Stars aim to continue surge vs. Islanders
Goals likely will be at a premium but overtime will be a distinct possibility Tuesday night when the New York Islanders host the Dallas Stars.
The Stars will look to complete a perfect three-game East Coast road trip after beating the New York Rangers 5-3 on Monday night and the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in overtime on Saturday.
The Islanders' most recent game was Saturday, when they returned from the All-Star break and fell to the visiting Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in overtime.
Dallas' victory Monday continued a second-half surge but also represented an offensive outburst of sorts for the defensive-minded Stars, who along with Boston have allowed the fewest goals in the NHL this season at 130. The five goals were the most by Dallas since a 5-3 win over the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 21, while the regulation win was the Stars' first since a 3-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Jan. 9.
The Stars are 3-1-0 since the All-Star break, which arrived at an opportune time following back-to-back blowout losses, 4-1 to the Buffalo Sabres on Jan. 16 and 7-0 to the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 18. Dallas' first two wins in the second half of the season were both 3-2 overtime decisions, over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 27 and over New Jersey on Saturday.
"You don't want to base anything on our last game going into the break, trust me," Stars interim coach Rick Bowness said with a laugh following the Monday morning skate. "We just threw that one away as quick as it was over. We're giving ourselves a chance to win every game. We're playing good defense, and we're going into overtime more because of our lack of scoring.
"At least we're giving ourselves a chance to win every game since the break. Our goaltending's been exceptional, and that's how we have to win games. So we'll take the wins any way we can get them."
In that regard, the Stars are the mirror image of the Islanders, who have allowed only 134 goals while playing 16 overtime games.
The Islanders hit the All-Star break with five losses in their previous seven games (2-3-2) and 15 losses in 28 games (13-12-3) since a franchise-record, 17-game point streak from Oct. 12 through Nov. 23. An 8-2 rout of the NHL-worst Detroit Red Wings on Jan. 14 marks the only time New York has scored more than four goals since a 6-5 shootout loss to the Ducks on Dec. 21.
The Islanders' issues weren't solved Saturday, but forcing overtime and outshooting the Canucks 37-24 provided some encouragement for a team struggling to hang onto a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
"I felt we probably deserved to win the game, but hockey's not like that, as you know," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said after practice Monday. "We've lost points in some previous games where you look like you had a point in the bag -- and maybe two points in the bag -- and they've gone away."
--Field Level Media
