Concerns already mounting for Islanders as they drop third straight to start season

The honeymoon is over for the Islanders.

Three games into the season, Mathieu Darche’s outfit is still searching for its first win, and the Islanders did not come especially close in Monday’s 5-2 defeat to the Jets at UBS Arena.

The afternoon start time ensured that the Islanders would be the NHL’s first team to start 0-3, and while it is only a small snippet of the 82-game marathon, there is plenty to worry about.

“I know it sounds like a moral victory, and we’re not in that business, but if we play like this, we’re gonna win our share of games,” coach Patrick Roy said. “… Other than not having two points, we played a good game.”

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While the Islanders could have played worse, this was optimistic to the extreme.

Alexander Romanov, who was handed an eight-year deal in the offseason, has struggled in all three games and was taken off the penalty kill in favor of Matthew Schaefer on Monday.

Simon Holmstrom and Max Tsyplakov, both of whom the Islanders were counting on to take steps forward this season, have been largely anonymous so far; they made up two-thirds of the fourth line Monday and were the two least-played Islanders on the afternoon.

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Ilya Sorokin has not looked like himself in net and gave up a terrible goal Monday to Logan Stanley, the puck trickling through his pad. He finished with 21 saves on 25 shots, the third straight game in which he’s allowed four goals.

The Islanders have struggled to win battles around the blue paint on both ends of the ice, they have started games poorly — giving up the first goal in all three — and have led for a grand total of 1:37 out of 180:00.

After an encouraging first few minutes for the Islanders, Morgan Barron took the air out of UBS Arena by beating Romanov to the net off the rush to score off Cole Koepke’s feed.

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Nino Niederreiter made it 2-0 just a few minutes later with a power-play goal off Gus Nyquist’s cross-crease pass that came after the Islanders failed to clear out the blue paint.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau appeared to get the Islanders some momentum back with a goal early in the second, but Stanley scored just 14 seconds later to keep it a two-goal Jets lead.

Romanov was at fault again on Winnipeg’s fourth goal, turning it over at the blue line before Tanner Pearson tapped in Niederreiter’s feed on the ensuing break.

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“We gotta get better,” Tony DeAngelo said of his pair with Romanov. “Little better today, but still two goals, out there for two breakdowns. Just gotta clean it up. We got a lot of trust in Rommy, so we’ll be fine.”

Emil Heineman scored his first as an Islander to get one back before the second period ended, and a high-sticking call on Mark Scheifele gave the Islanders a chance to start the third with some momentum.

But while the power play has hit the lowest bars of competence that it often failed to clear a year ago — the Islanders can consistently get past the blue line and set up — it was 0-for-5 on Monday and has struggled to create high-danger chances.

The Islanders didn’t create any serious push in the third, and Scheifele added a late empty-netter to make it a 5-2 final.

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While Schaefer’s individual brilliance has kept some positivity in the air — he led the Islanders in ice time Monday at 26:34 — the No. 1 pick is arguably the only Islander who is seriously outperforming expectations.

The only other time the Islanders have started a season with three straight losses was 2006-07, a year in which they made the playoffs, though it required a shootout win on the last day of the season.

With the Oilers coming to Long Island to close out this home stand, the Isles are facing the real possibility of starting 0-4 for the first time in their history, including three straight home losses.

Arguably worse is that, aside from the opener in Pittsburgh and a few sporadic bursts since, the Islanders haven’t looked especially competitive.

“You don’t panic,” Scott Mayfield said. “You keep playing your game. You keep doing stuff you know we need to do each night.”

It is never a good sign when such things are being said after three games.