Islanders get some early dj vu in season-opening overtime loss to Utah

Patrick Roy mentioned more than once in the days leading up to Thursday that the Islanders’ preseason was successful not for its results, but for a process he felt was successful.And though he can keep stressing that message all he wants after opening night, it doesn’t tend to be something people say after wins in the regular season.More alarming than the Islanders’ 5-4 overtime defeat to Utah Hockey Club to start their season, courtesy of Dylan Guenther’s game-winner, though, is that the manner of defeat was so similar to how they lost so many games last season.There were issues at five-on-five.

The breakouts, in particular, were out of sync, with Scott Mayfield and Mike Reilly trading turnovers on misfired D-to-D passes in the first period, and the top-six that looked so good in exhibitions didn’t get into a rhythm until late in the game.But it was the two blown leads in the third period, followed by the inevitable overtime letdown, that gave a bad feeling of déjâ vu.Thanks in equal parts to Semyon Varlamov, the power play and Utah’s own early season kinks, the Islanders came into the last 20 minutes facing only a 2-1 deficit, with a chance to rewrite the story of the night.When Bo Horvat’s tying goal within two minutes of the third was followed by Jean-Gabriel Pageau scoring shorthanded on a brilliant hustle play, chasing the puck down the ice and tapping it in after Simon Holmstrom’s initial shot, it looked like they would do just that.But the lead didn’t even last the rest of the penalty kill, as Dylan Guenther quickly tied the game back up, and when the Islanders got a four-minute opportunity of their own shortly thereafter, they came up empty.The third period, at least, looked a lot better at five-on-five than the first two, and it looked like the Islanders had won it when Maxim Tsyplakov scored with 2:07 to go for a 4-3 lead.But in a bad sequel from last season, the Islanders coughed that up before they were even done celebrating, as Jos...