against the New York Islanders celebrate after defeating the Dallas Stars during overtime of an NHL hockey game Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024, in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
ELMONT, N.Y. — Patrick Roy has been tasked with providing a spark to a New York Islanders team stuck in neutral. On Sunday night, he provided a first light.
Bo Horvat scored the game-winning goal 41 seconds into overtime to lift the Islanders to a 3-2 victory over the Dallas Stars at UBS Arena, providing a first win for the Islanders’ new head coach in his debut with the team after replacing Lane Lambert on Saturday.
New York (20-15-11) overturned a 2-1 third-period deficit — a Hudson Fasching deflection 5:23 into the final frame ultimately forcing overtime.
“I was very happy with the resilience of the group,” Roy said. “That’s what I said after the second period, we were down by one goal and I said the culture of this team is to be resilient and that’s exactly what they did. They were very calm and I’m very happy to see that.”
Mathew Barzal banked a pass off the left boards from the Islanders’ defensive zone up to Horvat near the Stars’ blue line to spring the center in alone on Dallas goalie Scott Wedgewood. From his forehand, he deked to the backhand and lifted his chance into the roof of the net for the winner.
The victory snaps the Islanders’ four-game losing streak and slows down a miserable stretch that saw just two wins in their previous 10 games.
“This brings energy to the group,” Horvat said. “We’ve been talking about it and there’s energy behind the bench and it translates to everybody going over the boards. It was a great first night but we need to continue this.”
New York netminder Ilya Sorokin made a strong first impression for his new head coach, one of the greatest netminders in NHL history, stopping 41 of 43 shots to keep his team in it on a night they were largely outperformed by one of the top teams in the Western…
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