NHL News

Home

Teams

Quizzes

Newsletter

The New York Islanders celebrate a shorthanded goal scored by center Kyle Palmieri against the Dallas Stars (Jerome Miron-Imagn Images)

3 Takeaways From Stars’ 3-2 Loss to Islanders

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers | By Marc Sautter | Last updated Nov 19, 2025 1:15 PM ET

The Dallas Stars‘ five-game winning streak was snapped on Tuesday night after a 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders at American Airlines Center. This was a game of two halves. The first half was sleepy, to say the least. The first period ended with the shots tied 10-10, but almost all of them came in the last half of the opening 20 minutes. Entering the third period, the shots were tied at 15-15.

The first goal of the night came near the halfway mark of the contest, at 10:31 of the second period, and the second goal came two minutes later. After that, the floodgates opened, and the second half of the game became more open, leading to a chaotic, goal and penalty-filled final period.

There’s a lot to get to, so let’s dive in.

Too Little, Too Late from Stars

The Stars entered the third period tied 1-1 in a game that no team had grabbed by the proverbial horns. Bo Horvat scored the go-ahead goal at 3:12 on a play that seemed innocent enough. Regardless, with more than half the period remaining, the Stars had more than enough time to get back into the contest. We know by now that they are never out of a game.

Halfway through the period, the perfect opportunity presented itself when Horvat received a four-minute high-sticking penalty and a 10-minute misconduct. Any team with an extended power play is a threat, but the Stars are especially so, with the second-best power play in the NHL at 31.9%.

Well, that quickly went out the window as the Islanders did what they have done four times now: score shorthanded and zap any momentum the opposing team had generated. Not only that, but Jamie Benn got a high-sticking penalty of his own on a phantom call a short time later.

The no-quit Stars struck again, however, as Jason Robertson brought his team to within one at 18:01, which put the Stars in position to, at least, grab a point from a game that seemed out of reach.

In the dying seconds, the Stars were down a man, after Mikko Rantanen was called for boarding (more on that later), but they pulled goaltender Jake Oettinger to keep the game 5-on-5. With 0.1 seconds remaining, Wyatt Johnston tied the game, sending the ACC into a frenzy. However, upon further review, the goal was called back due to goaltender interference by Robertson.

As it goes with goalie interference calls, this one seemed subjective and controversial, especially with 0.1 left on the clock. Robertson’s path was clearly through the crease, but it was equally clear that he was guided into Islanders’ netminder David Rittich towards the end of the play.

Rittich sold that play pretty hard, as the Islanders had done seemingly all night long. Sure, I’m pandering to the Dallas faithful a little bit, but if you watched the game, it’s obvious. At the same time, I’m not mad at it. You do what you have to do to get a call, and let the refs ultimately make their decisions.

Regardless, it was too little, too late for the Stars. They’ve made a habit of either going big and letting a game slip away or falling behind and crawling back. It hasn’t bitten them too badly yet, but it cost them on Tuesday night.

Scorching Hot Power Play Cooled When Stars Needed It Most

As we touched on earlier, the Stars’ power play has been a force this season, ranked second in the NHL at 31.9%, and 35.5% in November. So, with the game on the line, a four-minute power play is exactly what the doctor ordered. Unfortunately, the puck ended up in their own net instead.

At 13:08 of the third, around five minutes after the previously mentioned incident, Matthew Schaefer clipped Robertson with a high stick to put the Stars back on the man advantage. Well, 81 seconds later, Robertson took a high-sticking penalty of his own to negate Dallas’ power play. Even without the shorthanded goal and ending their power-play opportunity with penalties of their own, their power play did not look efficient or purposeful with the game on the line.

Robertson Doing Robertson Things

Last week, we spoke about Robertson’s tough start offensively, which is what he has always done best. After opening the season with only three goals, he has broken out of his shell with seven goals in his last four games, including two last night.

There’s not much to add here. When Robertson is clicking, the team’s offense becomes multidimensional in a way that is really hard to stop. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case in the last two games. Robertson has scored five of the Stars’ last seven goals, and his two on Tuesday were not enough to get the job done.

Rantanen Not Disciplined

The news this morning is that Rantanen will not be disciplined further for his boarding penalty against Islanders defenseman Alexander Romanov. Rantanen received a five-minute major and a game misconduct, and the league felt that was enough.

There’s a circulating debate about whether it was intentional or not, and historically, Rantanen is not that kind of player. However, there’s no debate as to how Islanders coach Patrick Roy felt about it.

“Well, I hope (Ramanov)’s going to be okay at this moment,” Roy said after the game. “I don’t know exactly what it is. All I’m going to say is, when you see the number, you have to lay off. Everybody knows that. You don’t go through the guy. And I’m proud of the way that our guys handled it afterwards. No one was happy to see someone get hurt like this.”

What’s Next for the Stars

The Stars start a four-game West Coast road trip on Thursday night in British Columbia against the Vancouver Canucks. They will play the Calgary Flames on Saturday, followed by the Edmonton Oilers and Seattle Kraken on Tuesday and Wednesday next week.