Four-goal second period pushes Stars past Islanders

The Dallas Stars opened a three-game road trip and a tough stretch of their schedule in impressive fashion Sunday afternoon, blowing by the New York Islanders, 6-2, at Barclays Center.
"It's a great start for us," said Stars center Jason Spezza.
The Stars, who used a four-goal second period to erase a 1-0 deficit and blow the game open, were fueled by two goals from defenseman Esa Lindell and a big game from their top line of Alexander Radulov (two goals, one assist), Tyler Seguin (one goal, two assists), and Jamie Benn (three assists).

"We've been waiting for [the top line] to get hot again since the fourth game of the year, and it's a great time with all those games (coming up)," said Stars coach Jim Montgomery. "I hope they get on a roll."
It was a milestone day for Dallas. The Stars got a goal from Roope Hintz, his first in the NHL, and defenseman Gavin Bayreuther tallied his first NHL point, an assist on Radulov's first goal. Radulov's second goal of the game was the 100th of his career, and Jason Spezza assisted on Hintz's goal for his 900th career point.
Ben Bishop stopped 37 shots for the Stars, who improved to 11-7-2. The Stars, beginning a stretch of five games in seven days with Sunday's tilt in New York, are 4-1-1 in their last six games on the road and are now 4-4-1 away from home this season.

"We're in a tough stretch of the schedule, and when you have games like this with contributions from up and down the lineup, everybody feels a part of it," said Spezza. "It's a good springboard going into some tough games coming up. It's definitely a good building block for us."
The regulation loss snapped a seven-game home point streak for the Islanders, who fell to 10-7-2 on the season.
"The game went south in probably the first six or seven minutes of the second period," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "We lost the game in the second period, plain and simple."
The Islanders scored the only goal of a fast-paced first period in which both teams recorded 13 shots on goal. After Ryan Pulock put a shot on net from the point, Leo Komarov grabbed the rebound and set up a wide-open Anthony Beauvillier, who scored from the slot to give New York a 1-0 lead 3:36 into the game.
The Stars scored three goals in a 4:59 span of the second period to take a 3-1 lead, chasing Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss from the game. Seguin set up Lindell, who scored from the slot through a Radulov screen at the 2:09 mark to tie the game 1-1. Spezza dug the puck out of the corner and set up Hintz, who scored from the left circle for his first NHL goal to put the Stars up 2-1 at the 4:40 mark.
"It feels great. It is nice to get the goal here today and get the win, too," Hintz said.

Lindell struck again for his second goal of the afternoon, scoring from the right circle off the rush to make it 3-1 at the 7:08 mark. Lindell, who had six shots on goal Friday against Boston, cashed in twice on five shots Sunday.
"Just trying to keep up the shooting with what I had Friday," Lindell said. "Sometimes they are going to go in."
Lindell's second goal ended the afternoon for Greiss, who was replaced by Robin Lehner. The Stars extended the lead to 4-1 at 14:07 of the second when a Radulov shot was blocked, hit off the end boards and rebounded to Seguin, who scored from the left circle.
Bishop came up big late in the second, stopping a point-blank look from Islanders forward Mathew Barzal with New York on its first power play of the game.
The Islanders cut the lead to 4-2 just 24 seconds into the third period when Scott Mayfield drove behind the Dallas net and bounced the puck into the goal off Bishop. The Islanders then had a chance to cut the lead to one with a power play and hit a couple of posts but couldn't get the puck into the net.
The Stars put the game away with a couple of goals by Radulov. He took a pass from Bayreuther and scored on a breakaway to make it 5-2 at the 7:35 mark. Less than two minutes later, he tapped one in from close range to make it 6-2.

Turning point

The Stars tilted the game their way early in the second period with the three goals in a 4:59 span that turned a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead. The Stars scored on their first two shots in the period and on three of their first six. The Islanders came close to crawling back into it, scoring early in the third to cut the lead to 4-2 and then hitting the post twice while on a power play with a chance to cut the Dallas lead to one.
The Islanders score there, it gets interesting. But they didn't, and Radulov put the game away with a couple of goals.

Three stars of the game

Esa Lindell, Dallas: Stars defenseman scored two goals in Dallas' big second period, had five shots on goal, was a plus-3 and logged a game-high 22:58 of ice time.
Alexander Radulov, Dallas: Stars forward tallied two goals, one assist and was a plus-3.
Tyler Seguin, Dallas:Stars center recorded one goal, two assists, five shots on goal and 10 shot attempts.

They said it

"Last game against Boston, we worked hard, but we didn't get many chances. Today, I felt we were going, reading off each other, moving the puck faster, simplifying and winning our battles. I think that's the key." - Stars forward Alexander Radulov on the big night of his line with Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin
"(Assistant coach Rick Bowness) said in the morning skate on Friday that I needed to shoot more. It worked today."- Stars defenseman Esa Lindell, who scored two goals Sunday
"I love being part of guy's first goals. They'll always remember you. Everybody remembers their first goal. Firsts are fun, and it's really cool. Roope played really well, and when I saw we were playing together, I was excited." - Stars center Jason Spezza on getting the assist -- his 900th career point -- on Roope Hintz's first NHL goal

Pitlick sits because of illness

Tyler Pitlick (illness) missed Sunday's game. With Pitlick out, the Stars went with 11 forwards and 7 defensemen, scratching Brett Ritchie and bringing in forward Roope Hintz and defenseman Ben Gleason, who both were called up from the AHL Saturday.

Stat pack

What's next

The Stars play Monday night at the New York Rangers to cap a back-to-back in the Big Apple. It will be the first meeting of the season between the Stars and the Rangers. The Stars were 2-0-0 against the Rangers last season and have won three of their past four games at Madison Square Garden.

Stars lineup

Lines and defense pairs were mixed throughout the game except for the top line.
Jamie Benn - Tyler Seguin - Alexander Radulov
Roope Hintz - Jason Spezza - Mattias Janmark
Jason Dickinson - Radek Faksa - Blake Comeau
Gemel Smith - Valeri Nichushkin
Esa Lindell - Julius Honka/Ben Gleason
Joel Hanley - Miro Heiskanen
Gavin Bayreuther - Roman Polak
Ben Bishop
Anton Khudobin
Scratched:Brett Ritchie
Injured:Tyler Pitlick (illness), Devin Shore (lower body), John Klingberg (hand), Marc Methot (lower body), Connor Carrick (foot), Martin Hanzal (back), Stephen Johns (post-traumatic headaches)

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.
Mark Stepneski has covered the Stars for DallasStars.com since 2012. Follow him on Twitter @StarsInsideEdge.