Islanders Eclipsed by Stars, Win Streak Falls

The New York Islanders and Dallas Stars both came into Tuesday’s matchup desperate for a win in the thick of a playoff race.

The Stars came into this game one point out of the Western Conference’s final playoff spot with three games in hand on the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Islanders are slowly, but surely, closing the gap between the Washington Capitals and themselves for the last wildcard spot in the East, coming into the game on a four-game winning streak.

Before the streak started, they were 19 points behind the Capitals for the last wild card spot.

The streak put them just 11 points back with a game in hand on Washington going into the night.

In the end, it was the Stars that prevailed with a 3-2 win.

Dallas struck first early on when Marian Studenic picked up a Heiskanen rebound and fired it past Semyon Varlamov 7:29 into the game.

Barry Trotz challenged the goal for goaltender interference, as it appeared Jamie Benn ran into Varlamov, but the goal stood.

The NHL ruled that the collision happened in the white ice outside of the crease, therefore not constituting goaltender interference.

The Islanders went right to the penalty kill afterward for the unsuccessful challenge.

They successfully killed it off, allowing just one shot.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau tied the game up just over four minutes later with a wrist shot after being sent off the rush by Noah Dobson.

Josh Bailey notched his 545th career point on the goal, passing John Tonelli for eighth in franchise history.

Tyler Seguin deflected a Joel Hanley shot past Varlamov with 46.6 seconds to go to give Dallas their lead back.

Dallas controlled play for the majority of the first period, leading 18-7 in shots and 11-2 in high danger chances after the buzzer sounded.

The Islanders tied the game up 31 seconds into the second period after Dobson set up Brock Nelson on a 2-on-1, who cashed in for his 33rd goal of the year.

Meanwhile, New York would not get another shot on goal until the 18:29 mark of the second period.

They got an opportunity on the power play 9:58 into the second, but it was Dallas that cashed in shorthanded.

Radek Faksa tipped in a Luke Glendenning shot to give Dallas a 3-2 lead.

The Stars dominated play during the second period, outshooting the Islanders 11-3 and leading 6-3 in scoring chances.

New York found themselves shorthanded 6:35 into the third when Grant Hutton got caught holding Glendenning’s stick.

They killed off the penalty, not allowing a single shot.

The Islanders had a much better offensive output in the third period and it culminated in a crucial scoring chance for Mathew Barzal with 2:57 to go.

Jake Oettinger came up with a sprawling save on a wide-open Barzal to keep the Stars ahead, sending the puck out of play with his blocker.

Varlamov went to the bench for the extra attacker with 2:09 to go after Dallas iced the puck.

Dobson made a diving play to prevent an empty-net goal, but the Islanders could not get anything going 6-on-5 and fell in regulation.

With the loss, the Islanders are now 11 points behind Washington with each having 13 games remaining.

The Capitals have lost their last two games by a combined score of 11-2 and are set to face off with the Tampa Bay Lighning in a primetime TNT matchup on Wednesday.

A Washington loss would give the Islanders an extra game-in-hand.

The Islanders will continue their uphill battle for a playoff spot against the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes on Friday at 7 p.m.