The Five Worst New York Islanders Losses of 2022-23

The New York Islanders will begin the 2023-24 season in a matter of weeks.

Before they do, let’s take one final look at last season, which was full of peaks and valleys.

We’ve already highlighted the positives, but we now must touch on some of the low points from a year that offered several.

Dec. 6, vs. St. Louis:

Before we get to the bad, we’ll start with the downright ugly.

Ilya Sorokin was not his usual self in this game, as he let in a couple of bad goals. Although, the Islanders didn’t provide much support in front of him defensively, either.

The worst by far was a lazy wrist shot off the stick of Blues defenseman Colton Parayko from beyond the face-off circles that somehow found the back of the net, giving St. Louis a 5-1 lead early in the third period.

The Islanders did begin to mount a comeback, eventually cutting the deficit to one, but never found the equalizer as they lost 7-4.

Most of January:

That’s not a typo.

If the Islanders could have turned the calendar back to 2022, they would’ve because January was anything but kind to them.

Besides two wins before the All-Star break that likely saved their season, the entire month was a wash as they won just three of their first 15 games in 2023

It’s difficult to pick one game out of the bunch, but their loss to the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 19 stands out.

The Islanders led 2-1 until Victor Oloffson tied the game for Buffalo midway through the third period. There was barely a need for overtime as Rasmus Dahlin and Dylan Cozens put on their best imitation of Josh Allen and Stefon Diggs to win the game for the Sabres.

Feb. 11, at Montreal:

No matter what the Islanders did in this game, they couldn’t put away the Montreal Canadiens. For every goal New York scored, the Habs quickly found an answer.

As the final seconds of overtime counted down, Mathew Barzal got a little too fancy with the puck on his stick and made a costly turnover that led to a two-on-one opportunity for Montreal. Semyon Varlamov stopped the initial chance from Mike Hoffman but couldn’t prevent Mike Matheson from cleaning up the rebound as the Islanders lost 4-3.

March 24, at Columbus:

Maybe it’s because it was another overtime loss, or it might’ve been because it spoiled the great win the Islanders had in their previous game. Either way, losing to the last-place Columbus Blue Jackets while you’re barely holding onto a playoff spot can’t go unnoticed.

A bad second period in which the Islanders allowed three straight Columbus goals sounds bad enough. Then one remembers one of those goals was a ‘Michigan’, courtesy of the rookie Kent Johnson.

The Islanders did tie the game in the third period but ended up losing as a result of a goal from Boone Jenner 40 seconds into overtime.

April 10, at Washington:

With two games left in the season, the Islanders controlled their own destiny as they sat one point ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the wild card standings. All they needed was a win over the battered and beaten Washington Capitals, who were already eliminated from playoff contention. Instead, it was the Islanders that were beaten 5-2.

Dylan Strome gave the Capitals a lead 36 seconds after the opening face-off that the Islanders couldn’t come back from.

The atmosphere around the team felt deflated as it seemed they would miss the playoffs for the second straight year.

But we know what happened next.

Follow Andrew Fantucchio on Twitter: @A_Fantucchio