"It was a tribute to their moxie that they lasted as long as they did. The Islanders were outplayed all of last night and the result was them eventually blowing a one-goal, third-period lead in a 3-2 loss to the Stars at the Coliseum.

When Stars' winger Jamie Benn streaked up the right side of a 3-on-1, 4:33 into the third, and he wristed one past rookie goalie Kevin Poulin on the short side, the backward snap of the net seemed an inevitability coming to fruition. The loss took the Islanders to 0-3-1 in the past four games and dug their first-half hole even deeper.

"I think I was just thinking too much," said Poulin, who besides allowing the game-winner was solid in making 26 saves in his first start of the season, getting the emergency call-up from Bridgeport yesterday when Evgeni Nabokov had a setback returning from his groin injury.

"Sometimes you want to do too much," Poulin said. "In that case, he caught me."

The play happened right after the Stars tied the game 2-2 on a power-play goal from Brendan Morrow, the result of Tim Wallace taking his second penalty in less than a three-minute window that spanned the second and third periods."