RALEIGH, N.C. — By the time the Islanders touch down back home on Friday evening, a clearer picture of their team’s identity will have emerged for them and their fans.

In their opening nine games, the only certainty is that Matthew Schaefer will play his 10th game this Thursday in Carolina, officially activating the first year of his entry-level contract.

Schaefer’s rise isn’t just about securing the top draft pick; he’s proving to be a cornerstone for the current Islanders, much like Denis Potvin was in the past. His presence has dominated discussions surrounding the team, rightly so. Meanwhile, the Islanders’ performance has been a mixed bag, evidenced by their 4-4-1 record, showing flair but not necessarily indicating they’re a strong contender.

Although the Islanders seemed to be on an upswing with four consecutive wins, that momentum vanished after squandering 2-0 advantages in their recent losses to Philadelphia and Boston.

Adding to the intrigue is the fact that the Islanders haven’t faced a formidable playoff-caliber team in two weeks, since their victory over Edmonton at home. That changes as they gear up to take on the Hurricanes and Capitals in back-to-back road games, which will undoubtedly be their most challenging encounters of the season.

“We gotta regroup,” Ryan Pulock said Tuesday night after the Islanders lost 5-2 to the Bruins. “We gotta talk about it. We gotta find a way to be a little sharper for the full 60. Obviously going to Carolina, we know it’s a tough place to play. We gotta look at tonight, learn from it. We have to have our best game in Carolina.”

The Islanders’ best game seems to be pretty good. Over spurts, including the first period Tuesday, the Isles have shown they can control play with an aggressive forecheck, cycle for shifts at a time, and possess a lineup that balances skill and physicality reasonably well.

That, however, has been overshadowed — and was in each of their last two games — by a tendency to lose focus, by old issues breaking the puck out or killing penalties cropping up again, and by a No. 1 goaltender in Ilya Sorokin who still doesn’t look quite like himself.

Against some teams, the Isles can get by with the Jekyll-and-Hyde act they’ve put on display so far this season. But they won’t be able to here in Carolina, nor a day later against theand not against the Capitals, who already spoiled the Islanders’ home opener. 

The Islanders are plenty familiar with the Hurricanes, having suffered playoff defeats to Carolina in 2023 and 2024. They’ve struggled plenty with Carolina’s aggressive style before, and with the Hurricanes’ special teams, which are annually amongst the best in the league. Coming to the Lenovo Center always doubles as an acid test for the Islanders within the Metropolitan Division.

Coach Patrick Roy described his team as going through “a learning process” Tuesday night, saying they can’t change their game when leading, or take the sorts of penalties they did against the Bruins.

That’s an understandable way to put it, especially given the presence of two rookies in the defensive corps (Schaefer and Marshall Warren) on Tuesday, but it also begs the question of what expectation the Islanders have of themselves. The thing about learning in the NHL is that there are 82 tests, with one coming nearly every other day, and even this early in the season you can’t write too many of them off without writing off the season, too.

Of course, no one around the Islanders is suggesting that, and nor will they. The next two games, though, are chances to show and not tell.