Bo Horvat scored on a breakaway 41 seconds into overtime on Sunday night for the New York Islanders, who won Patrick Roy’s debut as head coach by edging the Dallas Stars 3-2 in Elmont, N.Y.
Mathew Barzal created a turnover by checking Matt Duchene deep in the Islanders’ zone before dishing to Horvat, who descended upon Scott Wedgewood and went to the backhand to snap the Islanders’ four-game losing streak.
Lane Lambert was fired as the Islanders’ coach on Saturday and was replaced by Roy, the Hall of Fame goaltender who hadn’t coached in the NHL since his three-season stint with the Colorado Avalanche ended in 2016.
Alexander Romanov and Hudson Fasching also scored for the Islanders, while goalie Ilya Sorokin made 41 saves.
Jason Robertson and Nils Lundkvist scored in the second period for the Stars, who lost for the third time in eight games (5-2-1). Wedgewood recorded 24 saves.
A turnover by the Stars led to Romanov’s goal just 2:52 after the opening faceoff. Noah Dobson checked Evgenii Dadonov deep in the Islanders’ zone to pry the puck free from the right winger. Romanov picked up the puck and dished it in the neutral zone to Barzal, who passed back to Romanov in the Dallas zone before Romanov scored from the lower left faceoff circle.
The Stars scored twice in less than four minutes during the back half of the second period to move in front.
A pass by Radek Faksa glanced off Robertson’s stick but bounced to Joe Pavelski, who immediately backhanded a feed to Robertson as he streaked into the slot. Robertson almost lost control of the puck but managed to corral it, then shuffled to his forehand before beating Sorokin from point-blank range at the 11:35 mark.
Lundkvist put the Stars ahead with 4:52 left. Pavelski sent a pass down the right side, where Sam Steel beat Brock Nelson to the puck before screeching to a stop near the goal line and turning and passing to Lundkvist, who fired a shot from well above the right faceoff circle past Sorokin.
Nelson picked up a loose puck deep in the Stars’ zone to begin the sequence that ended with Fasching redirecting Dobson’s shot for the game-tying goal at the 5:23 mark of the third.
–Field Level Media