The Islanders did have a 3-2 lead at one point.
SUNRISE, FL-- With Mathew Barzal and Scott Mayfield out due to injury and Jakub Skarek making his NHL debut, the New York Islanders fell 6-3 to the Florida Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena on Sunday night.
Anthony Duclair returned to the lineup after missing Saturday's 3-2 overtime win due to illness.
Adam Boqvist played against his former team for the first time since being claimed off waivers by the Islanders on Friday.
Here's how the game unfolded:
The game's opening goal came just 39 seconds in when Carter Verhaeghe roofed a nifty forehand-backhand move past Skarek:
This was Verhaeghe's 13th goal of the season.
The next 10 minutes were all Florida, but an elusive move on a loose puck gave the Islanders their first shot of the game, as Anders Lee flicked it into Spencer Knight’s glove.
However, the Panthers responded, and at 12:52, Gustav Forsling’s shot created a rebound that Verhaeghe buried into the open net:
Just minutes after that, a Forsling wrist shot rang off the post as the Islanders avoided going down 3-0.
In need of a goal, an Aaron Ekblad slashing penalty gave the Islanders a powerplay at 16:00, yet they were unable to generate any quality chances, recording zero shots on goal.
The first period ended with the Panthers outshooting the Islanders 14-5, up 2-0.
The Islanders got back within a goal when a Tony DeAngelo slapshot produced a rebound in front of the net, which Kyle MacLean buried at 3:10 of the second period:
DeAngelo recorded his third point in just his fifth game with the Islanders, while MacLean notched his third goal of the season.
Minutes later, the Islanders went on their second power play of the night after Niko Mikkola was called for holding on Anthony Duclair's breakaway attempt.
The man advantage started poor, but the Islanders persisted.
With just five seconds left on the power play, a point shot from Dennis Cholowski put a loose puck in front, allowing Jean-Gabriel Pageau to push it past Knight at 10:00:
The goal marked Pageau's 10th of the season and the Islanders' first power-play goal in their last six games.
A Marc Gatcomb hooking penalty on Tomas Nosek at 12:38 sent the Islanders to their first penalty kill of the game.
Despite holding a 70.6% success rate on the penalty kill this season, the Islanders have been dominant since Jan. 1, killing penalties at an NHL-best 91.3% in that span—and it showed.
After an impressive two minutes, Gatcomb stepped out of the penalty box and immediately received a stretch pass for a breakaway.
Though he did not convert, the puck found its way to Maxim Tsyplakov, who found Adam Pelech at the point.
Pelech fired a slap shot on net that deflected off Gatcomb to beat Knight to give the Islanders a 3-2 lead at 14:51:
This was Gatcomb's second goal of the season. With the secondary assist, Maxim Tsyplakov has points in three straight games with three assists.
With tired Islanders on the ice, Evan Rodrigues received a feed from Anton Lundell in front of the net before sliding the puck past Skarek at 17:52 to tie the game at 3-3:
This was Rodrigues' 13th goal of the season.
In the final minute of the second period, Sam Reinhart split the defense and drove to the net, perfectly positioning himself to bury a Gustav Forsling feed for an easy goal at 19:09 to give the Panthers a 4-3 lead:
This was Reinhart's 31st goal of the season.
The Islanders outshot the Panthers 15-12 in the second period.
Offsetting holding penalties to Niko Mikkola and Brock Nelson at 7:33 led to a stretch of 4-on-4 hockey, but neither team took advantage of the extra space.
A holding penalty on Tysplakov at 10:29 put the Islanders on a crucial penalty kill, and Verhaeghe wasted no time, completing his fourth career hat trick with an off-balance slap shot past Skarek.
Down by two goals inside the final five minutes of regulation, Bo Horvat drew a holding penalty on Dmitry Kulikov.
Skarek was pulled for an extra attacker, but Matthew Tkachuk found the empty net to put Florida ahead 6-3.
The game remained 6-3 as the two teams finished the night tied at 32 shots each.
UP NEXT: The Islanders host the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday at 7:30