The Islanders arrived at Barclays Center seeking redemption Wednesday against the same Stars team that smacked them 5-0 in Dallas last month.
Instead the Islanders received a similar punishment, just in a different venue.
Looking like they were playing the second night of a back-to-back instead of the first, the Islanders came out flat and never recovered in a 5-2 loss.
“I remember the game in Dallas, we were just flat and none of us had our legs that night and we couldn’t get going and they completely dominated us,” Anders Lee said. “I didn’t feel like they dominated us tonight. I think it was more they capitalized on their opportunities.”
Coming off his best game of the year, Jaroslav Halak allowed a pair of first-period goals and two more in the first 9:21 of the second period. His night ended early as coach Doug Weight pulled him after the fourth goal for Thomas Greiss.
“It’s frustrating,” coach Doug Weight said. “We’re all frustrated. I’m sure [Halak] is too. We want to get a roll together.”
Lee made sure the Islanders didn’t get shut out 5-0 again, scoring his 18th and 19th goals of the year in the third period as he cleaned up a pair of rebounds, though it served as little consolation.
Just as they did to the Rangers two nights earlier, the Stars jumped on the Islanders early with a big advantage in shots. Tyler Pitlick made it a 1-0 lead 7:37 into the game when he tucked home a rebound after a puck ricocheted off the end boards.
The Stars’ second goal was one Halak likely wanted back as soon as it trickled through his pads. As he looked back to find the puck after Alexander Radulov wristed a shot on net, it slid past the goal line to give the Stars a 2-0 lead at 15:46 of the first.
“We should have been up 2-0 in the first period and had a lot of chances,” Weight said. “It wasn’t a Rembrandt, but we were part of it. We generated enough to win the game, that’s just how I see it.”
The Islanders got just five shots on net in the second period — though two more hit the pipes — while the Stars continued to fire away.
Remi Elie slapped home a rebound on a delayed penalty for the Stars’ third goal just over a minute in and then Jamie Benn ended Halak’s night when he ripped a wrister that got through to make it a 4-0 lead.
“Some things didn’t go our way, but certainly I don’t think we helped ourselves,” said John Tavares, who notched a pair of assists. “The first half of the game, we just seemed a little sluggish.”
The Stars even got to Greiss, just 21 seconds into the third period as Pitlick redirected a shot fired in by John Klingberg from the point.
Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen stole the spotlight instead, making 32 saves — including a few clutch ones when it was still a 1-0 game — to record his 300th career win.
“It was one of those nights,” Cal Clutterbuck said. “We hit like six posts, they hit three, they went in, ours didn’t. … You have nights like that. It is what it is.”
Halak was coming off his best game of the year, when he made 31 saves Monday in a 3-1 win over the Capitals, though the momentum was short-lived.
Up next? A trip to Columbus, where on Thursday the Islanders will again face a team that beat them 5-0. That came on opening night.
“The sun will come up,” Weight said, “and we gotta get back to work.”