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SB Nation Reacts: New York Islanders fan optimism returns

A little pandemic amnesia and the return of two important players helps fan confidence.

By Kyle Thele and Dominik

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Columbus Blue Jackets v New York Islanders
Let’s save the day. (Sorry, the photo library promised this photo would include Pelech.)
Photo by Mike Stobe/NHLI via Getty Images

This SB Nation Reacts, a survey of fans across the NHL. Each week, we send out questions to the die-hard Islanders fans, and sports fans across the country. Sign up here to join Reacts and participate in these surveys taking the pulse of the fanbase.

With play about to resume in the NHL, fans can once again turn to the here-and-now of on-ice action. For Islanders fans, that’s mostly...a good thing?

According to the latest SB Nation Reacts survey, 80 percent of Islanders fans are confident the team is headed in the right direction. That’s not where we were earlier in the season, but it’s a significant uptick from 42 percent in mid-March, when the pre-pandemic Islanders were on a losing skid, Adam Pelech appeared to be out for the season, and Casey Cizikas appeared to be out for a significant portion of the stretch-run.

However...the pandemic came, the world turned upside down, and voila! The Isles are preparing for a pre-playoff series with the Panthers, welcoming a healthy Cizikas and Pelech back to the fold, and we can forget some of the things that soured us before social distancing entered our daily vocabulary.

It doesn’t hurt that at the time of the survey, signs were pointing to Ilya Sorokin finally signing to come to North America, if only the NHL would let him. That ended up working out, too.

To vote in the Reacts surveys and have your voice heard each week, sign up here.

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