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

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

Obviously, that’s highly facetious and there’s still plenty of time to improve — 80 games worth of time. Even after losing their second straight, the Islanders saw improvement from Game 1 to Game 2.

Yet while the Islanders held a shot advantage, they struggled for stretches with their defensive structure and with their puck management as they opened a three-game road trip with a 3-0 loss to the Stars on Saturday night at American Airlines Center.

“It’s a long season,” Kyle Palmieri said. “It’s not a dream start. 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.”

The trip continues against the Avalanche on Monday night.

“I thought today we had better jump,” coach Patrick Roy said. “We were moving well on the ice. If we could just fix our turnovers coming out of our defensive zone coverage, we’ll be fine. We had a lot of good looks, a couple of posts. If we keep playing like this, we’re going to win our share of games. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

The Islanders lost to Utah in overtime, 5-4, at UBS Arena on Thursday night in their season opener. Getting only one point out of the first two games is the opposite of the fast start Roy emphasized throughout training camp and preseason.

“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.”

Semyon Varlamov (24 saves) kept the Islanders within striking distance, but 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.

Oettinger denied defenseman Scott Mayfield from the slot and then stretched to glove Bo Horvat’s rebound try from the right post at 4:28 of the third period. Horvat also hit the left post at 11:10 of the third period.

The Islanders’ penalty kill certainly was improved, going 2-for-2 and allowing only three man-advantage shots. The penalty kill was 0-for-2 against Utah.

“I thought we were more aggressive,” Roy said. “We did a good job putting our sticks in those lanes and pressing them at the right time.”

But 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. Palmieri and Max Tsyplakov both overskated the puck down low.

“The puck was on my stick,” Palmieri said. “I don’t know whether it jumped over his stick. Those are pucks that we’ve got to find a way to get out of those dangerous areas. That’s on me.”

Tyler Seguin, left alone in the slot, opened the scoring for the Stars at 7:59 of the first period. His empty-netter clinched it.

Notes & quotes: Noah Dobson and defense partner Alexander Romanov each blocked a game-high four shots . . . Defenseman Dennis Cholowski and forward Julien Gauthier remained healthy scratches . . . Stars coach Pete DeBoer noted that 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. “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.