number one goalie
• Islanders Zach Parise Was Quiet in Return to Minnesota

Their five home games are against Buffalo, St. Louis, San Jose, Arizona, and the Vegas Golden Knights.

A good start means the Isles need to be road warriors from the get-go.

Weight & Players Stress Start

Everyone is on board that a strong start out of the gates is very important. This stems from the head coach down to each and every player.

Doug Weight let every player know at the beginning of the summer that this year’s training camp was going to be hard. Last years start to the season cannot be repeated again this year.

Many of the players reminisced this summer about how last years start was the reason the team missed the playoffs. Remember the Isles missed the playoffs by just one measly point.

The talk among the players was the gave away a lot of games early last season. That should be all the motivation the Isles need to kick-off the season.

Quiet Tavares Talk

As is, there will be plenty of rumors and speculation about John Tavares’s future. As we all know he is an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

If the Isles were to repeat last year’s poor start, speculation about Tavares leaving the Islanders would be in over-drive.

At the end of the day, yours truly believes everything will work out between Tavares and the Isles. But a poor start will create so much negative speculation it could become suffocating for the team and the organization.

Next: Tavares Dominates in Return to the Coliseum

This is a huge season for the Isles on so many levels. A strong start is a necessity for the New York Islanders.