It was expected to be a high-scoring, back and forth affair on Saturday night and the Dallas Stars and New York Islanders certainly delivered. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the outcome the Stars needed or wanted.
Defensive miscues were the story once again early in the game, with the Islanders taking advantage of some defensive zone hesitation to open the scoring 5:11 into the game.
Vernon Fiddler would then get the Stars right back on board after picking up a rebound off Islanders goalie Chad Johnson’s pads, and it seemed Dallas really grabbed back the momentum in the game after the goal. The Stars would draw two late penalties in the first period and get two power plays back to back — instead of taking the lead, however, Dallas would cough up the puck and give up a deadly shorthanded goal.
The Islanders jumped back on the Stars again early in the second period and took a 3-1 lead 1:25 into the middle frame and it seemed a rout could be in the making. The Stars top line had other ideas.
Goals by Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza just 1:25 apart midway through the game, tying the game and giving the Stars what seemed to be full control of the game — that would extend to Roussel giving the Stars the lead after another goal stemming from crashing down on the net.
As has been the case in back-to-back games over the past few seasons, goaltending didn’t help the Stars. Just 30 seconds after the Stars took the lead it was given right back, when Lubomir Visnovsky shot a puck seemingly through Anders Lindback to tie the game. A bad pinch then led to a 2-on-1 with only Jyrki Jokipakka back, and Nikolay Kulemin ripped the go-ahead goal over a crouched Lindback.
Another goal off the rush for the Islanders a few minutes later seemingly sealed the deal, but a great play by Colton Sceviour to Shawn Horcoff made it a one-goal game once more. Unfortunately, overcoming two separate two-goal deficits in the same game proved to be too much and the Stars dropped another tough game in Long Island, 7-5, after a last-second empty net goal.