NEW YORK -- New York Islanders general manager Garth Snow deployed the executive's version of the reserve parachute Tuesday, when he fired long-time coach Jack Capuano with the Islanders mired in last place in the Eastern Conference.

But even interim coach Doug Weight knows any chance the Islanders have of mounting an unlikely playoff run and navigating a safe landing in the postseason rests on center John Tavares and goalie Thomas Greiss playing like they did in Weight's debut Thursday night.

Tavares scored a pair of spectacular goals and Greiss stopped all 23 shots he faced in authoring his second straight shutout as the Islanders beat the Dallas Stars 3-0 at Barclays Center.

"It was a top to bottom effort and it was led by our captain and our goalie," Weight said. "If that continues, (there's) going to be some good things to come."

The win capped a whirlwind four days for the Islanders (18-17-8), who rode Greiss' 32-save performance in beating the Boston Bruins 4-0 in Capuano's finale Monday.

Capuano, whose six-plus seasons at the helm made him the second-longest tenured coach in franchise history, was fired Tuesday and replaced by long-time assistant Weight, who met with players for about half an hour before practice Wednesday.

"Strange 48 hours, right?" Weight said. "I certainly had nerves today I didn't think I would have throughout the day. Those game days are long days, so you get butterflies. It was a challenge to coach this game."

Fortunately for Weight and the Islanders, Tavares proved up to the challenge presented by the Stars on both his goals.

In the first period, Tavares took a pass inside the right faceoff circle from Anders Lee as Stars defenseman John Klingberg swooped in front of him. Tavares passed the puck through Klingberg, skated past Klingberg, regained the puck and fired a shot from point-blank range past goalie Kari Lehtonen.

"Klingberg kind of tried to jump out at me a little bit more aggressively than I thought he might," Tavares said. "I was looking to kind of shoot right away so I just made an adjustment and was able to get around him and get the puck up."

The Islanders failed to convert on five power plays in the second and third and nursed the 1-0 lead until late in the third, when Greiss turned back the Stars' fiercest challenge during a power play in which Tyler Seguin's shot hit the crossbar shortly before Greiss shoveled away a shot in the crease by Antoine Roussel.

"A 1-0 game with five minutes left and you put your power play out there, you've got to (find) a difference-maker," Stars coach Lindy Ruff said.

Nikolay Kulemin cleared the puck and Tavares, who had been on the ice for the entire power play, caught up to it at center ice before beating Lehtonen on the breakaway for the first shorthanded goal of his career.

"It's nice to have him on our bench," Weight said of Tavares. "Just his work ethic, his skill. He had it on a string today. It was something special just from the first goal on."

Tavares' second goal brought some relief to the Islanders, who lost seven games this season in which they gave up the tying or go-ahead goal in the final four minutes of regulation.

"Those are games you get vulnerable in, when you have five or six (empty) power plays," Weight said. "It's 1-0 and you're just waiting to get those penalties against you. You're waiting for that ball to drop and it didn't."

Calvin De Haan scored an empty-net goal with four seconds remaining as the Islanders moved past the Buffalo Sabres into 15th place in the Eastern Conference and closed within six points of the Philadelphia Flyers for the final wild card spot.

"There's a lot of hockey left," Tavares said. "Come here and put a good effort in and we did that. Now it's about following that up on Saturday (against the Los Angeles Kings). That's the real key."

Lehtonen recorded 33 saves for the Stars (19-20-8), who were looking to win back-to-back games for the first time since a three-game streak from Dec. 23-29. Dallas is one of six teams within five points of the two Western Conference wild card spots.

"We need to pick up points," Stars center Jason Spezza said. "We're in a dogfight and a lot of teams in that pack with us and we've got to win games. We've got to learn how to win consecutive games."

NOTES: The Islanders scratched RW Cal Clutterbuck (lower body) and LW Andrew Ladd (upper body), each of whom missed their second straight game, as well as D Johnny Boychuk (upper body), who was sidelined for the second time in three contests. ... The in-season coaching change was the ninth in franchise history for the Islanders, who are 5-4-0 in a coach's mid-season debut. ... The Stars scratched LW Curtis McKenzie and RW Brett Ritchie. ... In addition, Stars D Johnny Oduya (lower body), who was hurt in Tuesday night's 7-6 victory over the New York Rangers, was placed on injured reserve. Oduya was replaced in the lineup by D Jordie Benn.