Islanders: Slow Start is Nothing New Under Barry Trotz

It hasn’t been the start that the New York Islanders were hoping for. They’re 0-2 so far and have allowed an uncharacteristic 11 goals against. They haven’t looked good, there’s no sugarcoating it, but by no means is it time to panic.

First and foremost, there is 80 more games on the schedule they’ve played just 2.4 percent of their games on the season. The sample size is not nearly enough for me to be concerned just yet.

In fact, the slow start is nothing new for the Barry Trotz Islanders. Over the past three years here’s how they started their season:

In their first year under Barry Trotz, the Islanders allowed four goals or more in three of their first five games. After that start, they’d go on to finish with 103 points and allowing the fewest goals in the league with 196.

Same story in 2019-2020. The Islanders allowed five goals or more in two of their first four games. Still, they’d go on to finish eighth in the NHL in goals against and they found their way to the Eastern Conference Final.

Last year, in their 3-4 start they allowed five or more goals twice. After the rough start last year, once again they’d finish high in goals against and make a run to the Conference Final for the second year in a row.

In 2020-2021, they had a 12 game point streak starting 18 games into the season while the year prior, it was a 17 game point streak to get them on track. Eventually, this team will hit their stride, they always do.

Can we trust the two hall of famers running this team here for just a second? Something about calling for defensive changes after 120 minutes of hockey just doesn’t sit right with me. It’s a marathon, sure they stumbled out of the gate but that doesn’t mean this year is going to be a failure or that they’ll underacheive.

It starts on Tuesday, the Isles have a very winnable matchup against Chicago. It only takes one to get them back on track.