What worked for the Islanders in the preseason didn’t work when the puck dropped in the regular season Thursday night. The pace was faster, with points on the line in the standings, and the Islanders just couldn’t seem to connect on passes consistently. Twice in the third period they allowed the equalizer less than a minute after taking the lead.

On one sequence on their second-period power play, defenseman Noah Dobson spun an open Mathew Barzal in the left circle with an off-the-mark feed. Barzal’s return pass then bounced over Dobson’s stick and out of the offensive zone, causing an unhappy Barzal to retreat to the bench.

“Everyone did a lot of good things and we were sloppy at times,” coach Patrick Roy said.

But part of being a good team is showing resilience, and the Islanders finally started connecting on passing and running the offense in the final period. Still, they opened the season with a 5-4 overtime loss to Utah — the NHL’s newest franchise to play its first road game — at UBS Arena, with Dylan Guenther scoring the winner at 2:18 of the extra period.

“I don’t think it was our best,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. “We remained positive. We came back in the third and showed character.”

Max Tsyplakov, the 26-year-old rookie from the Russian KHL, gave the Islanders a 4-3 lead at 17:53 of the third period with a rising wrist shot. But Josh Doan tied the score 13 seconds later.

Pageau’s shorthanded backhander gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead at 6:51 of the third period. Guenther countered with a power-play goal 44 seconds later.

“There’s one thing we need to be better at: If we have leads, we need to find a way to protect those leads,” Roy said. “Twice we gave them the opportunity to come back in that game.”

Goalkeeper Semyon Varlamov looked to be in mid-season form with 21 saves. He kept his teammates in the game long enough.

There were a lot of positive signs during a 4-2-0 preseason, especially the chemistry shown by Bo Horvat’s top line, with Barzal and newcomer Anthony Duclair at center.

The power play, which ranked 19th in the NHL last season, went 6-for-14 in the final three games of the preseason. It was a disjointed 1-for-6 on just seven shots on Thursday, with a four-minute lead not converted after defenseman Ian Cole high-balled Anders Lee at 9:22 of the third period. Utah went 2-for-2.

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“It’s fun to move the puck, but sometimes you have to shoot the net,” Roy said. “We did a good job, we got in there and moved the puck. But come on, we gotta shoot the net here.”

Horvat made it 2-2 at 1:03 of the third period when Duclair set him up for a one-timer in the game against Utah (tentatively called Hockey Club, but expected to be the Yetis next season).

Duclair, who signed a four-year, $14 million contract to join his ninth NHL club in 11 seasons, opened the scoring when Dobson’s power-play shot from the blue line at the 11:10 mark of the first period of his skate went off. The goal survived Utah coach Andre Tourigny’s challenge that Duclair, skating across the crease, interfered with goaltender Connor Ingram (21 saves).

“We didn’t have a good start,” Duclair said. “I think that was the key. Not much sloppy play. I think we were trying to be too cute.”

Ingram, who had taken a dive after Kyle Palmieri’s look at an open net during the Islanders’ second power play of the first period, extended his left toe to deny an open Duclair at the crease at 16:12 of the third period .

Lawson Crouse’s power-play one-timer made it 1-1 with 58.4 seconds left in the first period and Barrett Hayton, who tipped defenseman Mikhail Sergachev’s point shot, gave Utah a 2-1 lead at 13: 07 of the second period.

Notes & quotes: Former Islander Josh Bailey, who marked the start of the new season for fans in his old jersey next to a new blue and orange lighthouse on the second floor, was honored with a tribute video during the first period. . . Forward Julien Gauthier and defenseman Dennis Cholowski were the healthy scratches.

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began covering the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.