Rapid Recap: Islanders Lose 3rd Straight, Fall 2-1 (SO) to Stars

ELMONT, NY– The New York Islanders returned to home ice after a lackluster road trip and despite recording a point, they lost their third straight as they fell 2-1 in a shootout to the Dallas Stars.

The Islanders are now 22-17-3 on the season and have lost four of their last five games.

LINES:

Anders Lee-Mathew Barzal-Simon Holmstrom
Anthony Beauvillier-Brock Nelson-Josh Bailey
Zach Parise-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck

Alexander Romanov-Scott Mayfield
Parker Wotherspoon-Ryan Pulock
Sebastian Aho-Noah Dobson

Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov

GOALS: 

Jason Robertson gave the Dallas Stars a 1-0 lead at 3:42 of the first period as he made a strong power move around New York Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin for his 29th goal of the season. Joe Pavelski and Tyler Seguin were credited with the assists.

Anders Lee tied the contest at one on the power play as he buried a strong feed from Brock Nelson for his 15th goal of the season. His backdoor tap-in was assisted by Nelson and Noah Dobson at 13:39 of the first period.

The Islanders did not score in the shootout, while Robertson scored on the Stars first attempt.

*The Islanders did have a Casey Cizikas goal disallowed in the second as Anthony Beauvillier was offside on the play.

Islanders Not Trailing After One

Over the last four games, slow starts have put the New York Islanders behind the eight-ball early and was the biggest reason why they went 1-3-0 on their four-game road trip.

Despite allowing a goal less than four minutes into Tuesday’s contest, the Islanders put forth their best start to a game in over a week.

They outshot the Stars 10-5 and headed to the second period tied after an Anders Lee power-play goal.

Tuesday was the first time since Dec. 29 they were not losing headed to the second period.

Power Play Comes Through

On Monday, New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert switched up his power-play units. They were just 2 for their last 36 chances, and his mix-up of the units did not pay off on the road trip.

His top unit was back to the way it was to start the season while the second unit showcased a two-defensemen squad:

PP1: Lee-Pageau-Barzal-Nelson-Dobson

PP2: Parise-Beauvillier-Bailey-Pulock-Aho

On Tuesday night, the top power-play unit came through as strong passing set Anders Lee up for a tap-in at the blocker side post.

Tied at 1 after1 pic.twitter.com/yRygRBHWI1

— Isles on MSGSN (@IslesMSGN) January 11, 2023

Lack of Goals Remain a Concern

The New York Islanders scored just one goal on Tuesday night but had 44 scoring chances, 17 being considered high-danger chances.

Dating back to their 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Dec. 29, the Islanders have scored just seven goals over their last five games.

UP NEXT: The New York Islanders host the Minnesota Wild Thursday at 7:30 PM at UBS Arena.