Panthers squander early lead on Long Island as Islanders rally with five unanswered goals to secure a crucial win in their chase for a playoff spot.
The Florida Panthers kicked off a quick weekend back-to-back with a matchup against the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon.
Florida jumped out to a 2-0 lead but were overwhelmed by a motivated Islanders squad still fighting for a playoff spot, losing 5-2 at UBS Arena.
In what has seemed like a regular occurrence lately, Matthew Tkachuk was sprung on another breakaway, this one coming during the first half of the first period.
A Seth Jones clearing attempt after the Islanders were trying to set up shop in Florida’s zone found Tkachuk all alone in the neutral zone.
Tkachuk made a great move to his backhand before sending the puck over Ilya Sorokin’s glove and into the top of the net, giving the Panthers a 1-0 lead at the 8:06 mark.
He wasn’t done there.
About six minutes later, Tkachuk drove with the puck through New York’s zone and toward Sorokin.
Just as he passed the top of the crease, Tkachuk put his stick between his legs and somehow shot the puck past Sorokin to give Florida a 2-0 lead.
The Islanders picked up their first goal of the game about five minutes into the second period when a shot by Marc Gatcomb deflected off the blade of Donovan Sebrango and past a frozen Daniil Tarasov.
New York then tied the game with just under eight minutes left in the middle frame when Brayden Schenn was sprung on a breakaway from the blue line in, beating Tarasov glove side to knot the score at two.
Just about three minutes after that, an Islanders power play goal by Simon Holmstrom give the home team their first lead of the afternoon. His long point shot found its way past a screened Tarasov with 5:08 remaining in the period.
They weren’t done there.
Moments after Mackie Samoskevich was stopped on a breakaway by Sorokin, Emil Heineman one-timed a nice pass by Anders Lee past Tarasov, doubling the Islanders’ lead with exactly three minutes on the clock.
Less than a minute later, Casey Cizikas found a loose puck in the Panthers crease after a Tarasov glove save and popped it over the sprawling goaltender, and just like that It was 5-2 Islanders.
The two teams meandered through a scoreless third period that saw Florida pull Tarasov with over five minutes to go and hit a couple goal posts while trying to shrink their deficit.
On to Manhattan.
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Photo caption: Mar 28, 2026; Elmont, New York, USA; New York Islanders center Casey Cizikas (53) celebrates his goal against Florida Panthers goaltender Daniil Tarasov (40) during the second period at UBS Arena. (Brad Penner-Imagn Images)