NY Islanders Doomed by Sloppy Finish Against Dallas Stars

The New York Islanders had an ugly third period against the Dallas Stars.

Oct 25, 2026; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Stars left wing Jason Robertson (21) scores a goal on New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin (30) during the third period at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The New York Islanders and Dallas Stars have been two of the NHL's best defensive teams so far in the 2026-27 season.

Naturally, when they matched up against each other on Sunday evening, an explosive offensive game ensued. Nine goals were scored in the high-scoring affair, but the Islanders were on the wrong side of the shootout, losing 6-3.

New York hung with the Stars for the first two periods of the game, but stumbled in the third. Dallas scored three unanswered goals to pull away as the Islanders hurt themselves down the stretch.

“That's a winnable game going into the third period, and we had some self-inflicted stuff tonight,” Islanders Head Coach Pete DeBoer said, via Tyler Brosious of NHL.com. “That's probably the most rush chances we've given up the entire year in one game.”

Islanders fall apart down the stretch against the Stars

Oct 25, 2026; Dallas, Texas, USA; New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin (30) makes a save on Dallas Stars left wing Jason Robertson (21) during the third period at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The loss snapped a five-game point streak for New York, who had been 3-0-2 during that stretch. The Islanders showed a lot of resiliency through the first 40 minutes, responding each time the Stars scored a goal.

First, it was Tyler Seguin who scored for Dallas, which was followed up by a goal from Matthew Schaefer, his second of the season. Not even a minute later, Jason Robertson beat Ilya Sorokin to get the Stars the lead back.

In the second period, Kyle Palmieri found the back of the net to even the score at 2-2. Justin Hryckowian would give Dallas a 3-2 lead before Brayden Schenn tied it up with 2:25 remaining in the period.

Then, it all came crashing down for New York in the final 20 minutes.

“We battled hard for two periods, but didn’t play a smart third period,” Schenn said. “We turned over too many pucks and let them come at us.”

Wyatt Johnson scored the first goal of the period for the Stars, followed by a second goal from Robertson and Mikko Rantanen to finish off the scoring for the evening.

Hear from Kyle Palmieri, Matthew Schaefer and Head Coach Pete DeBoer after tonight's game.

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) October 26, 2026

Attempting to even the game up again, the Islanders opened things up, and Dallas took full advantage, winning loose pucks in the neutral zone or creating turnovers and making high-danger chances out of them as a result.

“They turned those loose pucks and those clean breakouts into odd-man rushes,” Palmieri said.

The first two periods were certainly encouraging, but as DeBoer noted, when playing against the upper-echelon teams, self-inflicted wounds of that nature are going to come back to bite them.

“Some stuff you have to clean up, and the lesson in that is we can't play that game against good teams,” DeBoer said.

The Islanders will be back on the ice for the second game of their three-game road trip on Tuesday, Oct. 27, against the Nashville Predators.