Semyon Varlamov makes 24 saves, but Islanders' offense quiet in shutout-loss to the Stars

DALLAS — At this rate, there are 240 periods left in the Islanders’ season, plus some overtimes.

Obviously, that’s facetious and there’s still plenty of time to improve — 80 games worth of time. But while the Islanders held a shot advantage, they struggled for stretches with their defensive structure and puck management for a second straight game out of the gate. So a three-game road trip opened with a 3-0 loss to the Stars on Saturday night at American Airlines Center.

The trip continues against the Avalanche on Monday night.

No team is going to look consistently crisp at this nascent part of the season, but the Islanders’ sluggish start is exactly the opposite of what coach Patrick Roy emphasized all through training camp and preseason: Getting off to a fast start.

The Islanders lost to Utah in overtime, 5-4, at UBS Arena on Thursday night in their season opener, going 0-for-2 on the penalty kill, 1-for-6 on the power play with only seven shots and twice giving up one-goal leads in the third period in 45 and 13 seconds, respectively.

All of those issues were carryovers from last season.

“I thought today we had better jump,” Roy said. “We were moving well on the ice. I thought there was a lot to like about this game. If we could just fix our turnovers coming out of our defensive zone coverage, we’ll be fine.”

But the Islanders were unable to show the overall improvement against the Stars that Roy certainly wants to see.

To be fair, the penalty kill was better, going 2-for-2 while allowing only two shots. And goalie Semyon Varlamov (24 saves) again kept the Islanders within striking distance.

Jake Oettinger made 34 stops for the Stars (2-0-0), who played the last two periods with five defensemen after Matt Dumba exited with a lower-body injury. He finally was really tested in the third period, notably denying defenseman Scott Mayfield from the slot and then stretching to glove Bo Horvat’s rebound try from the right post at 4:28.

Horvat also hit the left post at 11:10 of the third period. But Tyler Seguin’s empty-netter made it 3-0.

The second period, in particular, showcased the Islanders’ rough patches.

Varlamov was forced into a tough glove save when Logan Stankoven was left open to skate to the crease at 3:59. Mason Marchment muscled past defenseman Ryan Pulock to get to the crease at 4:34 as Varlamov again kept the Islanders’ deficit at one goal. At that point, the Stars were outshooting the Islanders 8-1 in the second period.

Jamie Benn finally gave the Stars a 2-0 lead at 10:58 of the second period as he was open in the low left circle. Both Kyle Palmieri and Maxim Tsyplakov overskated the puck down low as the Islanders couldn’t clear the zone. Earlier in the sequence, Mathew Barzal failed to handle a pass from defenseman Noah Dobson.

Seguin opened the scoring for the Stars at 7:59 of the first period, getting open in the slot and snapping a wrist shot over Varlamov’s glove. It appeared to be the result of some defensive miscommunication between the Islanders’ top line of Horvat, Barzal and Anthony Duclair — only Horvat was anywhere near Seguin as he took a feed from Marchment — and the top defensive pair of Alexander Romanov and Dobson, who wound up screening Varlamov.

“I thought we got to our game more than we did the other night,” Anders Lee said. “The chances they got, we made mistakes to give them that. I think we turned back a few too many times. But other than that, it was a low-chance game with two goalies playing good hockey.”

There’s still 80 games remaining. The Islanders know what they have to do better.

“It’s a long season. It’s not a dream start,” Palmieri said. “It’s not what we were thinking about in camp. But here we are. We knew it was going to be a tough road trip, but there’s positives to draw from it and definitely some things we can clean up.”

Notes & quotes: Defenseman Dennis Cholowski and forward Julien Gauthier remained healthy scratches . . . Stars coach Pete DeBoer noted the Islanders are playing a more aggressive style of hockey under Roy and added that their roster was built “to compete.” DeBoer, who coached the Devils from 2011-14 while Islanders president/general manager Lou Lamoriello ran that franchise, also credited his old boss. “There’s no better team builder, in my mind, in the game for knowing what wins in the playoffs and at the tough time of the year,” DeBoer said. “You can see what they’re trying to do there.”

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.