The Florida Panthers concluded a rough six-game homestand on a high note, delivering a complete effort to beat the New York Islanders 4-1 at Amerant Bank Arena.
Florida opened the scoring at the 12:14 mark. After A.J. Greer lost the handle behind the net, Mackie Samoskevich took firm possession and sent a bounce pass off the boards back to Uvis Balinksis. The Latvian defenseman notched his first of the season when his wrist shot from the left point eluded David Rittich, who was screened by Greer and his own Scott Mayfield.
The Cats grew the lead 7:05 into the second when Jeff Petry read a pass to Max Shabanov and stepped up and swatted the puck away from the former KHLer to Carter Verhaeghe, who sniped Rittich from the lower left circle for his fourth goal in the last three games.
Mat Barzal got the Islanders’ only goal 1:58 later when he took a pass in the slot from rookie phenom Matthew Schaefer and backhanded a shot off Gustav Forsling’s bumper that found its way past Daniil Tarasov with Anders Lee wreaking havoc in front. The second assist went to Ryan Pulock.
After scoring Saturday against Columbus, Seth Jones got another when he came up with the insurance goal with 6:03 remaining in regulation. With the teams skating 4-on-4, Anton Lundell received the puck from Sam Reinhart below his own goal line and carried into the Islanders zone before sending a crisp cross to Jones, who skated in on Rittich and solved his glove with a hard wrister.
Reinhart would become the game’s only multi-point player when Forsling sprang him for an easy empty-net goal at 17:06 to ice it.
The Panthers won a second in a row and have a three-game point streak cooking after getting back to PoMo basics to end New York’s three-game winning streak. Daniil Tarasov finished with 20 saves and his mates made things easy for him in the third, limiting the Islanders to a mere three shots. A good Sunday for the Cats, who picked up two points on a day that saw the Canadiens, Hurricanes, Flyers, Penguins and Rangers lose to Western Conference foes. They’ll take to the road for the next four. Tough stops await in Salt Lake City, Denver, Dallas and Tampa.
The Five Hole
- Carter Verhaeghe’s game-winning goal extended his personal point streak to six games. Verhaeghe has racked up six goals and five assists during the torrid run. He is now fourth on the team in scoring with 21 points.
- Anton Lundell’s beautiful assist has him one point ahead of Verhaeghe with 22 points. Lundell won a team-high none draws and was also credited with three shots, a hit and a block.
- Daniil Tarasov collected his third win and upped his save percentage to .911 and lowered his GAA to 2.47. With Sergei Bobrovsky slated to start the road opener against Utah on Wednesday, Tarasov will face the mighty Colorado Avalanche a day later.
- Seth Jones scored in back-to-back games for the first time as a Panther. Jones leads the team’s defensemen with five goals and 16 points.
- The Islanders did a good job on Florida’s leading scorer, Brad Marchand, limiting him to one shot on goal. Marchand has been held off the score sheet in three of last four games.
Stat Card
