New York Islanders, Edmonton Oilers still works in progress

Taylor Hall and John Tavares (91) are cornerstones of their teams' efforts to recapture lost glory.

Kathy Kmonicek/AP

Parallel universes

The Isles' sparkling new home, the Barclays Center, awaits for 2015, a sign of better times.

Rich Graessle/Icon SMI/Icon SMI

Also with talented youth come jitters, despite the team's playoff run last year. The Isles had two hiccups earlier this season, dropping a 3-2 shootout decision to Columbus on Oct. 5, despite holding a 2-0 lead with just over 12 minutes to play, and then losing to winless Buffalo, 4-3, in a shootout on Tuesday, after blowing three leads, the last with 2:01 left in the third period. Each time, New York was simply too tentative at the end of the game.

Highly touted winger Nail Yakupov has played his way into the Oilers doghouse.

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

For both the Oilers and Islanders, that point is more like where they used to be long ago, but getting there continues to take time.