Panthers Rally Over Islanders

     The Florida Panthers scored four goals in the third period and overcame the New York Islanders 5-3 on Sunday at Nassau Coliseum. The win stopped a four-game losing streak for the Panthers as it was their first victory since February 4 at home against Toronto.
     The first period belonged to New York(23-32-8) as Thomas Vanek scored two goals for them. He snapped in a shot at 6:45 then scored a power-play goal at 7:39 for his 20th and 21st goals this campaign.
     It looked like Florida(23-31-7) was back in the game when they cut the deficit down to 2-1 with 1:45 left in the second period. Lubomir Visnovsky turned the puck over when he advanced it and Matthias passed it to Marcel Goc in the right circle. His slapshot was saved and Matthias put in the rebound beyond Anders Nilsson. The Isles moved the gap up to two goals again when Dylan Olsen was unable to clear the puck out and Ryan Strome snapped a shot from the left of the crease by Tim Thomas with 46 seconds left in the second. 
     In the third period, the Cats scored four goals to take the eventual lead. Goc fired a shot from the top left circle to make it 3-2 at 3:16 for his 11th goal. The Islanders committed another turnover in their defensive zone as Matthias scored his second goal of the game on a backhand shot from the low slot at 4:18.
    Scottie Upshall got the go-ahead goal to make it 4-3 at 10:31 as he scored on a rebound to the right of the crease following a right circle shot by Matthias. Upshall added another tally during the power play on a wrist shot from the slot area with 4:34 to go in the third for his 12th goal this season. He received the feed from Olsen in the right circle.