NHL Revealed Why Some Teams Started “Poor” In The Season, What To Know

Woeful Islanders Now Without Barzal and Pelech As Lackluster Season Continues To Unfold

The New York Islanders’ season started poorly, but things just got worse for them with the injury to star center Mathew Barzal, who suffered an upper-body injury Wednesday against Columbus and is now on long-term injured reserve (LTIR).

The Isles also lost defenseman Adam Pelech in their game Friday against Buffalo, and both Pelech and Barzal are sidelined for the next 4-to-6 weeks.

On top of that, defensemen Mike Reilly and Alexander Romanov didn’t play Sunday when the Islanders took on the New York Rangers. And the Isles were already without left winger Anthony Duclair. Things are a calamity on Long Island, and there’s no solution on the horizon that will give them the bump they need.

Islanders GM Lou Lamoriello has proven to be a crafty roster builder over the course of his Hockey Hall-of-Fame career, but nobody aside from master illusionist Criss Angel can address what currently ails the Islanders. They’re already the second-worst team in the NHL in terms of goals-for average, with just 2.25 goals-for per game.

And the Isles are also already the second-worst team in the Metropolitan Division, just one standings point ahead of the eighth-place Philadelphia Flyers. It really can’t have gone much worse for the Islanders, and unless they can come up with some miracle tonic for what ails them, the Isles could be out of the playoff picture by the end of this month.

The Islanders’ schedule will be doing them no favors in the near future. Indeed, in their next 10 games, the Isles take on Pittsburgh, Ottawa, New Jersey, Edmonton, Vancouver, Seattle, Calgary, Detroit (twice) and St. Louis. Not many soft touches there