The Islanders are experiencing early deja vu in their opening OT loss to Utah

With two minutes to play in their season opener, the Islanders appeared to be well on their way to putting their late-season woes behind them last year after appearing to pull off a comeback with Maxim Tsyplakov's first-ever NHL goal.

But as the evening ended, Game 1 of 2024-25 felt a lot like Game 83 of 2023-24, with the Islanders blowing that lead and ultimately losing 5-4 in overtime to the Utah Hockey Club on Dylan Günther's game-winning play Goal.

The whole thing caused a bad feeling of déjâ vu, all the way to the dressing room, where Noah Dobson said: “Every time you score a big goal, the next shift is huge.”

These are moments in the game that you have to overcome.”

The Islanders couldn't do it last year.

They couldn't do it on Thursday night, taking the lead twice and twice allowing Utah to tie the game before their own goal was announced to the UBS Arena crowd.

Overall, this opener was a mixed bag, with the Islanders overall not playing the type of hockey they promised in the preseason.

There were early problems in the five-on-five game, most notably the breakouts were out of sync as Scott Mayfield and Mike Reilly had turnovers in the first period due to failed D-to-D passes, and the front six looked like that good in exhibitions didn't get into rhythm until late in the game.

And once that was sorted out, there was the power play, which scored just one goal in 10:56 minutes of five-on-four play, and a penalty shootout, which scored two goals in just 1:40 minutes of ice time.

But it was the two lost leads in the third period, followed by the inevitable disappointment in overtime that felt so familiar.

“We gave them the chance to come back twice in this game,” said coach Patrick Roy. “Secondly, there was a part of the game where I thought we were a little sloppy and we were knocking pucks over and then they took advantage of that.”

This was echoed by the players, who almost unanimously said they didn't give their best.

“I don’t think we got off to a good start,” said Anthony Duclair, who scored his first goal for the Islanders on a power play in the first period. “I think that was the key. We brought the away team into the game straight away. Sloppy plays. I think we tried to be too cute and then find our legs in the second part. It’s just difficult to get a lead like that towards the end of the third period.”

Thanks in equal parts to Semyon Varlamov, the amount of time spent on the power play and Utah's own struggles early in the season, the Islanders faced just a 2-1 deficit heading into the final 20 minutes and had a chance to make history to rewrite night.

When Bo Horvat's tying goal within two minutes of the third period led to a short-handed Jean-Gabriel Pageau scoring on a brilliant spin, chasing the puck up the ice and firing it into the goal after Simon Holmstrom's first shot, it looked like this as if they were doing exactly that.

But the lead didn't even last for the rest of the penalty shootout, as Günther quickly equalized the game again. And when the Islanders got their own four-minute power play opportunity shortly afterwards, they came away empty-handed.

At least in the third period, five-on-five play looked much better than the first two, and it looked like the Islanders had won when Tsyplakov scored at 2:07 for a 4-3 lead brought about.

But immediately after the faceoff, the Islanders lost coverage, Josh Doan chased after the puck and tied the game just 13 seconds later.

The inevitable came in overtime when Guenther broke off a three-on-one rush after the Islanders lost the ball.

“Last year is last year. “It’s a new year,” Ryan Pulock said.

It didn't feel like that.