SUNRISE, Fla. – The injury-depleted Panthers haven’t been particularly good yet this season. But they are the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion.
So Sunday at Amerant Bank Arena still figured to be a challenge for the Islanders beyond their second faceoff in the Sunshine State in 22 hours.
Their game just never looked fully in synch in a 4-1 loss that snapped their three-game winning streak.
Goalie David Rittich (26 saves) started for the first time in five games after Ilya Sorokin made 32 saves in Saturday night’s 2-0 win over the Lightning as he matched Chico Resch’s franchise record with his 25th career shutout.
The Panthers’ Daniil Tarasov stopped 20 shots as the Islanders (16-11-3) were inconsistent in getting bodies to his crease or making his job particularly difficult.
The Panthers (14-12-2) were also playing on a back-to-back after a wild 7-6 overtime win over the visiting Blue Jackets on Saturday as they rallied twice, including once from a three-goal deficit.
Still, they’ve been without top forwards Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov all season and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov for 26 games. They concluded their homestand 2-3-1 after being outscored 21-14 in the first five games.
Mathew Barzal brought the Islanders within 2-1 at 9:03 of the second period, skating into the slot and having his backhander deflect in off defenseman Gustav Forsling. But defenseman Seth Jones again gave the Panthers’ a two-goal lead on a four-on-four rush at 13:57 of the third period. And Sam Reinhart added an empty-netter at 17:06 just 13 seconds after Rittich was pulled for an extra skater.
The Islanders were outshot 8-3 over the final 20 minutes.
The Panthers also outshot the Islanders 9-0 during a first-period stretch of 12 minutes, 28 seconds, taking a 1-0 lead as defenseman Uvis Balinskis notched his first goal in 38 games with a shot from the left point through A.J. Greer’s screen at 12:14.
That became 2-0 at 7:05 of the second period as Carter Verhaeghe converted off dual turnovers by rookie Max Shabanov, first in the offensive zone and then back in the Islanders’ zone.
Coach Patrick Roy then swapped Simon Holmstrom to Shabanov’s spot on Bo Horvat’s right wing with Emil Heineman while having Shabanov skate with rookie Cal Ritchie and Anthony Duclair.
Notes & quotes: Center Jean-Gabriel Pageau (upper body) missed his eighth game…Third-pair defenseman Travis Mitchell quickly drew back into the lineup after being a healthy scratch in favor of Adam Boqvist against the Lightning. “It’s a fathers’ trip,” said Roy, adding the Boqvist-or-Mitchell decisions this weekend were made in collaboration with general manager Mathieu Darche. “It’s important that everybody plays.”
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.