Matthew Schaefer’s play has been one of the early stories of the NHL season, but the Islanders remain winless as they head into the second week of the campaign.

There have been some positives to take from their first two losses, but overall, the Isles have looked messy. There are still 80 games to go, but when you look ahead at the Islanders’ schedule, you can see how this sluggish start can become a disaster pretty quickly.

A win over Winnipeg at home on Monday afternoon could quiet the skeptics, at least for a little bit.

There were plenty of reasons to be disappointed in the Isles’ 4-2 loss to Washington in their home opener. The Isles were rudderless in the first period, and if not for Schaefer, things could have turned toxic in UBS Arena.

Goals from Schaefer and Anthony Duclair injected some life into the team, but the defensive misgivings from the first 40 minutes were enough to sink them. It’s a cause for concern considering they struggled in their own zone against Pittsburgh in a season-opening 4-3 loss, too.

The Jets are not an offensive buzzsaw, but they will punish you for any mistakes and then rely on their all-world goaltending and tight defense to be the difference.

That’s a sustainable way to play for a team like Winnipeg, which has clinical finishing and Connor Hellebuyck in goal, but it can give an inferior opponent a platform if it can limit mistakes.

Whether the Isles can do that remains to be seen, but it shouldn’t shock anybody to see Patrick Roy’s team come out committed to making a clean start to Monday’s contest.

The Isles need to be better defensively if they want to climb out of their early hole, so I’m expecting a scrappy opening period on Monday.

The Play: 1P Under 0.5 goals (+380, DraftKings)

Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.