Roy’s crew hoping to build momentum off win vs. Stars

DETROIT — Last week, the Islanders started a road trip by pulling out a win in overtime at Pittsburgh, allowing them to feel like they were building momentum.

They promptly got blown out in their next game at St. Louis before losing a fourpoint game at home to the Lightning, halting that momentum before it turned into anything worthwhile.

This week, they started a road trip by pulling out a win in overtime, and again Monday night, this time at Dallas, felt like they were building momentum.

“I thought we played a great road game today,” Bo Horvat said after scoring the winner over the Stars. “I think they obviously took it to us there a little bit but we weathered the storm well and we get to add two points. At the end of the day, we got the job done so that’s all that matters.”

And now, nothing is more important than adding two more points against the Red Wings, who the Isles are chasing for a wild-card spot, when they face Detroit on Thursday at Little Caesars Arena.

All season, the Islanders have struggled to stack wins — they’ve won three straight games just twice and won back-to-back games just once since December. Now, there is no choice but put together an extended run of winning if they are to make up the gap to the teams they are chasing, which stood at five points Tuesday morning with the third-place Flyers set to face Tampa Bay that night.

“It’s a big win, Dallas is an extremely tough team,” Brock Nelson said Monday. “So for us to come in here and get this one on the road is a big two points ,and I think we did a good job sticking with it. Right now, it’s a singular-game focus and trying to string together as many as we can, two out of three. Mindset for us, we just gotta get as many points as we can.”

➤ Coach Patrick Roy has put the second powerplay unit on the ice first a couple of times recently, which he said Monday had to do with his top line having been out right before the start of power plays.

“They were on the ice for over 40 seconds, so I cannot start with them,” he said. “If they go for another minute or minute and a half, they’re gonna be on the ice for three minutes. … It’s a team game, I believe in team concept. And I like what that [second] power play brings. It’s a different look. It’s shots on net. I’m very comfortable.”