Can The Islanders Hold On?

Last season, the New York Islanders proved a lot to a lot of people. They not only made the playoffs last year, but managed at sweep the Penguins in the opening round before getting swept by Carolina. This year, there was a level of expectation that had to be met. Not only get back to the post season, but go on a deeper run. There wasn't much retooling done to this club after last year, as most of the core group is still in tact. Can they do it again?

There are a few question marks after the first 42 games. We'll start in goal and work our way out.

Thomas Greiss hasn't been quite as good this year. He's given up 15 goals in his last five starts, including three against Jersey two nights ago. It had been a pretty even split between him and Semyon Varlamov until recently. Varlamov has the lower goals against and the higher save percentage. He's also started 23 games, compared to the 19 starts for Greiss. Varlamov has been a solid replacement for what Robin Lehner did last year. It's just Greiss hasn't quite matched the level he had a season ago.

On the blue line, losing Adam Pelech is tough, as he's out for the year with the Achilles injury. Noah Dobson has taken his spot in the lineup, but he hasn't looked really comfortable at times. Part of that may have to do with the fact that he's been a healthy scratch, so he hasn't really been able to find his game and steady himself at this level. Once he gets a steady diet of playing time in the NHL, he should be able to firmly establish himself. The resat of the blueline seems to be holding up fine, but if somebody else goes down with an injury or even misses significant amounts of time, then we could be changing our tune as fans.

The scoring, on the other hand, already has me singing a different tune. And it's not a good one. Sure, you got your big three forwards in Mathew Barzal, Brock Nelson and Anders Lee. All of whom, while not putting up super elite numbers, have at least been consistent this year. The rest of the team, not so much in the scoring department. Case in point, the Killer B's. Josh Bailey, Anthony Beauvillier, and Derek Brassard have all started to go cold. Those three guys had been hot and really stepping it up six weeks ago. Now, they're almost invisible at times. There's no consistent support in the scoring department for the big three. And even that leaves something to be desired.

I felt, going into this season, scoring depth was going to be a problem. Not that the Isles weren't deep enough, because there has been depth. Its just, I don't feel we have a game breaker. Barzal has the potential as a playmaker, but not a game breaking goal scorer. Something might have to be done to make a change to get the scoring up to snuff in my mind. No consistency from the middle two lines in the Islanders lineup for my liking.

Look the Isles are in 2nd place in the Metro, tied with the Penguins at 57 points. They trail the Capitals who have 65 points just past the halfway point of the season. They got off to a slow start, had the 17 game point streak in the early part and have been up and down since then. Next up for the Islanders is Saturday night at the Barclays Center against Boston, who's going to be a challenge. If they can get a solid neffort and get the scoring to show up, it could lead to something. They desire is there, the results just need to start paying off more.