The New York Islanders learned Sunday how competitive they could be with the NHL’s best team so far this season.
The Islanders will get a glimpse at how they compare to another elite team Tuesday night, when New York continues a seven-game road trip by visiting the Dallas Stars.
The Islanders’ bid for a perfect trip ended Sunday when they fell 4-1 to the Colorado Avalanche.
Jason Robertson collected a natural hat trick spanning the second and third periods Saturday night for the host Stars, who extended their winning streak to five games by beating the Philadelphia Flyers 5-1.
The Islanders’ defeat put a slight damper on an encouraging stretch. They opened their trek with four straight wins — their longest road winning streak since April 2017 — to vault into contention in the Eastern Conference. In the process, New York recorded three straight overtime road wins for the first time in franchise history.
The Islanders led the surging Avalanche — who have won six straight games and lead the NHL with 31 points — for more than 22 minutes bridging the first and second periods following Emil Heineman’s goal 2:05 into the game.
New York, which trailed in each of its previous three wins, almost forced overtime again Sunday. But Avalanche goalie Scott Wedgewood smothered a point-blank shot from the right faceoff circle by Bo Horvat with a little more than 90 seconds remaining.
Colorado’s Martin Necas scored an empty-netter with 35 seconds left before former New York star Brock Nelson tipped in Brent Burns’ shot 19 seconds later.
“It was a hard-fought game — I thought we played really well and their goaltender was the story of the game,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. “I mean, it was probably our best game of the road trip, to be honest.”
Horvat leads the Islanders in scoring with 12 goals and 23 points.
The Stars, who are tied for second in the NHL with 27 points, are bursting with self-confidence after outscoring the opposition 22-8 during their ongoing win streak, which began with comeback victories over the Nashville Predators, Seattle Kraken and Ottawa Senators.
There was little drama over the last two games for the Stars, who needed only 19 shots on net to rout the Montreal Canadiens 7-0 on Thursday and scored the first four goals against the Flyers on Saturday.
The back-to-back wins marked the first time Dallas scored at least 12 goals while allowing no more than one goal over a two-game span since Dec. 31, 2014 through Jan 3, 2015, when the Stars outscored the Arizona Coyotes and Minnesota Wild 13-1 in a pair of victories.
Philadelphia recorded 21 shots Saturday, tied for the fewest surrendered by Dallas this season. Lian Bichsel and Tyler Seguin scored to bookend Robertson’s hat trick for the Stars, who have received goals from 13 different players during their winning streak.
“I would say this was probably our most complete game from start to finish of the season,” Stars head coach Glen Gulutzan said. “With everything we’ve been trying to do here, I think we’re building into a well-rounded group right now.”
Mikko Rantanen, who has five goals and nine assists in eight November games, leads the Stars with 26 points (nine goals, 17 assists).
Stars captain Jamie Benn is set to be activated from long-term injured reserve and make his season debut against the Islanders. The 36-year-old forward missed 19 games as he recovered from surgery to repair a punctured lung suffered Sept. 23 in a preseason game against the Minnesota Wild.
–Field Level Media
