Islanders Season Ends in Heartbreak

ELMONT, N.Y. — The wins were there. The goaltending was elite. The belief lasted longer than it probably should have.

And yet, the 2025-26 season for the New York Islanders ended the only way a late-season collapse ever does — abruptly, quietly, and far short of where it once seemed destined to go.

Despite finishing with more than 40 wins, the Islanders will not be part of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. A disastrous stretch run erased months of hard work, turning what looked like a postseason lock into one of the more painful near-misses in recent franchise memory.

For much of the year, New York hovered comfortably in the playoff picture. Behind the brilliance of goaltender Ilya Sorokin, the Islanders stacked wins even when offensive consistency wavered. Sorokin was, at times, the entire identity — a nightly eraser of mistakes, a stabilizing force that masked deeper flaws.

The numbers back it up.

Sorokin finished the season with:

• A save percentage north of .915
• Over 30 wins
• Multiple shutouts
• One of the highest goals-saved-above-expected marks in the league

Simply put, he gave New York a chance almost every night.

And for a while, that was enough.

The Islanders reached the 40-win mark with games to spare, a benchmark that typically secures at least a wild-card spot in the National Hockey League. Historically, teams hitting that plateau make the playoffs at an overwhelming rate.

But this wasn’t a typical year.

A brutal late-season skid — marked by defensive breakdowns, an anemic power play, and an inability to close out tight games — sent the Islanders spiraling down the standings. Losses piled up at the worst possible time. Games that once leaned in their favor slipped away.

In their final 15 games:

• The Islanders posted a losing record
• Allowed over 3.5 goals per game
• Saw their power play dip below 15 percent
• Dropped multiple games against direct wild-card competitors

What had been a strength — grinding out close wins — became a fatal weakness.

The collapse wasn’t just statistical. It was psychological. Leads evaporated. Urgency vanished. And the margin for error disappeared entirely.

By the final week, the Islanders were no longer in control of their fate.

When the dust settled, they were out.

It’s a stunning outcome for a team that spent much of the season looking like a postseason certainty. Since the NHL expanded to its current playoff format, very few teams with 40+ wins have missed the cut — making this collapse not just disappointing, but historically rare.

And yet, it happened.

Still, not everything is bleak on Long Island.

Sorokin remains one of the league’s premier goaltenders and is firmly in his prime. The core, while flawed, is competitive. And perhaps most importantly, the organization has taken a step forward behind the bench with the hiring of a new head coach — a move widely viewed as a reset opportunity for a team that clearly needs one.

There is direction. There is talent.

There is, at the very least, reason to believe this isn’t the end of anything — just a painful pause.

Because for all the frustration, all the missed chances, and all the what-ifs, the Islanders were relevant deep into the season. They mattered. They gave their fans something to invest in.

And for a while, they delivered.

So long, Islanders.

It was fun while it lasted.