Jason Robertson drove the Dallas Stars through a wild first 40 minutes and then helped put the New York Islanders away in the third, scoring twice in a 6-3 win at American Airlines Center on Sunday. Dallas has now won five straight and is 7-3-1 after taking the third game of its six-game homestand.
Dallas turns a tied game into another win
The clubs traded momentum through two periods, entering the third tied 3-3, but the Stars found another gear when the game tightened up. Wyatt Johnston snapped the deadlock at 4:10, firing a wrist shot from the slot for his goal-and-assist night.
Robertson then gave Dallas breathing room at 9:45. Tyler Seguin sent him away with a stretch pass, and Robertson finished the breakaway for a 5-3 lead. Mikko Rantanen completed the scoring at 13:02, taking a drop pass from Lian Bichsel and beating Ilya Sorokin with a wrist shot.
“I thought we handled the puck well in the third,” Robertson said. “We stayed fairly sound defensively, got a few breaks in the neutral zone and came back on the attack.”
Robertson has posted three goals and five assists during a four-game multipoint run. Seguin and Johnston each finished with a goal and an assist, while Roope Hintz supplied two assists. Jake Oettinger stopped 17 shots.
- Dallas scored three unanswered goals in the third period.
- Robertson’s second-period goal and third-period breakaway gave him his latest two-goal outing.
- Rantanen’s late goal was the 322nd of his NHL career.
- That total moved Rantanen ahead of Olli Jokinen for third place among Finland-born NHL goal scorers.
Rush chances shape the opening two periods
Seguin opened the scoring at 11:31 of the first, converting a 2-on-1 with Jamie Benn. The Islanders answered during 4-on-4 play when Matthew Schaefer came down the left wing and snapped a shot over Oettinger’s right shoulder at 13:43.
Robertson restored the Dallas lead just 49 seconds later. He intercepted Brayden Schenn’s attempted pass behind the Islanders net, pulled into the slot area and beat Sorokin from close range with a wrist shot.
Schaefer’s goal carried historic weight. The 19-year-old defenseman reached 25 goals in 93 NHL games, passing Bobby Orr for second-most goals by a teenage defenseman in League history.
New York pulled even again at 4:01 of the second period. Ryan Pulock’s shot from the point caromed off the end boards, and Kyle Palmieri collected the rebound before sliding a backhand past a scrambling Oettinger.
Justin Hryckowian put Dallas ahead 3-2 on the power play at 10:52, backhanding in a rebound after Thomas Harley’s point shot bounced off the boards above the goal line. Anthony Duclair set up Schenn’s response at 17:45, feeding the puck from behind the net to the edge of the crease for a quick shot that tied it again.
Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan liked the Stars’ ability to seize the available odd-man looks, even if the game occasionally became too open.
“There were plenty of 2-on-1s,” Gulutzan said. “The idea was not to force plays when they had numbers back, but to make the most of the rushes when they did not. It turned into a rush game at times, but I thought our group managed it well.”
Gulutzan said the Islanders had a strong 10-minute stretch in the second, but felt Dallas executed at a much higher level once the third period began.
Islanders’ streak ends in DeBoer’s return
The Islanders arrived with points in five consecutive games, going 3-0-2 over that stretch, but fell to 5-4-2 after allowing Dallas too much room in transition. Palmieri, Schaefer and Schenn scored, Bo Horvat recorded two assists, and Sorokin made 32 saves.
The game marked the return of Islanders coach Peter DeBoer to Dallas, where he coached the Stars for three seasons from 2022 through 2025.
“We created some of our own problems,” DeBoer said. “That may have been the most rush opportunities we have allowed in a game all year. Against a good team, that is not a style we can play. There are things to correct.”
Schenn pointed to Dallas’ speed when the Islanders surrendered transition opportunities.
“They are a strong team with a lot of skill,” Schenn said. “If you give them transition, they come at you with speed.”
Palmieri said New York needed to end more plays in its own end and improve its puck exits.
- New York’s five-game point streak came to an end.
- Sorokin faced 38 Dallas shots and stopped 32.
- The Islanders were tied after the first period and again after 40 minutes, but could not contain Dallas in the final frame.
Dallas debuts and injuries ahead of Tuesday
Forwards Dylan Hryckowian and Matthew Seminoff made their NHL debuts for the Stars. Hryckowian started alongside his older brother, Justin, and was plus-1 in 10:03 of ice time. Seminoff logged 8:53 and registered two shots on goal.
Dallas played without Radek Faksa, who is dealing with a lower-body injury after leaving Thursday’s 3-2 overtime win against the Winnipeg Jets during the third period. Sam Steel also missed the game with an undisclosed injury and received an injection as part of his treatment on Friday.
Both Faksa and Steel could remain out when the Stars continue the homestand Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils.
