DALLAS _ The Islanders were simply out-Islandered.
The Stars play a similar game to the Islanders, at times low scoring but with an improved defensive effort, strong on the forecheck and in trying to get traffic to the crease.
They did all of that much more consistently on Saturday night as the Islanders opened a three-game road trip with a 3-1 loss at American Airlines Center.
It wasn't necessarily a complete clunker for the Islanders, certainly not like Tuesday night's no-show 4-2 loss at Montreal. But they need to be better.
The Islanders (19-7-2) are just 3-4-1 since their franchise record 15-0-2 streak was snapped in a 3-0 loss at Anaheim on Nov. 25. This trip doesn't get any easier in Florida as the Islanders face the Lightning on Monday night before ending against the Panthers three nights later.
The Stars (17-11-3) had scored just seven total goals in their previous five games.
Thomas Greiss made 34 saves as the Islanders' franchise-record goalie rotation extended to 28 games to start the season.
The Stars' Ben Bishop also made 34 saves. His bid for his first shutout this season ended as Mathew Barzal got to the crease to tip defenseman Devon Toews' shot from the blue line at 15:27 of the third period, bringing the Islanders within 3-1.
Trotz stuck with his redesigned lines from Thursday night's up-tempo 3-2 win over Vegas at NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum. That included having physical left Ross Johnston, normally a fourth-liner, on Barzal's top line along with Josh Bailey. Grinder Leo Komarov was on Brock Nelson's right wing along with Anthony Beauvillier and Derick Brassard was back at center for a second straight game, in between captain Anders Lee and Jordan Eberle.
"We tried to balance the lines out a little bit," Trotz said. "What was happening was, I'll use the term, trying to paint a Picasso when you just need to paint the barn. You understand we were trying to do things that aren't effective for us and aren't winning hockey. So, we tried to spread the wealth a little bit through the lines.
"We've got lots of travel, lots of games this month and you're going to have to go 14 deep," Trotz added. "You have to use everybody to have success."
The Stars took a 2-0 lead after a one-sided first period on goals from one player who hadn't scored this season and another who was a healthy scratch in their previous game.
Andrew Cogliano made it 1-0 at 11:59 with his first goal in 32 games dating to March 30 as he redirected defenseman Jamie Oleksiak's feed after former Islander Blake Comeau beat Casey Cizikas on an offensive-zone faceoff. Alexander Radulov, who did not dress for the Stars' 3-2 overtime win over the visiting Jets on Thursday night, connected with a power-play goal from above the circles at 16:02 after Barzal took an offensive-zone high-sticking penalty against Oleksiak.
Barzal then tripped Roope Hintz at 1:49 of the fast-moving second period, leading to Denis Gurianov's power-play goal to make it 3-0 at 3:12 as he got to the left post and deflected in Radulov's feed. The second period featured a continuous stretch of play of 10 minutes, 20 seconds until a stoppage at 14:54.
The Islanders actually started the game on the attack, with Johnston drawing a high-sticking call on Oleksiak at 1:52. They took the game's first three shots and had the first 11 attempts, six of them blocked by the Stars.
The Islanders may have some concern as defenseman Nick Leddy hobbled off the ice unable to put weight on his left skate with 90 seconds left in regulation.
