Islanders triumph in Patrick Roy's coaching debut as Bo Horvat scores OT winner vs. Stars

The Islanders’ players took the blame for Lane Lambert taking the fall.

Many of the same problems — turnovers that kept them from playing up ice, penalties, being outshot — surfaced in their first game under new coach Patrick Roy.

Except they won.

Bo Horvat netted a backhander 41 seconds into overtime as the Islanders snapped a four-game losing streak by rallying for a 3-2 victory over the Stars on Sunday night at UBS Arena in Roy’s debut, the 2,000th home game in team history.

“I was very happy with the resilience of our group,” said Roy, a Hall of Fame goalie who admitted to experiencing game-day nerves and having to calm himself on the bench as the game went on. “That’s what I said after the second period. We were down by one goal and I said the culture of this team is to be resilient, and that’s exactly what they did. They were very calm.”

Ilya Sorokin made 40 saves for the Islanders (20-15-11). Scott Wedgewood, starting on back-to-back nights after making 29 saves in a 6-2 road win over the Devils on Saturday, stopped 25 shots for the Stars (27-13-6).

The Islanders concluded a dismal 0-3-1 road trip with a 4-3 overtime loss to Central Division-trailing Chicago on Friday night.

Islanders president and general manager Lou Lamoriello announced Lambert’s firing and Roy’s hiring on Saturday afternoon. Roy also coached the Avalanche from 2013-16.

Do the Islanders feel new hope under Roy? “Yeah, we do,” Anders Lee said. “When something like this happens, we take responsibility for it as players and as a group. The onus is on us. Patrick comes in with his resume and his knowledge of the game and his energy. There’s definitely a jolt.”

The Islanders, who play eight of their 13 games in January on the road, are 3-6-2 since Dec. 31.

“The schedule has been brutal,” said All-Star Mathew Barzal, who set up Horvat’s winner. “We just hit that point in the season where things weren’t going well and it seems like we were treading water and we couldn’t really get back to a flow. Lou is an extremely timely man and, I would say, pretty well 100% of the time knows exactly what our group needs in that moment. And this is what he feels was best.”

Sorokin stopped all 13 shots he faced in the third period, allowing the Islanders to rally from a 2-1 deficit.

Hudson Fasching deflected defenseman Noah Dobson’s shot from the right point to tie it at 2-2 at 5:23 of the third.

“Always when a new guy comes into a team, you want to win,” Sorokin said, adding that he saw many highlights of Roy’s playing career while growing up in Russia. “It was a hard game for us today, and me, too. Bo scored a good goal in overtime, so it’s a good moment. [Roy] and Martin Brodeur, Dominik Hasek are legends. I’m excited to work with this guy.

“But I’m sad about Lane’s firing because he’s a great guy. He gave me a lot of opportunity to play.”

Defenseman Alexander Romanov gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 2:52 of the first period, beating Wedgewood to the short side on the rush from the left circle. But the Stars held an 11-3 shots advantage by the end of their first power play.

The Stars scored twice within 3 minutes, 33 seconds in the second period. Jason Robertson slid the puck through his legs as he rushed to the crease and lifted it over Sorokin at 11:35. Defenseman Nils Lundkvist slithered one through the goalie from the right point at 15:08.

“It’s just resiliency,” Horvat said of the Islanders’ win. “[Roy] talks about it a lot, coming together as a team. Living and dying by the next guy sitting beside you . . . He just brings energy to the group.”

The new coach, 58, quickly grabbed the Islanders’ attention with a high-intensity morning skate Sunday. Roy, who won two Stanley Cups as the Montreal Canadiens’ goalie and two more backstopping the Colorado Avalanche, frequently stopped drills to make corrections, emphasized the need for group togetherness and preached that the playoffs already have started for the Islanders.

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.