NEW YORK (AP) — Bo Horvat scored 41 seconds into overtime and the New York Islanders beat the Dallas Stars 3-2 Sunday night to win new coach Patrick Roy’s debut.
Alexander Romanov and Hudson Fasching also scored for New York, and Mathew Barzal and defenseman Noah Dobson had two assists. Ilya Sorokin finished with 41 saves.
Roy, who went 130-92-24 in three seasons coaching Colorado from 2013-16, was hired on Saturday to replace Lane Lambert after the Islanders went 0-3-1 on a four-game trip.
“I was very nervous, I won’t lie,” Roy said of his return to the bench. “You always want to win that first game and I am very thankful to the players for the effort they put out there. I was just hoping to give a good show to our fans as well.”
Jason Robertson and Nils Lundqvist scored for Dallas, and Joe Pavelski had two assists. Scott Wedgewood made 25 saves in the Stars’ second loss in three games after winning four of five.
In the extra period, Barzal found Horvat behind the Stars’ defense and Horvat converted a forehand-backhand maneuver to give the Islanders their third win in 11 games (3-6-2).
“That one felt great,” Horvat said. Everyone was playing hard tonight, everyone wanted to get that win not only for ourselves but for our coach. Ilya was phenomenal tonight, couldn’t have done it without him.”
Islanders captain Anders Lee fetched the game-winning puck after the team had departed from the ice and said, “You know where that’s going,” during the postgame media session
“We needed two points tonight,” Lee said. “It’s a great first night to build off of. … (Roy) was into it. He sees the game really well, understands the little things that are working, that aren’t working on the fly and making little adjustments.”
New York tied the score 2-2 when Fasching redirected Dobson’s shot at 5:23 of the third period. Dobson got his career-high 41st assist on the play.
“We got energy from him,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau said of Roy’s enthusiasm on the bench. “That gave us that boost to keep pushing through.”
Romanov opened the scoring at 2:52 of the first period with his fifth of the season.
Robertson tied it 1-1 with his 15th goal of the season and team-leading 48th point. The Islanders defense lost track of Robertson as he got the puck in the high slot and roofed a forehand shot over Sorokin’s blocker with 8:25 left in the second.
“There were some minor tweaks during the game, they were a little more aggressive than the pre-scout had suggested,” Stars coach Pete DeBoer said of the Islanders. “But you knew they were going to work hard and compete. You always get that energy bump every time there is a new coach. It’s hard to prepare for that, you just warn the guys.”
Lundkvist gave the Stars a 2-1 lead with 4:52 remaining in the middle period. Veteran forward Joe Pavelski screened Sorokin, and Lundkvist’s slap shot from the point sailed into the back of the net.
Stars forward Craig Smith left the game with an upper-body injury and did not return.
UP NEXT
Stars: At Detroit on Tuesday night.
Islanders: Host Vegas on Tuesday night.
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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL
