The Islanders have had nothing go their way this season and it keeps getting worse. Fans hoped the team would figure stuff out when they came home to their new state-of-the-art arena, but it only got worse. Is it time for Islander fans to panic?

13 Game Nightmare

Last season, the Islanders were 11-13-4 on the road in the 56-game regular season. This season, the Islanders had to play 13 straight road games while waiting for construction on UBS Arena to finish. That road trip was the second-longest road trip in NHL history and the Islanders went 5-6-2. The final four games all ended in regulation losses. The team looked tired and seemed to want to go home. That allowed Islander fans to expect the Islanders to come home and feed off of the home crowd. A lot of fans remained confident in the team and were excited to see the new arena. They expected the Islanders to heat up while playing at home.

Islanders Week Gradually Becomes Horrible

But that was hardly the case. While the Islanders were playing in Florida, Josh Bailey tested positive for COVID-19. He remained quarantined in Florida while the team headed home. The news only got worse when fans found out Ryan Pulock would be out due to a lower-body injury.  Then, Anders Lee and Ross Johnston caught COVID. Three players who have been around the team for a while weren’t able to attend one of the biggest days in franchise history.

Islander fans still had some hope and waited outside UBS Arena for the doors to open. At around 5:00 p.m., the team announced Anthony Beauvillier, Adam Pelech, and Andy Green also tested positive for COVID. The Islanders lost to the Flames 5-2 with Brock Nelson scoring both goals. The team lacked chemistry and seemed to be slow.

The next day, the team announced Anthony Beauvillier had a false positive test and could play Sunday. But it came at the expense of a Kieffer Bellows positive test that was accurate. The Maple Leafs shut out the Islanders 3-0. The team looked out of sync and lacked offense.

To make matters even worse, Zdeno Chara tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday and the Islanders announced Brock Nelson would miss 2-4 weeks with a  lower-body injury.

Nothing is going well for the Islanders. The team was been lacking offense before the regular NHLers started dropping like flies. The fourth line hasn’t played well recently. They have generated no offense and have made multiple mistakes. Zach Parise has looked good on offense but has somehow not scored. Nobody on the Islanders has been able to execute on offensive chances. They haven’t gotten a lucky bounce, and fans are starting to get frustrated.

November has been a dark month for the Islanders. The main question surrounding the team is if it’s time for fans to panic. The organization doesn’t seem to be worried based on post-game conferences, but is that just team officials spinning this crazy situation as a positive? Is it time for fans to panic? That is all based on your personal opinion. Although the Islanders hope they can turn their season around, people are worried they are digging themselves into a hole they can’t get out of. The Islanders have plenty of home games in December and have a chance to get hot if they can get healthy. The Islanders don’t seem to be worried, so let’s hope they play well.

John Smark