The losing point trend has followed the NY Islanders into the early part of the season

When a team says after a game that they got a point, or that they got a big point and are ready to move on to the next game, that is intended to give a positive impression of the performance they should have, or at least could have led to two points. Too often that was the sound byte that came from New York Islanders Dressing room.

Yes, there are times when a team “steals” a point after coming back late in the third period before losing in stoppage time or a shootout, but for the Isles it often felt more like the loss of something, than they couldn’t secure two points to win. Last season, they led the league with 16 losing points, including 11 in 3-on-3 overtime and five from a shootout loss.

The losing point trend has followed the NY Islanders into the early part of the season

So far, that trend that prevented the Islanders from being a 100-point team last year has continued this season. Through four games this season, the Islanders are 1-1-2 and “earn” two “loss” points after losing twice in overtime Utah Hockey Club in OT after messing up not one but two tracks in the third period. Then, on Thursday night in St. Louis, they failed to capitalize on several prime opportunities earlier Jake neighbors scored a goal home Ilya Sorokin breaking a goalless draw.

The Islanders were once the best shootout team in hockey (thanks, Frans Nielsen!) and have the second-most shootout wins (90) in NHL history. Although he has a highly praised goalkeeping tandem Semyon Varlamov and Sorokin, the Islanders have struggled in recent seasons. The blame lies more with the forward group than the goalkeepers, who have to be almost perfect to get the second point.

When it comes to 3-on-3 overtime, the Islanders were relatively strong when they had a standout defender Nick Leddy And Devon Toews. However, over the past three seasons, they have lacked the back end’s ability to move the puck and have relied too heavily on it Matthew Barzal or Brock Nelson to advance the game and create the strange rushes. They were also prone to errors.

Plus, Sorokin has historically been bad in overtime. For a goalie with his reputation, he has 31 overtime losses since the 2020-21 season, the most in the NHL, which he leads John Gibson (28) and Jacob Markstrom (25). With eight years left on his contract, he is already the franchise leader in this dubious category upon his death Rick DiPietro (28) last season.

Perhaps this worrying trend will end on its own. Maybe it’s not more due to luck or lack of luck than anything else, but the trend is real, and the longer it continues, the more it hurts the Islanders’ desire to have a spot in the standings that better reflects their own performance Number of points they leave without.