DALLAS — It’s not quite gut check time for the Islanders after just two games.
But that’s not too far off after 120 collective minutes of regular-season hockey over which the Islanders have rarely looked as structured and coherent as they did through much of the preseason.
Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Dallas carried over the worst aspects of Thursday’s defeat to Utah, mainly in that it was pockmarked by sloppiness and a lack of structural integrity unlike the Islanders of recent vintage.
Worse than that, not many of the good things from that 5-4 overtime loss made the four-hour flight to Dallas.
It might be — it probably is — just early-season rust.
But these games do count, the schedule is unforgiving and the Islanders are operating on a time crunch, even if it doesn’t really feel that way two games in.
A tough early schedule, with stops in Colorado and St. Louis before returning home, won’t provide much reprieve.
When Patrick Roy took over last season, one of his hallmark phrases was that the Islanders had to transition the puck as a “unit of five” — which was to say the forwards needed to be supporting the defensemen, rather than hanging out at the opposite blue line and waiting for a 100-foot pass.
These first two games have featured a lot of 100-foot passes.
There have also been moments of confusion in the defensive zone, where it doesn’t quite look as though everyone is on the same page regarding where to be.
Dallas’ first goal of the night, where Tyler Seguin got free in the slot with Bo Horvat in no-man’s-land, looked like a textbook example.
Then there was the puck management, a consistent problem when trying to exit the defensive zone and one that ties in directly with the two issues mentioned above.
And it, too, led to a goal against, with Max Tsyplakov’s turnover giving Jamie Benn a look which he converted to make it 2-0 at 10:58 of the second.
The top line, a bright spot on Thursday night, didn’t look to be on the same page for far too much of the night.
That, in fairness, went for pretty much everybody.
And so too did an inability to get inside when they were able to hold the puck in the offensive zone for any consequential period of time.
In another parallel to Thursday, it took until the third period before the Islanders started playing cohesively and forced Jake Oettinger to work.
Already down 2-0 with Oettinger in the other net, though, is not a place anyone wants to be.
Indeed, Oettinger got the glove out to deny Horvat early in the third on what was the Islanders’ best chance of the night, quelling the rally before it ever really got going.
Later in the period, it was Horvat who struck iron — ending up on the wrong end of another grade-A opportunity.
Seguin sealed the deal with an empty-net goal.
Oettinger ultimately finished with 33 saves to Semyon Varlamov’s 24.
It’s early for everyone, and the Stars — Western Conference Finalists last spring — had their moments of rust and discombobulation, too.
Working through that is the name of the game in October, and if everyone is firing on all cylinders in the second half of the season and beyond, that is what matters.
Provided, of course, that the season does not get away from the Islanders before then.
That can happen before you know it — see the 2021-22 Islanders — and even at this early juncture, the Islanders might need to start operating with a little more urgency.
