ELMONT, NY — Back to back, the Florida Panthers saw the lead evaporated in a 4-2 defeat to the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Sunday.
With a 41-24-3 lead over the Atlantic division, the Panthers lost just four games as they led two periods, but two of those losses took place on this road trip.
Despite this uplift in the road, the Panthers believe it is a somewhat necessary hardship.
“It’s good for us now,” coach Paul Maurice said. “There are some humble humble things that I want to happen before I enter the playoffs. We still have something to do to get there and we’re losing our bodies. I think it’s going to be trending when we still have four sets of consecutive teams.
During the first period, the islanders controlled much of the play.
In a penalty kill, Vitek Vanecek appeared in the clutch and quickly moved the islanders away from the board when he took Bo Horvat with a shot from the slot. Vanecek then continued to grow taller at another important stop in Horvat. This time I took a shot from the circle on the right after rushing.
20 minutes later, New York led 12-1 on goal shots, but no goal showed that.
“He gave us all the chances to win,” Captain Alexander Barkov said of Vanechek, who has been outstanding throughout his first two starts, after being bought by the Panthers before the trade deadline last week. “We didn’t do enough work in front of him.”
Dmitry Kulikov, who lost a key player in the first period, was released with an injury to Florida’s upper body.
He won’t come back, Maurice said he’ll be able to see the veteran defender tomorrow.
“It was a huge loss,” Barkov said he would lose Krikav for the majority of the game. “When you play with 5d, those guys have a lot of minutes. They did well, but they need to get a little better.”
The second season came out much stronger, and the Panthers were of their first blood.
On the 19th minute mark, Barkov scored a goal from just outside the crease with a clever touch pass to make it 1-0. In a power play, Barkov was rewarded with his generosity with his own goals, deflecting on the shot to make it 2-0 at 4:48.
