The Islanders’ start has been ugly, and it’s about to get worse with all their injuries

The New York Islanders are struggling out of the gates this season. The Isles have posted a record of 4-6-2 through their first 12 contests and have recently been hammered by the injury bug.

Forward Mat Barzal is out four to six weeks with an upper-body injury and has been placed on long term injured reserve. Meanwhile, the Islanders blueline has taken a beating, seeing Adam Pelech shelved for four to six weeks, while both Mike Rielly and Alex Romanov are working their way back to getting healthy sooner than later, and at this point remain day to day.

The Islanders are having troubles scoring goals, ranking 31st in the league, averaging just 2.25 goals scored per game. Their power-play struggles are a big reason for their lack of scoring, ranking 29th league wide with a 12.5% efficiency rating with the man advantage. Losing Barzal, who posted 25 power-play points last season is certainly going to hurt, as the dynamic forward is a big pillar of their offense.

On Monday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Tyler Yaremchuk and Frank Seravalli discussed the tough times ahead for the Islanders, as things could very much be going from bad to worse on Long Island.

Yaremchuk: The New York Islanders, they were limping along to start the season for a handful of reasons, they have the second worst goals scored per game in the NHL. They are one of just four teams in the league to not have cracked the 30-goal scored mark so far this season. And now, they’re limping along literally.

Mat Barzal – four to six weeks, Adam Pelech – four to six weeks. These are key pieces for the New York Islanders, who they are going to be without for at least the next month. On top of that, Anthony Duclair is out long term, they got a couple of guys day to day on their blue line. If there is any team in the league right now that should be more on ‘this could get ugly’ watch, I can’t think of them, to me it’s the Islanders.

Seravalli: I think they are a quality selection in that scary category even though Halloween’s over. I don’t think the Pittsburgh Penguins are that far away from that. I would include, at least for a temporary basis, the Colorado Avalanche in that group with all the injuries that they’re dealing with.

For this Islanders team, I mean, pin point for me, or show me the path for it to get significantly better. Like, even if all these guys are healthy and they’re all back, what’s your calling card? What are you going to hang your hat on? What are you going to say -this is how this team is going to vastly improve and they’re going to go on a 10-game winning streak to get themselves back in the mix? I don’t see the path for them to do so with the way that their roster is constructed. Let alone, to then take those guys out.

Yaremchuk: Yeah, the path for this not to get ugly is for (Ilya) Sorokin and (Semyon) Varlamov having .940 save percentages for the next month. Like that’s honestly what it feels like it’s going to take for this team.

Seravalli: Would they even be able to score their way out of that, if that was the case, and I’m not trying to be funny. 28 goals in 12 games. I mean, that’s not pretty.

For more on the Islanders, and the latest buzz from around the NHL, watch the full episode here.