Have the Islanders finally found their identity this season?

SALT LAKE CITY – The Islanders are hoping they can – or have begun to – fix their identity crisis. Maybe the rubber chicken with oddly long sideburns will help.

Um, say what about a rubber chicken?

Yup, there’s a rubber chicken now, courtesy of their stop in Las Vegas. And maybe, just maybe, it can become the Islanders’ good-luck version of “Gloria,” the Laura Branigan song that took on mythic status for the Blues as they rallied from last place to win the Stanley Cup in 2019.

The Islanders, 16-18-7 at the season’s midpoint, have won the first two games of this three-game road trip that concludes on Saturday night with their first visit to the Delta Center to face the Utah Hockey Club. A three-game winning streak would set a season high heading into a season’s long seven-game homestand at UBS Arena starting Tuesday.

“We knew, this month, it’s a great opportunity,” defenseman Noah Dobson said. “We’ve gotten two on this trip. Focus on getting ready for Utah and build off that.”

Great. Fine. But, seriously, a little more on that rubber chicken?

Getting there. Hold on.

The Islanders earned their best victory of the season on Thursday night, topping NHL-leading Vegas 4-0 in a 60-minute, dominant effort. This came hours after president/general manager Lou Lamoriello expressed full confidence in the team’s ability to contend for the playoffs, even though the Islanders needed Thursday’s victory to rise out of last place in the Metropolitan Division.

Lamoriello was questioned about the team’s identity. In the past – circa 2020 and 2021 when they reached the NHL semifinals – the Islanders were a very hard team to play against with solid defensive structure and a grinder’s mentality personified by the longstanding fourth line of Casey Cizikas centering Matt Martin and Cal Clutterbuck.

This season, as the Islanders struggled through long-term injuries to top-six forwards Mathew Barzal and Anthony Duclair, as well as defenseman Adam Pelech, their identity seemed absent. Or at least extremely hard to define. They were not hard to play against as they could not physically dominate opponents. Their defensive structure was leaky. At times, very leaky.

“That’s a fair question,” Lamoriello said when asked to define the Islanders’ identity. “We’ve been searching a little for that. But we haven’t had the team together to really see what that identity is. I think the identity was always focused in on our fourth line with reference to the way that line played.”

But that fourth line is no more. Martin is the only remnant, with Clutterbuck on TV and Cizikas playing among the top nine forwards. And Martin is now in a part-time role with limited ice time when he is in the lineup. He played just 7:06 across a team-low 10 shifts against Vegas.

Still, two straight wins and six solid performances (3-3-0) since the NHL’s holiday break has the Islanders believing they’re re-establishing their identity.

“What does it feel like when we’re playing well the last few games and when you get that feeling, it becomes a little more natural and guys aren’t thinking as much and the mistakes start to lower,” captain Anders Lee said.

As for the rubber chicken?

Well, Lee found this odd-looking toy in his stall at the Golden Knights’ practice facility on Wednesday. He grabbed it and took it to his locker at T-Mobile Arena for Thursday’s game. After the win, he presented it to Brock Nelson, who snapped a 17-game goal drought, for being the Islanders’ top player.

It could become the team’s new tradition for rewarding strong play.

So, yeah, there’s a rubber chicken now.

And, the Islanders hope, a re-found identity.