The Dallas Stars nearly pulled off a miraculous comeback with less than two minutes remaining in regulation of their game against the New York Islanders Tuesday night, but the game-tying goal was taken off the board.
The Stars fell 3-2 in regulation to the Islanders at American Airlines Center. Wyatt Johnston scored a shorthanded goal with 0.1 seconds remaining on the clock to tie the game at 3-3, but after a review, the goal was taken off the board due to a goaltender interference call on Jason Robertson. Robertson was pushed by Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock into goaltender David Rittich.
The Stars trailed 3-1 with 1:59 remaining in regulation before Robertson gave them life. The Stars’ forward scored his second goal of the night, finishing off Tyler Seguin’s shot, to bring the game within one. Dallas nearly found the equalizer to force overtime.
Robertson scored both of Dallas’ goals of the night. The Stars fell behind just past the halfway point of the game when Calum Ritchie scored on a one-timer from the slot. But less than two minutes later, Robertson found the equalizing goal on a give-and-go with Tyler Seguin.
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Bo Horvat put the Islanders up early in the third on a loose rebound in front of Jake Oettinger, and Kyle Palmieri made it a two-goal game with his shorty. But Robertson responded with less than two minutes left.
Robertson, who was the NHL’s first star of the week last week, has now scored eight goals and 11 points in the last four games. He has scored two or more goals in his last three games.
The Stars had plenty of chances to tie the game earlier in the third, but their red hot power play cooled off and made a fatal mistake.
The Islanders scored a shorthanded goal to put the game out of reach while on a four-minute penalty kill late in the third period after Oskar Back drew a high-sticking penalty. The Stars trailed 2-1 at the time with a chance to tie the game on a lengthy power play but instead gave up a shorthanded goal to Palmieri less than a minute into the man advantage.
Before Tuesday, Dallas’ power play was on an eight-game scoring streak. The Stars had the second-best power play in the league, converting at 33.3%.
The Stars had another chance later in the third when Matthew Schaefer was flagged for high-sticking against Robertson, but Robertson took a hooking penalty while on the power play to even the ice at 4-on-4. The Stars finished 0-for-3 on the power play.
Dallas also took a penalty that could prove costly. With 27.3 seconds left in the game, Mikko Rantanen boarded Alexander Romanov, who needed to be helped off the ice. Rantanen was assessed a major and a game misconduct. The NHL Department of Player Safety could choose to take further action against the Stars’ leader in points.
Oettinger finished with 19 saves in the loss. The Stars were especially shorthanded defensively, as Thomas Harley, Ilya Lyubushkin and Nils Lundkvist were all out with injuries. Vladislav Kolyachonok made his Stars’ debut, skating for 9:29 after joining the Stars’ organization in July on a trade for Matt Dumba with Pittsburgh.
However, the Stars did return captain Jamie Benn to the lineup for the first time this season. The captain missed the first 19 games of the season recovering from surgery for a collapsed lung but skated for 9:46 with one shot on goal and four hits in his season debut.