Kyle Palmieri is in the midst of as bad a dry spell as he has had in his 12-year career. In 2013-14, he went 21 games with just one goal while playing for the Ducks. The loss to Nashville on Thursday night was his 22nd with the Islanders this season, and he still has scored just one goal.

A 2.0 shooting percentage — 6.7 percent below his previous career-worst — lies at the center of his issues. To some extent, that has to be luck. But nearly two months into the season, it’s hard to fall back on the inevitability of regression.

“I think it’s something that, you just go out and work,” Palmieri said following Friday’s practice. “You work to get your chances. You work to be good defensively. And those things, sometimes it takes a little longer to pay off.”

That echoes the message the Islanders have tried to make prevalent as they’ve lost 12 of 13 games. But like the team itself, Palmieri is running out of time for any fix to have a meaningful impact on the season.

When the Islanders traded a package highlighted by their 2021 first-round pick (which later became Chase Stillman) to the Devils for Palmieri last season, they were getting a player who, to that point, had scored 24 or more goals in each of five straight seasons. And though Palmieri struggled to score in 17 regular-season games with the Islanders last season, he did so seven times during the playoffs.

That was enough for the Islanders to think they could afford to lose Jordan Eberle to Seattle in the expansion draft. Through 24 games with the Kraken, Eberle has 17 points (12 goals, five assists). The 30-year-old Palmieri’s contract, which runs through 2025 at a $5 million average annual value, looks worrisome.

At the start of the season, Palmieri was on the first line playing to Mathew Barzal’s right. He since has been slotted on the second line and he played Thursday with Anthony Beauvillier and Jean-Gabriel Pageau. Though Palmieri does have five assists this year, he has just one since Nov. 7.

“He’s gotta get inside,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “He’s gotta get inside the dangerous areas. An example of that the other day [against Ottawa], he did get inside. He cut to the net, had not a semi breakaway, but had a chance that was really solid where he was inside the dots, he drove to the net, got hauled down, drew a penalty. Those are when he’s having success.

“Getting the puck off his stick real quick, hasn’t been as clean as he needs to. He’s pressing but he’s a good pro about it.”

The thing about Palmieri’s start is that it shouldn’t be this bad, not if you believe in the underlying numbers.

According to Natural Stat Trick, Palmieri has 21 individual high-danger chances at five-on-five, ranking third on the Islanders. He has 4.06 individual expected goals at five-on-five, second on the Islanders. His 50 shots on goal are third on the team, and a map of where those shots have come from shows a heavy load in the slot and around the crease — areas from which you would expect the puck to go in.

Palmieri isn’t the only Islander struggling to score, and he isn’t the only Islander pressing. But he is the most prevalent.

“There might be some of that [pressing], but it’s really not an excuse,” Trotz said. “We gotta be professional about it. Man up and let’s just win.”

Trotz said the Islanders will make lineup changes “for sure” on Saturday against the Devils. He added there’s a good chance that either Casey Cizikas (COVID-19) or Brock Nelson (lower body) will return to the lineup, though he couldn’t say which was more likely.