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There is one story and one story only going on with the Islanders right now, and that is the one Patrick Roy said Tuesday night, with tongue in cheek, he hoped he was not asked about: three shutouts in six games.
Everything this early in the season is a small sample of numbers that will, to some degree, regress to a mean. The Islanders are not going to be shut out 41 times. They are not going to finish the season with a shooting percentage of 6.6. There is a matter of luck at play in any six-game sample, no matter how good, bad or mediocre.
Still, it is hard to look at three shutouts in six games and be anything but concerned, and the fan base — which booed the Islanders through the final minute of Tuesday’s 1-0 loss to Detroit in which the Red Wings were held to 11 shots on net — is less than thrilled with this 2-2-2 start to the season.
Parsing how much of this is luck and small-sample theater versus an actual problem is a matter of educated guesswork. But we can try. And what the advanced stats and the eye test alike show right now is a little more problematic than the Islanders merely getting chances and not making the most of them.