3 Takeaways: Islanders Drop 5-2 Decision to Dallas

Mathew Barzal scored his first and second goals of the season on Saturday night, but it was not enough for the New York Islanders, who fell 5-2 to the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center.
The loss was the second straight on their current four-game road trip, which wraps up on Monday night in Toronto.

Up 2-1 in the second period, the Islanders allowed four unanswered goals to the Stars. Jamie Benn led Dallas with a three-point game (1G, 2A) while Mason Marchment (1G, 1A), Jason Robertson and Jani Hakanpaa (ENG) also scored for the Stars.
"We started better for sure, but we didn't finish strong enough in the third period," Head Coach Lane Lambert said. "As a result, we failed to get the result we wanted in a game that I think we could have won."

BARZAL BREAKS THROUGH:

He was due.
After recording 19 assists in his first 18 games this season, Mathew Barzal scored his first goal of the season on Saturday night.
It came via redirection, as Barzal deflected an Alex Romanov shot past Jake Oettinger 90 seconds into the middle frame.
After waiting 18-and-a-half games for his first, Barzal didn't have to wait long for his second, netting a power-play goal at 14:19 of the same period, stickhandling through the slot and snapping a wrister past Oettinger.
"I wasn't bothered for a second," Barzal said of scoring his first of the season in game 19. "It's literally just about making an impact and helping the team win."

The two-goal game was Barzal's first since a hat-trick on April 1, 2021. The pair of goals also extended his point streak to four games (2G, 3A), which ties his season-long. Barzal leads the Islanders in assists (19) and points (21).
"When he attacks tonight like that and gets the middle and creates a shot for himself, he's going to get a lot of those opportunities," Anders Lee said of Barzal. "He's had them all year and he just got them to go tonight and it's great to see, but we'll see a lot more of that too."
While Barzal scored both Islanders goals in the second period, they were each met quickly by the Stars.
Dallas tied the score just under six minutes after Barzal's first, as Radek Faksa finished off some tic-tac-toe passing from Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn. Barzal was out maneuvered by Benn twice on the sequence, as the Islanders center said he was tired at the tail end of a 2:26 minute shift and admittedly stayed out too long.
The 2-2 tally came just 40 seconds after the Islanders went ahead 2-1, with Marchment skating into the slot and snapping a Benn feed through a screened Varlamov.

STARS PULL AWAY IN THIRD PERIOD:

Saturday was a little bit of a role reversal for the Islanders and Stars, as the league's top first and third periods teams faced off.
After allowing three early goals to the Nashville Predators on Thursday, the Islanders were able to keep the Stars - who entered the game with 24 first period goals - scoreless in the first period.
STARS 5, ISLANDERS 2
ISLANDERS ARTICLES
Gamecenter
Rapid Recap
The Skinny
ISLANDERS-STARS VIDEO
Full Highlights
Postgame: Lambert
Postgame: Barzal
Postgame: Lee
KINGER'S CALLS
Barzal's First of the Year
Barzal's PPG
The Islanders pushed the pace early and weathered a late period surge and eventually took the lead in the second period, a comfortable spot for a team that entered the game 6-0-0 when scoring first. Even a 2-2 tie going into the third seemed to favor the Islanders, who entered the game with a league-leading 30 third period goals, but Dallas flipped the script, netting a trio.
Benn scored the eventual winner at 8:17, going upstairs on Semyon Varlamov off a feed from below the goal line by Marchment. Perhaps the pivotal play came with 4:24 to play, when Ryan Suter made a goal line save on JG Pageau's bank shot with Oettinger down.
"Pageau made a nice play and froze the goalie," said Kyle Palmieri, who was battling in the crease. "I tried to make myself big and obviously I just had to get a piece of it and it would have been in, but it didn't happen."
The Isles rued the missed chance, as Robertson added an insurance goal a minute later, scoring off a set face-off play in the Islanders zone. The Islanders only won 37% of draws (21-of-58) on Saturday night, with all four regular centers finishing under .500.
"They were able to get the go-ahead goal, make it 3-2 and from then on out we have to find a way to tie that thing up and we had some looks," Lee said. "That's a tight hockey game and ends up five two, but it's 3-2 late. And we just got to find a find a way to get one and limit just a few mistakes tonight that ended up in our net."

BAILEY BACK IN:

Josh Bailey drew back into the lineup after sitting the past two games as a healthy scratch.
Bailey set up Anthony Beauvillier for a shorthanded chance in the first period, springing the French Canadian for a partial break in tight that Jake Oettinger was able to shoulder aside.
Bailey skated 14:48 on a line with Pageau and Palmieri with one shot on goal and two total attempts.
"I thought he played pretty well," Lambert said. "He was really good in the defensive zone and was in good positioning. He made a really good play on the penalty kill to Beauvillier for a breakaway and you know, I thought he showed well."
Ross Johnston came out of the lineup to accommodate Bailey's return.

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders wrap up their four-game road trip on Monday night against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Puck drop is at 7:30 p.m.