As the AHL All-Star Break ends, the Bridgeport Islanders look on to the second half of their 72-game season. They currently hold a record of 10-30-2-2, and with a .273 PTS%, they’re on pace for their worst season in affiliate history. The previous season low depends a bit on what you count as a “full season”.

In 20-21, Bridgeport posted a PTS% of .375 over the abridged season. They went 8-14-0-2 in the 24-game season. If you want to count that, it currently stands as the worst PTS% in Bridgeport hockey history. Otherwise, their worst season would be… last year (23-24) when they posted a .410 PTS%. For now, let’s count 23-24 as the worst season of Bridgeport hockey as it was held over a full sample size.

To maintain a .410 PTS% over 72 games, the Islanders must earn no less than 59 points. The 23-24 Islanders did that with a record of 25-38-7-2. With 28 games remaining, the Islanders would need to secure 35 points over their final stretch to catch their previous low, a PTS% of .625. In other words, they need to play above-average hockey to avoid sealing their fate.

They’ll have to do it against divisional opponents with winning records.

To reduce travel costs, the AHL regularly keeps games played in-division. There are seldom cross-country road trips or long plane rides. By and large, teams play teams within their geographic regions and, in turn, their division.

As a result, 21 of Bridgeport’s final 28 games will come at the hands of divisional opponents. Only two of their opponents have a PTS% below .500 (The Hartford Wolf Pack and Utica Comets). Those games only make up five of the remaining 28. Even if they do win those games, they’ll still need 25 more points to avoid the nadir.

To be fair to Bridgeport, they’ve experienced a lot of injuries throughout the season. They have been without the likes of Julien Gauthier, Seth Helgeson and Fredrik Karlstrom for months now. Even worse, injuries at the NHL level have deprived the Bridgeport Islanders of their goaltending core. They started the year with Jakub Skarek and Marcus Hogberg as their starting duo. Now, they’re down to Henrik Tikkanen and Hunter Miska who started the year in the ECHL and KHL respectively.

Perhaps if they get healthy, they could go on a run. They proved capable of going on short-term bursts in late November when they went 3-1-1 with a +7 goal differential. Bridgeport may still have that form somewhere. Perhaps they need to get back the likes of Hogberg, Gauthier and Helgeson to resume winning ways. The return of defensive prospect Isaiah George may also steady their defensive core.

Regardless, it’s a long way out of the basement for the lowly Bridgeport Islanders.

featured image courtesy of the Bridgeport Islanders

Joey McAuliffe

Joey McAuliffe is a passionate Islander fan pursuing a Masters of Accounting in Buffalo, NY. His favorite player of all time is Jordan Eberle. He has followed the team closely since 2014, but he began regularly attending games during the 2006 season. Outside of hockey, Joey loves music and the Buffalo Bills.