October in the NHL is a spooky season of jump-scares. The Tampa Bay Lightning, for example, have won just one game out of six. Eek! The Calgary Flames, after taking their opener, have since gone down a six-game house of horrors. HELP! The Red Wings have ripped off five straight wins, which feels a little like the part where they think they’ve killed the monster but the movie still has 30 minutes left. It’s not something to really try to make sense of, these early blazes and sputters.
But beginnings still matter, and not just because you get as many points for a win in the fall as you do in the spring. Every team right now is making a first impression, setting its own expectations for what’s to come. And in his first few games with a New York Islanders squad on the threshold of a new era, 18-year-old Matthew Schaefer has given Isles-watchers a credible argument that things will get better from here on out.
