With half the season done, Mike and Dan discuss the many ups and downs that have left the Islanders on the playoff bubble. They recap the disappointing Western Canada trip that saw the team look generally awful picking up just two of a possible eight points. They also discuss the early season successes and the cushion the Islanders had built that's now all but used up, and how injuries to major players and extended slumps have started to cost them. They also lament the often surface-level coverage the team gets and how writers near and far often don't understand the Islanders true reality. In the second half, they praise Brock Nelson on his first All Star Game selection and explain why they don’t want Ilya Sorokin to get voted into the game. Finally, they look ahead at a schedule of daunting games against very different opponents.

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In their first episode of 2023, Mike and Dan look at the Islanders' embarrassing loss in Seattle that followed two feel good wins at home, and how time is running out for the team to make changes. They discuss the need for the Islanders to be proactive if they want to stay competitive in the brutal Metro Division, whether it means making meaningful additions to the entrenched roster, finding a new game plan, altering their awful powerplay or something else. While the wins over the Penguins and Blue Jackets felt good, and they have winnable games coming up on their Western Canada road trip, they can't continue to let opportunities slip by when the rest of the division continues to win. Other topics include surface-level hockey coverage, the stale script for NHL outdoor games and ESPN inventing new levels of incompetence.

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Along with their friend Matty, a Nassau Coliseum usher since 2001, Mike and Dan remember eventual Stanley Cup champion defenseman Brent Sopel's brief time with the Islanders. They talk about the strange circumstances that brought Sopel to the Island and the high hopes management had for his veteran leadership and offensive skills. Sadly, the Islanders were a bit of a dumpster fire at the time, and his trade to Los Angeles just a few months later was greeted with relief and enthusiasm by the blueliner. Later, they discuss Sopel's place on the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks of 2010, the admirable charity and humanitarian endeavors of his playing and post-playing career, and how Matty once got the death stare by Jeff Tambellini, the weirdest Weird Islander to have played too many games to be an actual Weird Islander.

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Mike and Dan look back at three games leading up to the Christmas break, all of which showing off the Islanders strengths and weaknesses. In a 1-0 shootout loss in Colorado, a blown third period lead against the Rangers and a sometimes dominating win over Florida, the Jekyll-and-Hyde Islanders ran the gamut of emotions. There were great goals, missed opportunities, good luck, bad luck, injuries and one spectacular rookie score that everyone wanted to see. And while fans like us are along for the ride (occasionally unwillingly), the insane nature of the team's season has gone mostly unnoticed, making Mike and Dan feel a little bit like an X-Files duo made just for this one franchise. Later, they look ahead to two big Metro Division games before the Islanders head way west for the first week of 2023.

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WARNING. CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE. Dan and pinch-hitter Carey Haber discuss the Islanders' volatile week of one big win, one infuriating loss and one resilient shootout defeat. They look back at toe-to-toe battle in Boston that ended in a coin flip, a(nother) ludicrous loss against one of the NHL's worst clubs in Arizona, and a surprising but haphazard win over in Vegas a night later. None of this makes any sense at all, and Carey shares his process-focused thoughts as to why the Islanders have returned to what he calls "Doug Weight Happenstance." The change in systems and lack of detail, not to mention some suddenly shaky goaltending, leave the Islanders and us with a case of "Shocked Pikachu face." In the second half, they look at the upcoming schedule, which is stacked with tough opponents and impossible to predict. But first, we hear from Michael Leboff, our man on the scene at the World Darts Championship at London's Alexandria Palace...

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Along with returning guest Nick Giglia, Mike and Dan talk about a pair of goalies with distinguished NHL careers who stopped by the Islanders very briefly after being traded for one another. John Vanbiesbrouck won a Vezina with the Rangers, then led the third-year Panthers on one of the most miraculous playoff runs in NHL history. But in his journeyman final seasons, he brought a touch of veteran presence to a very young Islanders team and showed he still had something left in the tank. He had enough, in fact, to convince then-New Jersey general manager Lou Lamoriello to ship stalwart Chris Terreri to those same Islanders, who were playing out the string while the Devils geared up for another Cup run. But surprisingly, Terreri taught a melancholy group the value of playing for pride. The trio also cover Vanbiesbrouck’s controversial history and Terreri’s unexpected fast food venture.

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WARNING. CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE. Mike and Dan look at back-to-back games that couldn't have been more different: an exciting win over the Devils and a frustrating shutout against the Hurricanes. Against a fast team that had taken them to school earlier this season, the Islanders exerted their will against New Jersey and came out on top. One night later against a team they had previously handled, the Islanders were impotent against a rested Carolina team with a frustrating game plan. Through both games, their physicality played a big part; giving them confidence in one game and being missing in the other. Along the way, they spotlight the play of Alex Romanov, Matt Martin, Hudson Fasching and players who were touted as the next big thing only to become simply... "guys."

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Mike and Dan look at three losses and one win that have them both encouraged and scared about the Islanders, who have some tough upcoming games. In dropping games to the beatable Flyers, Predators and Blues - after racking up 40 shots apiece in the latter two - the Isles looked better but let their early season points cushion slip, and let division rivals like the Penguins and Rangers back into the mix. A shutout against Chicago was strictly business, but with games against the Devils and Hurricanes over the weekend, they need to start stringing wins together again. They also cover the lack of coverage for Adam Pelech's injury, the overcoverage of stories no one cares about and what it means to be "comfortably" in a playoff spot (spoiler: it's not where the Islanders are).

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J-P Dumont was drafted by, but never played for the Islanders. Predators writer Alex Daugherty tells Dan and Mike all about the kind of player the third overall pick in 1996 was, and his unusual route to Nashville. Traded immediately after finally signing his entry level contract, Dumont took a few years to get going and find consistency at the NHL level. Once he did, he helped establish the first great era in Predators history by making them as dangerous offensively as they were defensively. Alex tells us what Dumont's acquisition meant to the franchise, how he has worked to grow hockey in Nashville and how he helped get everyone at Bridgestone Arena free tacos one night. As a bonus, we ask Alex about the legacy of Terry Crisp - longtime Predators broadcaster, expansion Islander and cookie connoisseur.

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Mike and Dan reflect on the Islanders' resilient and timely four game winning streak - with a cathartic cherry on top. They look back at wins over the Maple Leafs and Oilers, and how Ilya Sorokin staked his spot at the top of the goaltending heap while large swaths of the hockey world were watching. They then turn to a win over Columbus that could have gone off the rails after some curious officiating, and how Brock Nelson once again was the hero. Finally, it's on to an eventful win over a pitiable Flyers team which featured momentum swings, sudden goals and some fighting that felt good for the soul. In the second half, they look ahead at a Western Conference heavy upcoming schedule and a rematch against Philly that might get the Boss involved.

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