After a California road trip that...should’ve gone better, the Islanders return home for a tough stretch where they host both of last season’s Stanley Cup finalists.
Anything can happen on any given day in the NHL, of course: their opponent after the Oilers and Panthers is the Penguins, who went 1-9 to sink their season before the 4 Nations but have now reeled off three meaningless wins in a row. But the Islanders find themselves in a fix of their own making, a position that most outside of their management team would’ve predicted they’d be in before this season even started.