Kevin Poulin. Photo by: Stacy Podelski

For the New York Islanders (9-14-6) it is the one that got away, as late third period surge by the Dallas Stars (18-11-7) led to a 3-2 loss at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Thursday night. The Isles have now fallen in their third straight game, on the night that blueliner Calvin de Haan made his debut with the team.

“I thought he was good, I thought he showed a lot of poise with the puck and he had a good stick,” said Islanders head coach Jack Capuano of his latest Bridgeport call-up. “I think he was one of our better defensemen tonight and that he played well.”

Also playing well for the Islanders on a night of first, was keeper Kevin Poulin (26 saves), who became the fifth goalie to start for the Isles this season. Poulin joins Rick DiPietro, Evgeni Nabokov, Al Montoya and Anders Nilsson in manning the cage for New York thus far this season.

“I thought he played great tonight, that was a game we should have won,” said Capuano. “He was confident, he was aggressive, and he battled for us-he was really good tonight. They (Dallas) had some quality chances early on and he came up big in the game.”

Poulin had this to say of starting versus how he felt after last season, “I felt great, especially after the first save of the game.  I felt like I was into the game and didn’t lose anything from last year.  With the exception of the first five minutes, I felt like it was a great first game for me. “

The Isles had fought back from a 1-0 deficit when Michael Grabner (9) banged home a one-timer backhanded pass from Kyle Okposo (7) and Frans Nielsen (9) at the 16:38 mark of the first period of play.

Thought it had seemed as if the play was okay, the on-ice officials went to review the call just to make sure, after further video footage the first Islanders goal of the game was confirmed.

In the scary moment of the game, Islanders alternate captain Brian Rolston left the game after recording 3:47 of ice time, due to a concussion. The winger tallied only five shifts before sustaining the injury.

“Rolston is day-to-day with concussion symptoms,” said Capuano of the winger’s injury.

New York and Dallas were stalemated in the second period, until the 18:24 mark when Okposo (5) tipped-in the second goal of the game. The Stars had two unanswered goals in the third period, which included a multi-point game from winger Jaime Benn-who recorded the game-winning goal at the 4:33 mark.

 “It is tough loss, when you have the lead like that and that is something we are going to have to get better at playing with a lead,” said P.A. Parenteau after the game. “It is unfortunate as a group to have dropped three games in a row, especially with things having been going well for us-we have to get back to winning games.”

The Isles will look to regain their winning ways on the road, as the team will head to Minnesota to face the Wild. The game between the Isles and Wild is slated to air on the MSG Plus 2 network, with face-off scheduled for 8:00 p.m.

Written on December 16, 2011 on the Examiner.com site seen here:

http://www.examiner.com/article/isles-fall-late-to-surging-stars-3-2