Panthers Roll By Islanders

     Carter Verhaeghe collected his fourth career hat trick as the Florida Panthers pushed by the New York Islanders 6-3 on Sunday night at Amerant Bank Arena. The Panthers will complete their three-game homestand with a rare circumstance of back-to-back home games on Saturday and Sunday.  The Islanders had their seven-game winning streak snapped. 

     Islanders goalie Jakub Skarek made his NHL debut. The Panthers had a pregame ceremony as they gave defenseman Dmitri Kulikov a silver stick for playing in his 1,000 NHL game last week. 

     Florida(32-19-3) ripped out to a 1-0 advantage just 39 seconds into the opening period. Aleksander Barkov pushed the puck from the right point off an Islanders turnover and Sam Reinhart passed from right wing. Carter Verhaeghe then roofed a backhand shot from the crease area past Skarek for his 13th goal this season.  

     It became 2-0 for the Cats with 7:08 left in the first. Gustav Forsling shot the puck from the high slot which was saved. Verhaeghe placed in a wrist shot from the low left circle for his second tally of the game and 14th goal of the campaign. 

     Both teams combined for five goals during the second frame. A Tony DeAngelo shot from long range was saved by Spencer Knight. Kyle MacLean steered in the puck from the top of the crease for his third goal and New York(24-21-7) was down 2-1 at the 3:10 mark. 

     The Islanders tied it up 2-2 on the power play midway through the period at 10:00. Casey Cizikas fed a pass across the slot and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored his 10th goal this year on a wrist shot from the right circle. 

     The Isles took their first lead of the contest 3-2 with 5:09 to go in the period. Adam Pelech fired a slap shot from the left point and it was deflected in by Marc Gatcomb from the low slot for his second career goal. 

     Florida overtook them with two goals for a 4-3 advantage. Evan Rodrigues put in a backhand shot with 2:08 left and Sam Reinhart chalked up his 31st goal of the season on a forehand shot from the slot area with 51 seconds remaining in the second. 

     In the third period, the Panthers scored a power-play goal at 10:41 to make it 5-3. Matthew Tkachuk carried the puck from behind the cage to the right circle. He connected a cross-ice pass and Verhaeghe one-timed a a shot from the left-circle dot for his third goal of the contest and 15th goal overall.

     New York pulled their goalie for an extra attacker with 4:54 remaining. Tkachuk would eventually score an empty-net goal from the right wing with 1:39 left in the third to give the Cats a 6-3 lead. It was the 18th goal this season for Tkachuk.