Islanders hold off Stars for 5th win in 6 games

DALLAS -- Kyle Palmieri scored a short-handed goal and had an assist, and the New York Islanders held off the Dallas Stars for a 3-2 win at American Airlines Center on Tuesday.

Stars forward Jason Robertson cut it to 3-2 at 18:01 of the third, putting in a rebound with his backhand with goalie Jake Oettinger pulled for an extra attacker. The forward’s eighth goal in his past four games set up a chaotic final sequence.

Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov was boarded behind the net with 28 seconds remaining by Stars forward Mikko Rantanen, who was also given a game misconduct.

With the Dallas net again empty, this time at 5-on-5, Wyatt Johnston appeared to tie the game with 0.1 seconds left. However, a video review initiated by the NHL Situation Room determined that Robertson interfered with Islanders goalie David Rittich, overturning the goal and sealing the Islanders’ fifth win in their past six games.

“Well, I hope [Romanov]’s going to be okay at this moment,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “I don’t know exactly what it is. All I’m going to say is, when you see the number, you have to lay off. Everybody knows that. You don’t go through the guy. And I’m proud of the way that our guys handled it afterwards. No one was happy to see someone get hurt like this.”

Calum Ritchie and Bo Horvat scored for the Islanders (11-7-2), who are 5-1-0 with one game to go on a seven-game road stretch. Rittich made 22 saves.

“It’s good to get the win. Good teams find a way to get the win,” Ritchie said. “Great effort all around all night. That’s a good team over there, so it’s good to get the win.”

Robertson scored twice for the Stars (12-5-3), who had their five-game winning streak end. Oettinger made 19 saves.

“I don’t think I’ve been in a scenario like that before. I mean, 25 seconds left, five-minute major. It was a good push, we got a chance. It didn’t go in, legally,” Robertson said.

Robertson has eight goals and four assists on a five-game point streak, including three straight multigoal games.

“Just give him the puck. He’s shooting everything and a lot’s going in,” Stars forward Tyler Seguin said. “You kind of expected it to come and happy to see it.”

Ritchie gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 10:31 in the second period on a wrist shot from the slot. It was the center’s second NHL goal; his first came last season with the Colorado Avalanche.

“I thought it was a great shift from Bo Horvat’s line,” Ritchie said. “They generated the momentum for us, and we got out there in the offensive zone and tried to create something, and we did. Glad I could get a goal tonight to help the team.”

Robertson tied it 1-1 at 12:26 when he finished off a give-and-go with Roope Hintz on a 3-on-1 rush.

Horvat dunked in a loose puck at the top of the crease to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead at 3:12 in the third period after Oettinger couldn't cover it off the end boards.

Palmieri scored short-handed at 7:38 to give the Islanders a 3-1 lead on a shot from the top of the left face-off circle.

“We did a good job the first couple periods,” Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock said. “Their power play is really good. I thought in the third we had a couple [penalty] kills, and we did a really good job in the neutral zone not really letting them get set up. Then when they did, we did a pretty good job. Then couple of really big saves by our goalie.”

Dallas captain Jamie Benn played for the first time this season after sustaining a collapsed lung in the preseason. He had one shot on goal in 9:46 of ice time.

“It felt good to be back out there,” Benn said. “I saw a lot of compete. I thought the guys played great while I was watching. A lot of players have stepped up, and we’ve had a lot of injuries this year, unfortunately. Guys have been playing some great hockey.”