*Photo from Lighthouse Hockey*
Welcome back to the NHL coach. Noah Dobson had two assists, Bo Horvat scored in overtime, and the New York Islanders defeated the Dallas Stars 3-2 in overtime on Sunday night on Long Island.
The Islanders picked up just their 3rd win in 10 games by beating the Stars at home. Dobson and Mathew Barzal were the multi point players as they won the first game coached by Patrick Roy, hired by the Islanders after they fired Lane Lambert.
Roy said of the win that "You always want to win that first game. And I'm very thankful to our players for the effort that they put out there, and I was just hoping to give a good show to our fans as well and have them enjoy their night."
The only goal of the first period came from the Islanders. Alexander Romanov scored his 5th goal of the season 2:52 into the game with assists coming from Dobson and Barzal. Jason Robertson scored 11:35 into the second period to tie the game 1-1. Nils Lundkvist added his second goal of the season to put the Stars ahead 2-1.
When the 3rd period hit, the Islanders tied the game. Hudson Fasching scored his 3rd goal of the season to tie the game 2-2, assisted by Dobson and Brock Nelson. It didn't take long in overtime, with Horvat scoring 41 seconds into the extra period to give the Islanders the win with Barzal getting the lone assist.
Islanders captain Anders Lee said "I thought we stuck with it, especially through the second period. But all in all, all things considered, I think the boys adapted well to what was given to us today and executed very well. Our energy was good, our focus was good against a really good hockey team. We had to battle to the end. That was evident to come back and tie it up. And then, obviously, Horvat finishing it off, just a great play at the end there. Big two points for us."
Starting in net for the Islanders was Ilya Sorokin, who picked up the win to improve to 14-11-9 in 33 starts. Sorokin stopped 40 of the 42 shots the Stars tested him with, giving him a .952 save percentage in the win.
Getting the start for the Stars was Scott Wedgewood, starting both ends of the back to back for Dallas. Wedgewood turned aside 25 out of the 28 shots on goal that the Islanders had, recording a .893 save percentage as his record dropped to 13-4-4.
Dallas head coach Pete Deboer said of Wedgewood's play that "I thought a really good effort considering the circumstances, back-to-back. Oettinger was supposed to play, but he came down with the flu. Wedgewood had to go in at the last minute. We lost Smith in the first period to an injury, so we had a short bench. I thought we played a heck of a road game. Sometimes you hit a hot goalie, and that was probably the difference tonight."
Both teams get back in action on Tuesday night. Sorokin is the projected starter for the Islanders as they face the Vegas Golden Knights, while Oettinger is expected to start for the Stars against the Detroit Red Wings.
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