Top 5 NY Islanders' games of calendar year 2022

2. Islanders vs Rangers 11/8

Any game where the Islanders can prevail over the Rangers is a huge win, but the most exciting one of this calendar year came on November 8th in another comeback win for the Long Island-based team.

After immense pressure from the Rangers to start the first period, the Isles didn't break and Palmieri scored on their second shot of the game on the power play to beat Igor Shesterkin and open the scoring. About five minutes later, Varlamov's shutout streak at MSG which lasted over four games ended with a goal from Filip Chytil to tie the game. Chris Kreider would take the lead for the Rangers and Vincent Trocheck would add to it, both scoring power-play goals making the score 3-1 near the end of the second frame. But, as we've seen countless times this season, the Isles showed no sweat and had an answer in the third.

Adam Pelech asserted that the game was not over by scoring 14 seconds into the final period, beating Shesterkin high blocker side as he was leaning in the other direction. Varlamov had to make a clutch save on a Jimmy Vesey breakaway to keep the momentum in their favor, just barely holding it before the goal line. Nelson netted the tying goal off of a one-timer on the man advantage, and shortly after Lee took the winds out of the Rangers' sails by stuffing a rebound from an Alexander Romanov shot past Shesterkin to give the Islanders the lead that they would not let go of. The Islanders went 4-2 against their cross-town rivals in 2022 and won't face them again until either next season or, hopefully, in the playoffs.