Eyes On Isles

The 3 NY Islanders games you most wish had different outcomes in team history

New York Islanders v Tampa Bay Lightning - Game Seven
New York Islanders v Tampa Bay Lightning - Game Seven | Bruce Bennett/GettyImages
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In hockey, as in life, we wish we had do-overs, one more chance to make things right rather than wonder "what if" things had gone a different way. On Sunday, Jonny Lazarus, who covers the New York Rangers for The Hockey News, posed a question: "If you could change the outcome of one game from the history of the NHL, which game would you pick and why?"

Every team has them; for Lazarus, he feels the Blueshirts could've beaten Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews, and the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2015 Stanley Cup Final if they had won Game 7 on home ice against the Tampa Bay Lightning at MSG. Boston Bruins fans feel the legacy of this most recent era would be different if they beat the St. Louis Blues in the decisive game at TD Garden in 2019 or, perhaps more recently, their record-breaking team closed out the Florida Panthers in five games.

We're all New York Islanders fans here, so we're going to focus on Isles history. What are those gut-wrenching, stomach-punch losses that you most wish ended differently? The games that if a bounce or break went the other way, could've not only altered the course of a season, but of a franchise?

For the Isles, we will focus on three games. Three games which left you with an empty feeling. Three games that bring back all sorts of bad memories and emotions. Three games that make you wonder what could've or should've been.

Here are our top three games we wish had different outcomes in Islanders' history.

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