The Islanders got the much-improved start they needed. And really, they played the game they needed coming off a rough four-game road trip. All that was missing were the two points.

That’s going to happen sometimes in hockey, and one point was a consolation in this shootout loss. But this was not a good night to settle, not with the Islanders opening a pivotal five-game homestand and needing a win far more than the silver lining of a point and improved play. They’ll have to settle for that, though, as they reckon with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the Stars on Tuesday night at UBS Arena after Jason Robertson’s shootout winner.

“Good effort. Really good effort,” coach Lane Lambert said. “Deserved better. Didn’t get it, so we just have to move onto the next game.”

After playing two straight disastrous games in Edmonton and Calgary to finish off the road trip, the Islanders at times on Tuesday displayed the kind of hockey that makes you think they just might be a tough out in the playoffs. If they can get that far.

They can’t guarantee themselves that fate in the midst of a January homestand, not with the race so tight in the Eastern Conference between themselves, the Penguins, Sabres, Capitals, Devils and Rangers. But they certainly can watch their hopes slide away if things go the wrong direction — and on Tuesday, with the Rangers, Penguins and Devils all winning, they lost a point on the pack.

The fateful moment for the Islanders came at the end of a tight second period in which both teams failed to convert chances. Casey Cizikas’ go-ahead goal was wiped off the board after Anthony Beauvillier got whistled for offside while coming off the ice, nullifying a 2-1 lead.

“I think you have to be more aware of where you are,” Lambert said when asked about the error.

After 20 more scoreless minutes led to an overtime in which the Isles failed to secure the extra point, seeing their record go to 22-17-3, it was hard not to go back and think of that.

The Islanders forechecked well, played good possession hockey and cleared their own zone more easily. They scored a rare power-play goal, and when the Stars struck first, with Robertson finishing off a tic-tac-toe sequence from Joe Pavelski and Tyler Seguin 3:42 into the game, the Isles were unshaken. Unlike during messy first periods in Edmonton and Calgary, they got up off the mat and kept right at it.

Quickly, it paid off, as Anders Lee redirected Brock Nelson’s pass into the net for a power-play goal at 13:39 of the first.

“I think when we’re on the road, we may be turning too many pucks over in the neutral zone and not simplifying and working on getting it deep,” Ryan Pulock told The Post. “And the few times when we were getting it deep, we were getting it to the goalie and weren’t able to get our forecheck going. I think the biggest thing, just off our forecheck we weren’t able to get it going. I thought tonight we did a good job.”

It didn’t pay off on Tuesday, but this is the kind of game the Isles have to play over the next 18 days leading into the All-Star break. Three of their next four games are against teams that entered Tuesday in playoff positions. Then it’s off to Buffalo for a pivotal match against the Sabres, and back home to face the Hurricanes, who shut them down at UBS Arena a month ago.

It is as massive a stretch of games as you could ask for barely halfway into the season, with the Islanders on a knife’s edge in the playoff race and looking to crawl back from the cliff.

More often than not, a game like Tuesday’s will end in two points. This time, though, the Islanders were left with their third straight loss, and fourth in five.

“I think it’s a good point,” Pulock said.

He wasn’t wrong. But two were sorely needed.