Mathew Barzal finally scores his first two goals, but Islanders lose to Stars

Mathew Barzal’s point-per-game-plus production continued. This time it even included goals.

It helped the Islanders reverse their penchant for sluggish starts. The problem: Their finish was not strong enough in a 5-2 loss to the Stars on Saturday night at American Airlines Center. Dallas twice rallied from one-goal deficits before scoring three third-period goals.

“Defensively, in our zone, we had a couple of breakdowns,” coach Lane Lambert said. “When we broke down, they took advantage of us, and it’s just something that we have to correct.”

The Islanders (11-8-0) got 30 saves from Semyon Varlamov but went 1-for-5 on the power play and lost for the first time in seven tries when scoring first. They have lost two straight and will conclude their four-game road stretch against the Maple Leafs on Monday night.

Jake Oettinger made 27 saves for the Stars (11-5-2).

“That’s a good hockey team,” said Kyle Palmieri, who nearly tied the score as he buzzed the crease, only to have defenseman Ryan Suter swipe the puck off the goal line and Jason Robertson extend his point streak to 11 games on the Stars’ next rush up ice to make it 4-2 at 16:27 of the third period.

“I thought we played a pretty good game,’’ Palmieri said. “It just wasn’t enough to win, and that’s what matters at the end of the day.”

Barzal notched his first two goals of the season, leaving him three assists away from tying Alex Delvecchio’s NHL record for forwards of 22 assists before recording the season’s first goal, which Delvecchio did in 1969-70 for the Red Wings.

“I’m excited to score whether it’s my first or my 15th. I wasn’t worried about it,” said Barzal, who deflected defenseman Alexander Romanov’s feed from the left wall to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 1:30 of the second period, then skated into the slot to score a power-play goal for a 2-1 lead at 14:19 of the second period.

“We all knew it was coming,” Anders Lee said. “So now we can stop worrying about that and start seeing him do it more often. I don’t think that was as big a deal as it got made up.”

But Barzal’s ineffectual backcheck played a part in the Stars’ first equalizer at 6:57 of the second period as he was gassed at the end of a shift that lasted 2 minutes, 26 seconds. Barzal remained on the ice for the full two minutes of one of the Islanders’ four power plays in the second period and couldn’t change as the Stars pushed the puck into the Islanders’ zone. Tyler Seguin, with his 700th career point, fed an open Radek Faksa at the crease.

“I thought he was a little tired on that play,” Lambert said.

Romanov and defense partner Noah Dobson, along with Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Palmieri and Josh Bailey — back in the lineup after two games as a healthy scratch — were on for a horrid shift that led to Jamie Benn’s winner at 8:17 of the third period. The Stars had several good looks at Varlamov before Benn took Mason Marchment’s feed and roofed a backhander at the crease to make it 3-2.

Marchment also broke free in the slot to beat Varlamov and tie it at 2-2 just 40 seconds after Barzal’s second goal.

The Islanders put together a strong first period, a necessity after their awful performance during the first 20 minutes of their 5-4 loss in Nashville on Thursday in which they trailed 3-1.

The Islanders took the game’s first five shots but lost that early momentum when Casey Cizikas was called for hooking defenseman Colin Miller at 5:56.

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.