For the Islanders, life without Anthony Duclair in 2024 will look a lot like life without Anthony Duclair in 2023.
This means that we may struggle in this area for the time being.
The Islanders could take advantage of this 1-0 loss to the Red Wings and use that entire period as a model for how they played.
It was a great night in no small part defensively, allowing just 10 shots on goal.
But you can't win if you don't score goals.
And the Islanders looked like a team that would struggle to score in the first game after Duclair left injured.
If you think about it, they looked like that in two of the five games against Duclair, so maybe his absence isn't that much of an issue.
In reality, neither was puck possession, and the Islanders had it in droves on Tuesday.
Despite having so much possession, the Islanders only had two dangerous 5-on-5 chances through the 40 minute mark on Tuesday, and the third period looked much the same.
It was the third of six shutout games for the Isles, who have never been described as a high-end offensive team in recent years, but it took them until Jan. 15 to rack up that many zeros last season.
They could argue that some of it is due to bad luck, although it's not entirely unfair. But with or without Duclair, the Islanders aren't doing enough to put the puck in the net at this point.
There isn't enough forward traffic to force the goalkeeper to move from side to side, and there aren't enough deflections, chips, or rebounds.
Alex Lyon made 29 saves Tuesday, some of which he had to work hard for.
Patrick Kane's opening goal at 8:54 p.m. was one of the few dangerous chances Detroit had over 60 minutes, but it probably wasn't enough to win the game.
But it was.
The initial plan to put Simon Holmstrom on the top line with Matt Barzal and Bo Horvat went much like previous moves. Holmstrom gave up too much to his linemates and didn't seem willing to put the puck on his stick or take a shot, and the Islanders suffered as a result.
To be fair, this didn't just apply to the top line, as the Islanders didn't seem to have much of a net presence on Tuesday, which made puck possession a little pointless. It's gone.
While it was a game that the Islanders lost by dominating in every statistical category, it was also a game that was exactly what they were set up to be.
There was certainly some bad luck. Especially on the power play, they revamped their unit at the first opportunity and looked more threatening than they did all year, with Brock Nelson hitting the crossbar in the second period.
But when the Islanders had a third chance at 5-on-4 with a goal needed late in the third, they couldn't even get a shot off.
Ironically, the Islanders were better at stopping the Red Wings from the same high-danger area on the other side of the ice, cutting off open space and quickly getting the puck back.
Still, Kane was Detroit's first shot of the game, taking a one-timer past Ilya Sorokin on a rush for a 1-0 lead.
Still, if the Islanders can play that well defensively, they'll be able to overcome this loss without Duclair and be even better off.
But the problem of scoring seems very real. Even with great defense, you still need goals to win.
The Islanders look like a team that doesn't quite know where they are.
