Mike Ribeiro beat goalie Rick DiPietro with a strong backhand-to-forehand move in the final round of a shootout to lift the Dallas Stars to a 5-4 win over the New York Islanders on Saturday night. Brenden Morrow scored twice, and Jamie Benn and Stephane Robidas added goals for the Stars, 2-0 this season after of back-to-back road wins after regulation. Dallas won 4-3 in overtime at New Jersey on Friday night.
Brad Richards and Ribeiro added two assists, and Kari Lehtonen posted 43 saves for the victory. Lehtonen stopped Frans Nielsen, P.A. Parenteau and Matt Moulson in the shootout. James Wisniewski, Doug Weight, Blake Comeau and Moulson scored in regulation for the Islanders. Moulson's rebound goal with 2:39 remaining in regulation tied the game at 4. Lehtonen had made four saves on the power play before Moulson gained control and finished the flurry.
Weight, who had three points, scored during a 5-on-3 power play in the second period. New York scored three times with the man advantage, but are winless in season openers since 2007 and 1-5-2 since 2002. Richards registered his second multi-point game in two nights. He has a goal and three assists for the Stars, who are 2-0 for the first time since 2006. Robidas created the Islanders' tying power-play opportunity when his clearing attempt went out of play for a delay-of-game penalty with 3:43 left. Robidas committed a similar penalty 32 seconds after Moulson's goal but the Stars killed it off to force overtime.
Morrow deflected Ribeiro's feed to the right of the slot above DiPietro for a 4-2 Dallas lead 7:12 into the third, but New York rallied. Comeau scored from the point at 8:45 and Moulson followed with the equalizer. John Tavares left the ice with 3:17 left in the opening period after colliding with Dallas' Adam Burish at center ice. Tavares, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2009 draft, skated to the dressing room under his own power but didn't return. Benn and Robidas scored 2:07 apart in the first period for the Stars, who beat the Islanders for the fourth straight time -- dating to 2006. DiPietro allowed two goals on his first five shots in his first opening day start since 2007. He finished with 18 saves.
