Panthers frustrated by Islanders, officiating in 3-2 defeat on home ice
Florida has dropped six of its past seven games
A tough stretch for the Florida Panthers continued on Thursday when they welcomed the New York Islanders to Amerant Bank Arena.
Florida would be frustrated by both the Islanders and the officiating, falling 3-2 for their sixth loss in seven games.
The Panthers were all over New York during the first few shifts of the game, outshooting the visitors 5-0 over the first five minutes.
The Isles thought they caught a break just before the eight-minute mark when a long point shot found its way past a screened Anthony Stolarz, but the goal was overturned after Florida challenged for goalie interference.
Just 24 seconds later, Vladimir Tarasenko fired a sharp angle shot toward Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov that deflected off a stick and trickled over the goal line to put Florida ahead 1-0.
Five minutes later Isles defenseman Ryan Pulouk found the puck and a ton of space, walking down from the blue line and firing a wrister from inside the right circle that beat Stolarz by the blocker to tie the game at one.
Sasha Barkov picked up his second point of the game when he finished a nice backdoor feed from Sam Reinhart at the 6:32 mark of the second period.
Once again Florida’s lead wouldn’t last, and this time it was a slick deflection by Mathew Barzal that drew the game back to even.
Less than two minutes later the Islanders took their first lead thanks to a goal by Jean-Gabriel Pageau that was challenged by the Panthers for goalie interference.
This time the Cats did not win the challenge and New York’s lead would stick into the second intermission.
Florida did finally get a power play during the third period, failing to score despite a pair of shots and almost exclusive zone time.
Ultimately the Islanders would get another six minutes of power play time during the third period and the Panthers couldn’t get anything past Varlamov.
On to Detroit.
Here are some thoughts and observations from Thursday’s tilt with the Isles:
Final power plays numbers were seven for the Islanders and one for the Panthers. Neither team scored while on the man advantage.
Florida put up more shots during the third period (15) than they did in the first two periods combined (14).
Barkov’s second period goal was the 700th point of his NHL career.
Tarasenko has two goals and an assist over a three-game points streak.
Dmitry Kulikov has assists in consecutive games for just the third time this season.
Reinhart extended his points streak to four games, with three goals and three assist during the run.
LATEST STORIES FROM THE HOCKEY NEWS - FLORIDA
