The Florida Panthers cloudy playoff picture grew even more muddled with a 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena.
Anders Lee scored the game-winning goal, skating around Aaron Ekblad and going backhand-to-forehead to beat Sergei Bobrovsky with 32 ticks left in regulation to hand the Cats a second consecutive one-goal loss.
After struggling to score Friday against Buffalo, the Panthers got off to a great start, opening up a two-goal lead on the Islanders.
Bobrovsky ripped the puck up the boards to A.J. Greer, who chipped it into open space for Sandis Vilmanis. The rookie gloved the puck down and sent a backhander through David Rittich at the 3:44 mark for his third career goal.
The Panthers quickly cashed in after Ryan Pulock took a hooking to extend the lead. After winning the ensuing offensive zone draw to Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett took a pass from Ekblad a whistled a wrister by Rittich from just above the left circle at 14:54.
Rookie Matthew Schaefer’s blast, from Ryan Pulock and Mathew Barzal, looked like it was denied by Bobrovsky, but instead went up and over the keeper and found its way over the goal line with 1:59 left in the opening frame.
The Islanders got another from a defenseman, this time Carson Soucy, to tie the tilt at 7:28 of the second. Soucy picked the top corner after Gustav Forsling poked the puck off Simon Holmstrom’s stick. The secondary assist went to Tony DeAngelo.
Bennett would get another at 12:04, taking a lead pass from Tkachuk and whipping a backhand shot through Rittich’s five-hole to give the Panthers the lead back.
That lead would last just 5:10 as Bo Horvat took a high-to-low pass from Schaefer and sniped Bobrovsky from an acute angle. I would’ve brought in Daniil Tarasov at this point, but I’m not Paul Maurice.
The home side forged ahead for the first time 10:29 into third when. following a turnover by Donovan Sebrango, an incoming Schaefer took a cross from Ondrei Palat and matched Bennett’s brace with the 20th goal of his landmark rookie season.
The Panthers had one more goal in them and got it with 1:58 remaining and Bobrovsky on the bench for an extra attacker. After Tkachuk went back to Ekblad at the the opposite point, he fed Sam Reinhart, who snapped off a hard shot from long range that eluded Rittich with traffic in front.
Unfortunately, the Cats could not get to overtime. DeAngelo sent the puck up the boards to Lee, and the Panthers defense looked to be in good position when he received the biscuit, but the Islanders captain pylonized Ekblad and Bobrovksy over-committed to the near post.
Florida remains eight points behind Boston, but the Bruins now have a game in hand, with the Cats simply running out of runway to land the postseason plane. On Friday, they couldn’t score enough and wasted a fantastic performance by Tarasov. This time out, they found the back of the net four times, only to see Bobrovsky surrender five goals on 26 shots. Yet another tough loss in a season chock full of them.
The Five Hole
- After scoring late in the Buffalo game, Sam Bennett added two more to push his goal total up to 22. That’s the third-most that he’s scored in his career. Bennett needs four more markers to establish a new perosnal best.
- Matthew Tkachuk dished out a season-high three assists. It was the second time he’s put up three points in a game since returning to the lineup on January 19. Tkachuk has points in three consecutive games and 13 points in 13 games played.
- Sam Reinhart took sole possesion of team lead in goals with his 28th of the season. Reinhart also leads the Panthers with 29 assists and 57 points.
- Dmitry Kulikov played his first tilt since October 9, against the Philadelphia Flyers. Kulikov logged 20:27 of ice time and was credited with one shot and one hit in his return.
- Before Anders Lee’s crushing goal, Aaron Ekblad was having a good night. Ekblad played a game-high 26:24, had two assists, one shot, two hits and one block.
Stat Card
