Game Preview: NY Islanders vs Dallas Stars

Last Game

The NY Islanders are coming home after a four-game road trip that only saw them win one out of four games against some Pacific Division opponents, the last of which being a 4-1 loss to the Calgary Flames. The Islanders came out very flat in the first period, as shown on the scoresheet by them going down 3-1 quickly into the game. Semyon Varlamov did not have a good start at all which has been somewhat of a trend lately but was just alright for the rest of the game, making 17 saves on 21 shots. After going down 2-0 with tallies from Milan Lucic and Blake Coleman, Zach Parise got the Islanders on the board with his 12th of the season on a beautiful move and shot to cut the lead in half, but that was all the Isles could muster in their final game of that Western Canada stretch.

Contrarily, the Dallas Stars are coming off a dominating win of their own, beating down the Florida Panthers by a score of 5-1. They played a consistent game throughout the contest, and their young stars came out to play. Jason Robertson netted two goals, the second on a breakaway, to give him 27 and 28 on the season. Offseason acquisition Nils Lundkvist scored a power-play goal on a one-timer after a great feed from Wyatt Johnston, which proved to be the game-winner. Esa Lindell make the score 3-1 before Robertson scored his second of the game, and Miro Heiskanen added the empty netter late. Jake Oettinger was also rock solid, making 27 saves on 28 shots.

Historical Matchup

Last season these two teams split the season series, with the home team coming away with a win each time. They played their first game against the Stars fairly late in the season on March 19th, which was a very memorable night for Brock Nelson. After entering the third period the game was tied at one with goals from Ryan Pulock and Denis Gurianov, Nelson took over. He scored three goals in the third period to grab his fourth career hat trick and carry the Isles to a 4-2 victory. Nelson would also score in their next matchup in Dallas, along with JG Pageau in a 3-2 loss. Noah Dobson assisted on both tallies, and Varlamov made 37 saves on 40 shots in the loss.

This is their second meeting of the 2022-23 season, the first of which being an Islanders loss in Dallas by a score of 5-2. After Mat Barzal scored his first and second goals of the season to make it 2-1, it quickly fell off the rails when the Stars put four straight past Varlamov to overwhelm the blue and orange in the third period.

Players to Watch

Noah Dobson has certainly been the most consistent back-end scorer on the team with the most goals coming from the blue line. He has 10 goals already on the season, which is tied for 5th among all Isles players, to go with 14 assists for 24 points. Notably, he also leads the Islanders in TOI per game with 20:49 along with the injured Adam Pelech, which shows the trust the coaching staff has in him to make the right plays. However, he has been cold the last five games by not registering a point and has not hit the back of the net in his last 10. Look for him to try and break that streak tonight.

Jason Robertson has put the entire league on star watch during these past couple of seasons, and he is as much of a threat as anyone in the league to score at a high rate. It's rare that he plays a game where he does not register at least one point, with an astounding 57 points in 41 games. Earlier in the season he even had a Stars-record 18-game point streak. He has four goals in his last four games and 14 points in his last 10, and you could say the Islanders got off lucky last time they played with him only registering an assist.

Projected Lines

Islanders

Anders Lee-Mathew Barzal-Simon Holmstrom
Anthony Beauvillier-Brock Nelson-Josh Bailey
Zach Parise-JG Pageau-Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin- Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck

Alexander Romanov-Noah Dobson
Parker Wotherspoon-Scott Mayfield
Sebastian Aho- Ryan Pulock

Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlmov

Stars

Jason Robertson-Roope Hintz-Joe Pavelski
Fredrik Olofsson-Ty Dellandrea-Tyler Seguin
Jamie Benn-Wyatt Johnston-Mason Marchment
Joel Kiviranta-Radek Faksa-Luke Glendening

Miro Heiskanen-Colin Miller
Ryan Suter-Nils Lundkvist
Esa Lindell-Jani Hakanpaa

Jake Oettinger
Scott Wedgewood

*Lines courtesy of Daily Faceoff