Stars vs. Islanders: Jason Robertson's Two Goals Spoil Pete DeBoer's Return to Dallas

For two periods, the New York Islanders kept doing the annoying thing. Dallas would score, and New York would tie it. Three times. Then the third period arrived, the Stars stopped trading goals and started stacking them, and Pete DeBoer's return to American Airlines Center ended the way his old team wanted.

Jason Robertson scored twice, Dallas rattled off three unanswered goals in the final period, and the Stars beat the Islanders 6-3 on Sunday for their fifth straight win. For DeBoer, who coached the Stars for three seasons before Dallas let him go in June 2025, it was a homecoming with a sour finish.

"I thought we possessed the puck pretty well in the third," Robertson said, per NHL.com. "Kept it pretty tight defensively, and then some bounces went our way in the neutral zone, and we just come back and attack."

Three Leads, Three Answers

This was a track meet from the start. Tyler Seguin opened the scoring at 11:31 of the first by finishing a 2-on-1 with Jamie Benn. With the teams playing 4-on-4 a couple of minutes later, 19-year-old Matthew Schaefer flew down the left side and beat Jake Oettinger high at 13:43 to tie it.

That goal carried real weight. The teenage defenseman passed Bobby Orr for the second-most goals by a teenage defenseman in NHL history, according to NHL.com. He now has 25 goals in 93 games.

The tie lasted 49 seconds. Still at 4-on-4, Robertson broke up a Brayden Schenn pass behind the net, walked out front and solved Ilya Sorokin from close range, glove side, for an unassisted goal and a 2-1 lead.

The middle period was more of the same. Kyle Palmieri tied it at 4:01 by cashing a lucky carom: Ryan Pulock's shot from the point skipped off the end boards onto his stick, and his backhand beat Oettinger before the goalie could get set. Justin Hryckowian put Dallas back on top on the power play at 10:52, backhanding home a Thomas Harley shot that bounced off the boards. Then Anthony Duclair worked the puck out from behind the net to Schenn above the crease, and Schenn's quick release beat Oettinger blocker side at 17:45. Three Dallas leads, three Islanders answers, 3-3 after 40 minutes.

Dallas coach Glen Gulutzan admitted the Islanders had their moments. "They had a 10-minute stretch in the second I thought they were better than us," he said.

The Third Period Was a Different Movie

Everything changed at 4:10 of the third. Nils Lundkvist found Wyatt Johnston in the slot, and Johnston snapped a wrist shot past Sorokin for a 4-3 lead. After scoring a career-high 45 goals last season, Johnston went without a goal in his first seven games this year. Now he has goals in back-to-back games, and this one was the game-winner.

That is the hinge of the night. The Islanders had erased every deficit to that point. Once Johnston's goal went in, New York never scored again.

Seguin sprang Robertson with a long pass at 9:45, and the breakaway finish gave Dallas its first two-goal cushion of the game. At 13:02, Mikko Rantanen took a drop pass from Lian Bichsel and wired a wrist shot for his team-leading sixth goal. That was also the 322nd goal of Rantanen's career, moving him past Olli Jokinen for the third-most by a Finland-born player in NHL history.

"I thought our third, we executed at a high level and created some chances and scored on them," Gulutzan said.

Robertson Stays Hot

Robertson's two goals give him eight points over a four-game multipoint streak, with three goals and five assists in that span. He framed the breakout as a matter of finally cashing in. "That's just a shot of confidence for everyone in the locker room," he said.

Seguin had a goal and an assist, Johnston had a goal and an assist, and Roope Hintz chipped in two assists. Hryckowian's goal came on a special night for his family business: his younger brother, Dylan, made his NHL debut and started alongside him, according to the AP.

Oettinger made 16 saves on 19 shots. Sorokin stopped 32 of 38, and the AP noted the six goals were the most he has allowed this season.

On the Islanders' side, Bo Horvat had two assists, and Schaefer logged 26:16 of ice time. Schenn summed up the problem. "When you give them transition, they come at you at full speed," he said.

Stats That Matter

• 38-19: Dallas' shot advantage, a two-to-one edge that eventually broke New York.
• 29-9: the Islanders' edge in hits. Hits tend to pile up for the team chasing the puck.
• 20: consecutive penalties killed by Dallas over its last five games, including three on Sunday, per the AP.
• 3: unanswered Dallas goals in the third period.
• 5: straight wins for the Stars.

Where Both Teams Stand

Dallas improved to 7-3-1 with 15 points. The win was the third game of a six-game homestand, and the Stars host New Jersey on Tuesday.

The Islanders slipped to 5-4-2 with 12 points. Their five-game point streak is over, and they have lost two straight for the first time this season. This was also the start of a three-game Central Division trip, which continues in Nashville on Tuesday. DeBoer was blunt about the defensive breakdowns. "That's probably the most rush chances we've given up the entire year in one game," he said, adding that "we can't play that game against good teams."

Palmieri agreed. "I think we could've been tighter in our D-zone, ended more plays," he said.

The Closing Take

Every coach eventually gets the reunion episode, walking back into the building where he used to run the show. DeBoer's Islanders gave his old team a real fight for 40 minutes, but the third period belonged to his old team.

"We had some self-inflicted stuff tonight," DeBoer said. In Dallas, the Stars will happily take the gift.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Postgame quotes from NHL.com's game recap; additional details as reported by the Associated Press and NHL.com.