RECAP: New York Islanders 4, Florida Panthers 2
The Florida Panthers let a two-goal lead slip away in the third period and suffered their second consecutive loss on Sunday night.
The Florida Panthers watched a two-goal lead vanish in the third period, losing its second game in two nights 4-2 to the New York Islanders on Sunday night.
Florida had not lost back-to-back games in regulation since losing to Tampa Bay and Montreal on Dec. 23 and 28. The Panthers have lost three of their past four games since their six game winning streak was snapped in Boston on Tuesday.
Maxim Tysplakov and Noah Dobson scored two goals in a 17-second span to give the Islanders the lead late in the third period.
Marc Gatcomb scored 6:29 into the third period to snap Vitek Vanecek’s franchise-record shutout streak to start a Panthers career at 106:29. He broke Chris Driedger’s record of 89:26.
After a first period where the Panthers were outshot 12-1 and they lost Dmitry Kulikov to an upper-body injury he never returned from, Sam Reinhart gave the Panthers a two-goal cushion with a pair of points in the first five minutes of the second period.
Reinhart put the Panthers ahead a minute into the game, digging out a rebound and putting it past Sorokin for his 34th goal of the season. He had one goal in his past 13 games going into Sunday night.
Aleksander Barkov made it 2-0 when a Reinhart shot deflected off of his pants and over Ilya Sorokin’s shoulder
Gatcomb got the Islanders back into the game 6:29 into the third period, picking up a rebound after a desperation save from Vanecek and stuffing it in on the other end on a wrap-around.
Tysplakov tied it up with 7:41 to go in the second period, stuffing the puck through Vanecek’s five-hole on a partial breakaway. Dobson gave New York the lead 17 seconds later with a quick shot off the rush.
Bo Horvat scored the empty-net goal with 6.3 seconds to go to put the Islanders up 4-2.
Vanecek finished the game with 30 saves on 33 shots, following up a 21-save shutout against the Buffalo Sabres in his Florida debut last week.
The Panthers will continue their six-game road trip in Columbus with a clash against the Blue Jackets on Thursday night.