Takeaways: Islanders Blanked 3-0 by Stars

The New York Islanders were shut out 3-0 by the Dallas Stars on Saturday night in the first game of a three-game Central Division road trip.

Tyler Seguin (2G) opened the scoring in the first period and sealed the deal with an empty netter, while Jamie Benn scored in the middle frame and Mason Marchment had a two-point game (2A). The Islanders outshot the Stars 34-27 in the loss, but Jake Oettinger was rock solid, recording his 11th career shutout, while Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves in his second straight start.

Despite the result, Head Coach Patrick Roy saw improvement in his team in the areas of having more energy and handling the puck better compared to their season opener on Thursday night, where they dropped a 5-4 decision in overtime to the Utah Hockey Club.

“I thought tonight we had better jump and were moving well on the ice,” Roy said. “If we could just fix our turnovers coming out of our d-zone we’ll be fine. We had a lot of good looks, couple posts here and there, so if we keep playing like this I know we’ll win our share of games.”

The Islanders were solid out of the gate but came up empty handed, allowing the Stars to jump on the board first. Tyler Seguin capitalized on having time and space in the slot to wrist one past Semyon Varlamov to open the scoring 7:59 into the game, with Mason Marchment and Matt Duchene picking up the assists.

Varlamov had a flashy glove save on Logan Stankoven early in the second period to keep it 1-0, but the Stars doubled the lead later in the period when Captain Jamie Benn beat Varlamov over the blocker at 10:58, taking advantage of a Kyle Palmieri-Max Tsyplakov miscue in front of the net. One of the Isles’ best chances came early in the third period, where Bo Horvat picked up a Scott Mayfield rebound but banked off the post, but Seguin eventually potted his second goal of the night with an empty netter to make it 3-0.

Jake Oettinger made all 34 saves in the win, including 14 in the third period when the Isles pushed the pace. Though Oettinger had a solid performance and made quality saves, the Islanders could have tested him with more rebounds and traffic in front of the net in the first two periods.

“He’s a big goalie and he was making the first save, but I think we could have done a better job getting to the second opportunities,” Kyle Palmieri said. We had a lot of shots, but some of them were just outside. We could have given him a tougher night.”

PENALTY KILL IMPROVES

The Islanders saw some improvement shorthanded, successfully fending off both penalties after going 0-for-2 on Thursday night in their season opener.

The penalty kill was a point of emphasis for the Islanders heading into the game, and Roy pointed out an improved attention to detail.

“I thought we were more aggressive. I thought we did a good job putting our sticks in lanes and pressing them at the right time,” said Roy. “I thought it was a good game for us, going two-for-two.”

ODDS AND ENDS:

• Kyle Palmieri and Bo Horvat tied for the team lead with four shots on goal.

• Noah Dobson and Alexander Romanov tied for the team lead with four blocked shots.

• Kyle MacLean went 8-for-11 (73%) in the dot.

• The Islanders generated 11 high-danger chances at five-on-five, per Natural Stat Trick, while limiting Dallas to six.

NOTABLE QUOTE:

“There’s going to be times in games where teams make pushes and you have to stick together as a group,” Casey Cizikas said. “I thought we did that tonight, but we just weren’t able to find the back of the net.”

NEXT GAME:

The Islanders head further west to take on the Colorado Avalanche on Monday. Puck drop is 9 p.m. eastern.