ELMONT, N.Y. — It probably is too late to qualify for the playoffs, but the Islanders now are playing some of their best hockey of this lackluster season.
On Saturday, they defeated the Stars, 4-2, at UBS Arena before a youthful crowd on Nickelodeon Day, extending their point streak to six games (5-0-1).
Brock Nelson had his fourth career hat trick, and now has a career-high 27 goals this season.
Semyon Varlamov, perhaps the Islanders’ most attractive trade chip, got the start in goal two days before the trade deadline and looked sharp early as the teams went scoreless through one period.
There were several "Var-ly, Var-ly," chants, including after Varlamov made a big, short-range save on Michael Raffl in the waning seconds of the first.
Ryan Pulock scored on a long, hard slapshot at 3:16 of the second period, the 11th time in 14 games the Islanders scored first, to give the home team the lead.
It appeared the Islanders would take a lead into the second intermission, but at 18:46, Jacob Peterson found Denis Gurianov alone in the slot, and he beat Varlamov to tie the score at 1.
The Islanders took the lead at 4:17 of the third period on a power-play goal by Nelson.
With Radek Faksa off for interference, Nelson’s shot bounced off and then over goalie Jake Oettinger for the go-ahead score.
Nelson added his second goal at 5:55 off a lovely feed from Anthony Beauvillier.
At 11:39, Peterson was left alone in the slot and beat a helpless Varlamov to make it 3-2.
Nelson’s empty-netter made it 4-2 with 19.5 seconds left.
The Stars (33-24-3) are battling for a playoff spot in the Western Conference while the Islanders (26-24-9) are close to out of contention in the East.
