Islanders fans returned to pack UBS Arena for the first time in nearly a month on Sunday night.
It was worth the wait.
Anders Lee’s goal with 30.9 seconds left proved to be the winner, giving the Islanders a thrilling 5-4 win – their season-high fifth consecutive victory and eighth win in their last 10 games – over the Panthers. It was also the team’s 12th consecutive sellout, dating to their Dec. 13 against the Lightning, and their first home game since Feb. 3.
Matthew Schaefer was nearly the hero against the back-to-back reigning Stanley Cup champs, giving the Islanders (35-21-5) a 4-3 lead with 9:31 left on a wrist shot that went off Panthers defenseman Jeff Petry and through the legs of goalie Sergei Bobrovsky.
But the Panthers (30-27-3), after pulling the goalie for an extra skater, tied it at 4 on Sam Reinhart’s goal with 1:58 left.
The Islanders tied the Penguins, who have played two fewer games, for second place in the Metropolitan Division. It was the Islanders’ lone home game before a four-game road trip, which begins Wednesday night in Anaheim.
Schaefer, three days after setting the NHL record for the most goals by an 18-year-old defenseman, posted his first career three-point performance as he also had a first-period goal and the lone assist on Bo Horvat’s goal that tied it at 3 with 2:46 left in the second period.
Islanders fans have showered Schaefer with love throughout his rookie season, and that didn’t change after Sunday, with chants of his name pouring down from the seats.
In the second half of a back-to-back, the Islanders’ first of six in their final 23 games, backup goalie David Rittich made his first start since Feb. 2. But he had struggled before the Olympic break and was shaky early, allowing three goals on the Panthers’ first 13 shots on goal. He finished with 29 saves.
As a solid complement to Ilya Sorokin, Rittich entered Sunday with a 12-8-3 record with a .900 save percentage and 2.57 goals-against average. But he had lost four of his five previous decisions, going 1-3-1 with an .868 save percentage and 2.88 goals-against average.
Sam Bennett’s second goal, on a backhander that went under Rittich’s right arm, gave the Panthers a 3-2 lead with 7:56 left. Horvat answered 5:10 later, tying it at 3 on a shot from a limited angle, his 25th goal of the season. Schaefer, who had his 10th multi-point game, had the lone assist.
The Panthers led 2-1 after 20 minutes. Carson Soucy’s four-on-four goal, his second with the Islanders since being traded from the Rangers on Jan. 26, evened it at 2 with 12:32 left in the second. Simon Holmstrom had the primary assist, his fourth point in three games since the Olympic break. The Islanders went to the power play with 13:56 left in the second, but Schaefer was sent off for holding 24 seconds later to make it four-on-four.
Schaefer cut the Islanders’ 2-0 deficit in half with 1:59 left in the first period.
A strange bounce led to Schaefer’s 19th goal of the season. Off a pass from Ryan Pulock, Schaefer blasted a one-timer that went off Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling’s leg, over Bobrovsky, off the cross bar and off the back of Bobrovsky and in.
The Panthers opened the scoring 3:44 into the first period on a backhanded shot by Sandis Vilmanis, who evaded a sliding Adam Pelech and snuck the puck under Rittich’s left pad. Tony DeAngelo failed to keep Panthers goalie Bobrovsky’s clear attempt in the zone, and it trickled to A.J. Greer, who flipped it to Vilmanis in front of the net.
Pulock went off for hooking with 5:12 left in the first, and the Panthers capitalized six seconds later as Bennett snapped a shot past Rittich to make it 2-0.
Notes & quotes: At the first media timeout, the Islanders honored their own Olympians – Horvat (Canada) and Ondrej Palat (Czechia) – and the Panthers’, including American Matthew Tkachuk, who received a roaring ovation … Jonathan Drouin (lower-body injury) is day-to-day and did not play against Florida. Coach Patrick Roy said the injury popped up “towards the end” of Saturday’s 4-3 overtime win in Columbus … Anthony Duclair played in his first game since Feb. 3 against the Penguins, when he was benched after four shifts in the first period. He played 13:22 and could not finish on a breakaway with about six minutes left in the second period.
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports’ general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins’ teams.