Nielsen has hat trick in 3rd period, Islanders outlast Stars 7-5

UNIONDALE, N.Y. - Frans Nielsen scored three goals in the third period, and the New York Islanders held on for a wild 7-5 win over the Dallas Stars on Saturday night.

Nielsen beat goalie Anders Lindback with a wrist shot at 9:39 after he and Nikolay Kulemin skated into the Dallas zone on a 2-on-1 rush. Mikhail Grabovski started the play with a slick backhand pass out of the Islanders zone to Nielsen at centre ice.

Nielsen scored again at 15:09 off another 2-on-1 with Grabovski before Shawn Horcoff pulled Dallas to within 6-5 just 23 seconds later with his first of the season.

Nielsen completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal with 0.01 seconds remaining.

The victory was the sixth in eight games for the resurgent Islanders (6-2). The Stars (4-2-2) lost one night after the Devils in New Jersey in a shootout.