It is no secret the Islanders have been in a long skid recently. There have been some positive moments in the past couple of months, such as beating the Capitals in Washington 4-3 and potting eight goals against the Detroit Red Wings, but the Islanders have struggled to find consistency as they are 12-12-4 since their 17-game point streak.
In this article, we will discuss a few reasons why the “bye week” came at such a convenient time. The Islanders are in the middle of a ten-day break and return on February 1st to play the Pacific Division-leading Vancouver Canucks.

Time To Regroup
In January, the Islanders had a lot of tough games in a short period of time. This is tough as the Islanders have spent the majority of the first half of the season being well-rested between games. It is a difficult change to go from playing a couple times a week to almost every day.
The Islanders define themselves on playing a conservative and disciplined defensive game, with top-notch goaltending to match. Ever since an 8-3 loss on home ice to Nashville on December 17, these aspects of the game not fully recovered since at least not consistently.
A good example of this would be the third-period collapse against the Washington Capitals on January 18, where the Islanders allowed five consecutive goals in the third period to lose 6-4. Things like this haven’t really happened under Barry Trotz, which leads to the question: Should the fans be concerned?
Well, yes and no. Every team has a rough patch but it shouldn’t be 28 games long if you want to truly solidify yourself as a top team in the league. Some time off, however, can serve as a time to relax, regroup, and reset for the month of February. How the team responds this upcoming month will be a true indicator of what the rest of this season will be like.

Standings
It may be a little early to be standings-watching, but as the Islanders are losing games, a lot of teams are catching up quickly. And they’re close.
Thankfully, the Penguins, Hurricanes, Blue Jackets, and Flyers have their bye weeks the same the Islanders do. But, in the Metropolitan, the toughest division in hockey, every team surrounding New York in the standings has been winning. And it doesn’t look like that is stopping anytime soon.
For example, Pittsburgh is 17-5-1 in their last 23 games and Columbus only has two regulation losses since December 7, both to the San Jose Sharks. In order for the Islanders to keep up, and not slip as low as sixth in the Metropolitan, their point percentage needs to be much better. We have seen the Islanders rack up a lot of points in a short amount of time before, and they are going to have to do so again to stay competitive for the top of this brutal division.
Conclusion
The New York Islanders are a very good hockey team. Even though it doesn’t seem it right now, the fans are aware of what the team is capable of.
While a shake-up or a trade would most likely be beneficial, a long break can also make things better.
A lot of things in life are similar to the Islanders right now- if someone is struggling with something and continues to for a significant period of time, they should put it to rest and revisit it, and the result the second time will probably be better. The fans expect the same thing from the New York Islanders, and we believe they are quite capable of doing so.

John Smark