DALLAS _ In a crucial game, the Islanders didn't just pull themselves together in the third period. They freight-trained the Stars and hung on for a huge victory.
The Isles scored three times in the third to erase a one-goal deficit and beat Dallas, 5-4, for their second win in 20 games this season when trailing after two periods.
Nick Leddy tied the score 25 seconds into the third when Stars goaltender Antti Niemi turned aside Leddy's slapper from the point but the puck banked off the lively end boards, off the back of Niemi's leg and in.
Dennis Seidenberg sneaked a wrist shot through traffic at 7:46, his first goal in 44 games, to give the Isles a 4-3 lead. Defense partner Calvin de Haan made the play by pinching down the wall to keep the play alive in the Stars zone.
And Leddy used his speed to blow by two Stars and send a pass in front to Nikolay Kulemin for a tap in at 9:29 that gave the Isles a two-goal lead. The Islanders had the first 10 shots on goal of the third, dominating play in a game that had too many defensive lapses in the second period as the Isles fell behind by a pair.
The Isles didn't make it easy on themselves, giving up a short-handed goal to Jamie Benn with 2:51 left to cut the lead to one. Thomas Greiss made three big saves with the Stars' net empty in the final minute to preserve the two points.
The Islanders had the quantity on offensive-zone time and scoring chances, but the Stars had the quality in taking a 3-2 lead into the third.
The two defensive-zone gaffes by the Islanders in the middle period led to wide-open Stars players in dangerous spots, where Greiss was helpless. The first, with the game even at 1-1, came when Radek Faksa neatly skated by an attempted hip check by Scott Mayfield at the Islander line to get the puck into the zone.
Mayfield raced to cover the front of the net as Patrick Sharp got the puck on the opposite wall and no one took Faksa, who received Sharp's pass and snapped it home at 7:33 of the second to put the Islanders behind.
Just 2:41 later the Stars expanded their lead. Dallas dumped the puck in, Greiss went behind his net to play it and Mayfield didn't see which way Greiss was going with the puck. Tyler Seguin sent it to the right point and John Klingberg sent another diagonal pass down to Jason Spezza, who was all by himself to Greiss' right for another easy put-away.
Doug Weight briefly shuffled his forward lines and one of the new alignments pulled the Isles back to a goal down at 14:49. Josh Bailey worked the puck off Greg Pateryn below the Stars' goal line and fed Ryan Strome, who cut around Niemi and hit the side of the net. Andrew Ladd was there to bat the rebound over the line.
Ho-Sang and his abundant offensive skills helped create a couple chances to tie in the latter stages of the second, the best coming when the rookie hopped the bench and was alone in front as Kulemin stole the puck. But Kulemin's centering feed went into Ho-Sang's skates.
Ho-Sang had a strong first in his NHL debut, as did his team. The Islanders were aggressive in the first, working the puck in deep and around the offensive zone. Greiss was especially strong as well, denying Seguin on a backhand by swatting the shot away out of midair.
Right after that save, Jason Chimera deflected a pass just inside the Isles line and Strome was off to the races, beating three Stars down the ice and then Niemi through the pads at 9:29.
But with 7.4 seconds to go in the first and a Stars power play winding down, Spezza undressed Leddy on a rush and Seguin found Benn in the slot for a ripper past Greiss to send the Isles into the intermission even.
