The Islanders' power play struggled right to the end. It even needed two goals on the final man advantage to get one to count.
But it was enough to eventually earn the Islanders a crucial 4-3 overtime win over the Stars on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.
Anthony Beauvillier's second goal of the game, a breakaway off a turnover, won it at 2:52 of overtime for the Islanders (30-15-6).
"I think we have a lot of character in this room and it showed tonight again," Beauvillier said. "A big power-play goal. It was a huge two points for us tonight."
The Islanders were 1-for-5 on the power play with 13 shots. But they didn't convert until their fifth opportunity. Mathew Barzal's between-the-skates shot just off the left post tied it at 3 at 16:01 of the third period.
At 14:33, an apparent power-play goal from Brock Nelson was overturned when the Stars (30-18-5) successfully challenged Anders Lee had interfered with Ben Bishop (37 saves).
"We were pretty calm," Barzal said about the Nelson non-goal. "At that point, you can't really do anything. I'm sure they got it right. A big bounce-back by our power play. I thought our power play was moving it well. We could've had a couple of more, but that's the way it goes. Tonight, we got a bounce and capitalized."
Semyon Varlamov made 28 saves for the Islanders, now 11-6 in games that go past regulation. They opened this three-game Brooklyn homestand with a 4-3 overtime loss to the Canucks on Saturday as Nelson tied it with 25.1 seconds left in the third period.
The Islanders went a franchise-record 15-0-2 from Oct. 12-Nov. 23 but are in a precarious position to secure a second straight playoff berth under coach Barry Trotz.
Entering Tuesday, they had slipped to fifth place in the Metropolitan Division, one point behind the Blue Jackets and in the second and final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, just one point ahead of both the Hurricanes and the Maple Leafs.
The Stars went ahead 3-2 at 6:56 of the third period as defenseman John Klingberg sent the puck on net from the right point and Varlamov tried to steer it to the corner with his stick rather than looking to smother it. Instead, the puck tipped up off his goalie stick and underneath the crossbar.
The Islanders dominated much of the first period against the Stars, coming off Monday night's 5-3 win over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, with an 18-8 shot advantage. They took a 1-0 lead at 1:30 as Beauvillier, who has three goals in three games and five in his last seven, took a feed from Jordan Eberle and beat Bishop with a backhander at the crease.
But the Islanders were unable to add to their lead after going 0-for-2 on the power play in the first period _ with four total shots.
The Islanders had two more failed power-play chances in the second period _ also with four total shots _ and the Stars took a 2-1 lead at 12:12 as Nelson turned the puck over in the offensive zone and Jason Dickinson, from the high slot, converted a three-on-two rush.
But Derick Brassard, with his first goal in 19 games dating to Dec. 17, tied the game at 2 at 13:38 on a sharp-angle shot from the left that banked in off Bishop. Kieffer Bellows, with the secondary assist, got his first career point.
