If you’re looking for any encouraging trends from the Islanders’ first three games, look no further than the scoring chances column.



In their season opener on the road against the Hurricanes, the Islanders escaped (quite literally) with a 2-1 overtime victory despite being drubbed in just about every metric at 5-on-5 that would portend a loss: Shot attempts (71-32), shots on goal (38-16), and most relevantly, scoring chances (37-20).



For a team that had — let’s call them defensive question-marks — entering the season, it wasn’t exactly an inspiring performance or one that would do anything to quell those questions. Yes, the team came away with two points, but hockey is very much about process and the one that played out in Game No. 1 screamed, “Do this on a regular basis, and don’t expect to win many hockey games.”



But the Islanders’ next 99 minutes of 5-on-5 hockey against the Predators and...