Heika's Take: Stars roll in lopsided third period to cruise to 6-3 victory over the Islanders

The Stars have been “analytics” darlings this season, creating tons of chances and giving up very few.

But because they haven’t been able to score on enough of their chances, most games have been tight battles. They were locked in another clinch on Sunday at American Airlines Center but pushed through for a 6-3 win against the Islanders that showed what the Lads in Victory Green can do when they impose their will.

“It’s hard to dominate a team a whole game in this league, it’s too tight,” Stars coach Glen Gulutzan said. “I thought in the third we executed at a high-level and created some chances and scored on them. I liked that about our group.”

Dallas once again had a nice advantage in shots on goal (38-20), shot attempts (66-44) and more scoring chances – but found itself in a 3-3 tie after 40 minutes. Yes, Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin worked a perfect odd-man rush for a turn-back-the-clock 1-0 lead. Yes, Jason Robertson made a beautiful unassisted steal and dunk on New York goalie Ilya Sorokin. Yes, Justin Hryckowian banged in his first goal of the season.

But every time the Stars looked to be breaking their slump, the Islanders answered. And that was frustrating.

Faced with that mental weight, the Stars came out and played maybe their best period of the season. They out-shot the Islanders 16-5 and tallied three goals to cruise home and gain a ton of confidence.

“I thought we possessed the puck pretty well in the third, kept it pretty tight defensively, and then some bounces go our way,” said Robertson, who scored two goals and has eight points in the past four games. “We got some bounces in the neutral zone and then we just came back and attacked. It's one of those games where it just goes in.”

The Stars were kind of due. They still rank 24th in scoring at 2.82 goals per game and rank 16th in shooting percentage. So having this kind of success is important.

“If you look at us over the last five games with our chances, we’re in the top third of the league,” Gulutzan said before the game. “But there’s one more little piece, we’ve got to do a better job of finishing.”

The Stars did that on Sunday, especially in the third period. Wyatt Johnston made a fantastic shot after nice work from Nils Lundkvist and Joel Kiviranta to set him up four minutes into the period. That goal turned out to be the game-winner. But, for insurance, Seguin sprung Robertson on a breakaway and he scored on an ice-cold shot that beat Sorokin under the pads. Just for good measure, Mikko Rantanen chipped in his sixth goal of the season on an off-wing snap-shot that was patiently set up by Lian Bichsel.

That’s a pretty good night, all in all.

“For the analytics people out there, over the last four or five games we are creating a lot more - and now you can see the last piece came in a little bit today,” Gulutzan said. “We just have to keep building on that.”

The fact they did what they did when pushed to the wall says something about the potential of this group. The fact they had this game while missing Matt Duchene, Esa Lindell, Sam Steel, Oskar Bäck and Radek Faksa shows just how deep the organization is.

Both Matthew Seminoff and Dylan Hryckowian (younger brother of Justin Hryckowian) were called up from the AHL and made their NHL debuts. Gulutzan said he though the energy helped the veterans, as well.

“To have Seminoff and Hryckowian come up, I thought both guys looked really good and can play,” Gulutzan said. “I think both guys helped us, so you could see in the third, I split them up and rolled four lines, so they were a big help.”

They might have to be again on Tuesday. The injured players might miss another game, and the speedy New Jersey Devils come to town. For a 7-3-1 Stars team that has won five straight, the challenge is to get better throughout this six-game homestand.

“I mentioned the other day that we were one pass away,” Robertson said when asked about the slow scoring. “Today, we were on the tape, crispy, and goals went in. It’s a shot of confidence for everyone in the locker room and we look to keep building on it and keep executing.”

This story was not subject to the approval of the National Hockey League or Dallas Stars Hockey Club.

Mike Heika is a Senior Staff Writer for DallasStars.com and has covered the Stars since 1994. Follow him on X @MikeHeika.