ELMONT, N.Y. — The Islanders opened the second half of their season on Tuesday night against the Dallas Stars at UBS Arena and lost in a shootout. The score was tied at 1-1 after overtime, then the Stars outscored the Islanders in the shootout, 1-0, with the only scorer being the Stars’ Jason Robertson.
The Islanders (22-17-3) entered the game having played 10 of their last 14 games on the road, looking for a boost from a stretch of eight home games in their next 11, including five in a row starting with the Stars (25-11-6), who are in first place in the Central Division.
The Islanders had been 12-6-0 at home, sweeping a three game homestand between two lengthy, unimpressive road trips.
The Stars scored first, at 3:42 of the opening period, when Joe Pavelski passed from the left circle to an open Robertson in front of the Islanders net. He easily beat Ilya Sorokin for his 29th goal of the season.
The Islanders played well for long stretches in the period and were rewarded for it with a power play goal at 13:39.
With the Stars’ Radek Faksa off for tripping Alexander Romanov, Brock Nelson fed the puck toward the net and it bounded in off Anders Lee for the tying score.
The second period was scoreless.
The Islanders did have a power play chance when Lee was tripped at 13:49 by Joel Kiviranta, but they were unable to convert this time.
Then they got another when Joe Pavelski was called for holding a stick at 17:04. That power play, too, failed to yield an Islanders score.
The third period opened with Dallas on a power play because of a penalty on Cal Clutterbuck for using a broken stick late in the second.
(Clutterbuck had a goal in the final minute of the second period waved off because of an offside ruling on Anthony Beauvillier.)
About five minutes into the third, Sorokin made an excellent skate save on a wraparound attempt by Wyatt Johnston.
With 12 minutes left, Noah Dobson's shot hit the crossbar.
Lee had a great chance in front with nine minutes left, but Jake Oettinger gathered it in his goal crease.
Oettinger made a big save with two minutes left on a shot by J-G Pageau from the slot off a lovely feed from Hudson Fasching. It was one of several big saves Oettinger made in the waning seconds before he then stopped Mathew Barzal, Anthony Beauvillier and Brock Nelson in the shootout.
Both teams had good chances in the overtime, but the goalies were up to the task.
