Islanders Kyle Palmieri Shared What Issue With Fishbowl Was, How Switch Back To Shawn Bates Visor Paid Dividends On One-Time Goal Against Oilers

New York Islanders forward Kyle Palmieri has been a stick magnet this season.

On November 3, a 5-2 loss to the New York Rangers, No. 21 took a stick to the face on a follow-through, requiring some repairs:

Palmieri wore a different visor in the team's next game, a 4-3 shootout win against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

As Thomas Hickey said, he was rocking the Shawn Bates visor, an elongated one that covered his face down to his lips, bending in the middle like Dainius Zubrus wore:

He scored in that game, tying the score at 1-1 at 12:21 of the first period, batting a puck out of the air in front of goal:

Against the Ottawa Senators, a 4-2 win, Palmieri was rocking the Bates cage yet again but was wearing a full fishbowl at Saturday's morning skate ahead of their game against the New Jersey Devils.

On Saturday morning, I had a quick conversation with Palmieri in the locker room about his latest face-shield decision.

Palmieri said that he had to wear something to cover that part of his face for another three weeks.

When I asked if the fishbowl fogged up on him, he said, no, but that the issue with the full face shield came when the puck was in his skates.

Because the bottom is rounded, Palmieri said it was hard to see the puck at times. For a player like Palmieri, who cuts to the net, having the fishbowl certainly complicates things.

But that's what he wore on Saturday night:

However, when the Islanders hit the ice against the Edmonton Oilers, Palmieri had ditched the fishbowl, going back to the Bates face shield:

In the second period, Palmieri scored his seventh goal of the season, tying the game at 1-1 off a nifty feed from Maxim Tsyplakov in transition:

While that change may not be the sole reason Palmieri scored off a beautiful release, based on what he shared, the change likely allowed him to see the puck much clearer.

Who knows if Palmieri would have gotten all of that had he been donning the fishbowl.

We'll see what Palmieri wears against the Vancouver Canucks, but after the goal, he's likely to keep rocking what he's rocking.