Islanders Top Panthers

     The Florida Panthers hosted the New York Islanders on Monday night at BB&T Center and lost 5-4 in a shootout. The Islanders have won five of their last six games. Florida Panthers assistant coach Jack Capuano faced his former team for the first time since he was let go as head coach by the Islanders last season.
     Florida(10-13-4) got on the scoreboard at 10:25 of the first period. Nick Leddy sent a backhand pass from the end wall up ahead. It was intercepted by Keith Yandle when he blasted a one-time slap shot from the left point by Jaroslav Halak. The Cats held the Isles to two shots in the first 12 minutes of the contest.
     New York(16-8-2) responded with 6:09 left in the first to tie the game 1-1. Calvin de Hannan fired a slap shot from the left point which was wide left of the cage. The puck bounced solidly from the end boards to the low slot and Anders Lee scored from close range past Roberto Luongo for his 16th goal of the season and 100th goal in his NHL career.
     In the second period, Luongo had to leave the game at the 2:31 mark due to injury when making a save and was replaced by James Reimer in net. The Islanders would score just a couple of minutes later at 5:35. Joshua Ho-Sang passed the puck from the end wall  around the boards to Thomas Hickey at the left point. He placed a shot which went through traffic and by Reimer for his first goal of the year.
     The Panthers recovered and scored on the power play at 8:45 to make it 2-2. Yandle was on the right point and passed the puck to his left. Aaron Ekblad nailed a one-time slap shot from the high slot for his fourth tally of the season. Vincent Trocheck was also credited with an assist on the play.
     The Cats added another power-play goal with 9:26 remaining in the frame. Yandle was at the blue line and connected a backhand drop pass to Alekander Barkov. He ripped a snap shot in for his 10th goal of the season.
     The contest would be tied again at 3-3 with 3:41 to go in the second. Ho-Sang carried the puck across the Panthers line and found Brock Nelson on his left side. Nelson scored on a wrist shot for the Islanders to finish off the play.
     The Islanders pulled ahead 4-3 with 1:39 left in the period. Josh Bailey recovered a loose puck in the right circle and centered it to John Tavares in the slot. He pushed in a shot that went through the pads of Reimer for his 17th goal of the campaign.
     Florida got a break on a turnover and evened the game at 5:06 of the third period. De Haan lost the puck and fell down in the right corner. Trocheck passed to the low slot and Denis Malgin scored on a one-time shot.
     The game went into a shootout and there was only one shot that was converted. Islanders rookie Matthew Barzal scored on their third attempt as he lifted a backhand shot into the top shelf of the net.