DALLAS — The Islanders could have succumbed to the same end-of-game issues they’ve had for much of the season.
But instead, they reversed them.
Thanks to Bo Horvat’s overtime winner, the Islanders walked out of American Airlines Center as 3-2 victors over the Stars, earning a badly needed road win that can give their confidence a much-needed boost.
“It’s everything for us right now,” Alexander Romanov told The Post. “Every single win is getting more and more confidence for us. That’s what’s so important.”
It appeared as though the Islanders were following a similar and ill-fated script when they frittered away leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the second period.
But finally — after a helter-skelter third period — they retook the lead in overtime and there was no opportunity to lose it.
The power play, which struggled all night, again came up short in the final frame after the Isles were gifted a five-on-four opportunity when Sam Steel held Sebastian Aho at the 13:27 mark.
But they could get nothing going on the man-advantage, and in fact gave up a of couple Grade-A looks to the shorthanded Stars.
The top line did produce a chance shortly thereafter with Horvat feeding Mathew Barzal in front, but Stars goaltender Scott Wedgewood came up with a diving stop to keep the Isles from retaking the lead.
Even so, the Isles managed to survive a third period in which they had far from their best.
“Play physical, play smart with the puck, puck management, get it out of the zone smartly,” Romanov said. “We couldn’t do the stupid mistakes.”
They didn’t. And in the extra period, they found what was missing when Barzal fed Horvat on a one-timer from the right circle.
“I think we’re just trying to build,” Ryan Pulock said. “There’s been some ups and downs throughout this and we’ve played good at times and we’ve kind of hurt ourselves in moments. I thought tonight we stayed with it. We never had any ups and downs. We stayed with it. We had a couple times we got hemmed in our D-zone, we were able to stay structured, stay composed and just find a way to get the job done.”
After Pulock’s goal at 15:59 of the first, the Islanders had a great chance to extend their lead when Dallas took consecutive penalties at the start of the second.
But not only did the Isles fail to convert in four minutes of power-play time which included 30 seconds at five-on-three, they followed it by taking a penalty and giving up a power-play goal themselves, as Matt Duchene converted Thomas Harley’s rebound.
The Isles again failed to hold onto the lead after Kyle MacLean followed Pierre Engvall’s shot to make it 2-1, with Logan Stankoven beating Ilya Sorokin short side at the 18:17 mark to send the game to the third tied.
This was a movie we’ve seen before. But the Isles put a different ending on it, and one that was desperately needed for their playoff chances.
“I thought we were applying things instead of thinking about all this,” coach Patrick Roy said. “I was very happy with the way we played today. I think we can certainly build around that and bring this game to our next game.”
One victory does little to change the situation facing the Islanders, which requires a major and sustained turnaround to climb back over the playoff cutline. Not only are they still five points behind the Flyers, who occupy third in the Metropolitan Division, but they are also a point behind the Capitals and tied with the Devils.
The margin of error is completely and totally gone, but there is not much the Islanders can do about that now.
The only available option is to put together a winning streak.
That had to start somewhere, and it had to start soon.
Maybe it has.
“That’s a big two points today,” Horvat said. “We gotta get another two points against Detroit.”
