– The Islanders knew they had to stay disciplined against this Stars, whose power play ranked second in the league converting at 33.3% coming into the contest and had scored in eight straight games. The game’s first penalty came in the middle of the third period when Horvat took a double minor for high-sticking and the Isles were put to the test while protecting a 2-1 lead.
Not only did they shut down the Stars’ lethal power play, but they found offense to pad their lead, as Palmieri led a two-on-one rush and wristed home a shot past Oettinger at the 7:38 mark of the third. Palmieri’s shorthanded goal was the third of his career and first as an Islander and accounted for the Islanders’ fifth shorthanded goal of the season which leads the NHL.
Overall, the Isles went 3-for-3 on the PK on the night and have killed off 21-of-24 penalties through six games of the road trip.
“We did a really good job in the neutral zone not letting them set up,” Ryan Pulock said. “And when they did, we did a good job defending and got some really big saves by our goalie.”