In Dallas, the Stars came out of the second period tied with the New York Islanders on Saturday, they drilled three goals in the third period to take a 5-2 win.
Jamie Benn, Jason Robertson, and Jani Hakanpaa (empty net) were the third period strikers for Dallas.
“Every time I showed up at work this summer after I took the job, he was the first guy in the gym,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said of Benn. “He was the first guy at training, he was the first guy trying to get quicker. Nobody put more work in than him coming into this season. I think you get what you put in sometimes. He’s playing fantastic.”
Dallas improved to 11-5-2.
Jake Oettinger made 27 saves. in the Stars win.
“I think [Oettinger] kept us in it for as long as we needed,” said Benn. “Every time we scored a goal, they kind of found a way to get some momentum back, and we finally broke through in the third (period) there.”
The Isles Mathew Barzal hit for a pair of goals in the middle frame.
“We all knew it was coming,” Islanders captain Anders Lee said. “He’s gotten those looks before. So now we can stop worrying about that and start seeing him do it more often. I don’t think it was as big a deal as it got made up.”
The Islanders dropped to 11-8-0.
“I’m excited to score whether it’s my first or my fifth,” Barzal said. “I know you guys were making a deal of [not having a goal], but I wasn’t bothered for a second. It’s literally just about making an impact and helping the team win. That’s really it.”
Radek Faksa and Mason Marchment traded goals with Brazil in the second period for the 2-2 tie.
“That was a gutsy win tonight,” Dallas’ Tyler Seguin said. “Missing a few guys, missing probably our best player in Roope, some guys having long days, and some guys sick. Just a weird day coming off a long road trip. Gutsy win.”
Semyon Varlamov made 30 saves in the Islanders loss.
“We started better for sure,” said New York coach Lane Lambert, whose team trailed 3-1 midway through the first period of its previous game, a 5-4 loss at the Nashville Predators on Thursday. “We didn’t finish strong enough in the third period. As a result, we failed to get the result we wanted in a game that I think we could have won.”
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