Florida Panthers
Bounce House: New York Islanders 4, Florida Panthers 3
SUNRISE — If you are a fan of hockey goals coming off of rebounds well, friend, Saturday night’s Islanders game against the host Florida Panthers was one for you.
The puck bounced hard and fast off the pads of both Ilya Sorokin and Anthony Stolarz.
In the end, it was the Islanders who made the most of their bounces as they picked up their second consecutive win by beating the Panthers 4-3.
After starting off so well in Sunrise, the Panthers have now dropped their past three home games.
On Saturday, the Islanders never trailed as they took a 3-1 lead in the second as well as a 4-2 lead in the third.
The Panthers cut their deficit to a goal each time but could get no closer.
Sorokin was under siege for much of the night as he ended with 43 saves; Stolarz made 22 saves.
Florida got goals from Sam Reinhart, Matthew Tkachuk and Carter Verhaeghe.
GOALS OF THE GAME
- Islanders 1, Panthers 0 (12:36, 1st PP): Anders Lee scored a beauty of a goal, getting in front of the net with is back to Anthony Stolarz, taking the feed from Kyle Palmieri and putting it between his legs — and though the goalie’s skates. It was just the third SOG of the night for the Isles.
- Panthers 1, Islanders 1 (13:41, 1st): Sam Reinhart got that goal back on a wacky tic-tac-toe play set up off a slick cross-ice feed from Brandon Montour to a wide-open Evan Rodrigues. Even though Rodrigues whiffed on the shot — he still got enough wood on it to get it to Reinhart near the net. Ilya Sorokin was in place to block Rodrigues so the net was wide open for Reinhart to net his 16th of the season.
- Islanders 2, Panthers 1 (4:37, 2nd): A shot from Alexander Romanov ricochets off Kevin Stenlund and hits Stolarz’s pad; the puck goes right on the stick of Pierre Engvall who cleans it up.
- Islanders 3, Panthers 1 (9:12, 2nd): Another rebound, the one off the shot of Julien Gauthier, ends up on the stick of an Islander all alone in the front of the net. This time it is Simon Holmstrom.
- Islanders 3, Panthers 2 (13:14, 2nd): Matthew Tkachuk absolutely tees off on a pass from Carter Verhaeghe and gets his first goal since Nov. 10.
- Islanders 4, Panthers 2 (3:43, 3rd): Gauthier fires a high wrister off a Bo Horvat faceoff win to make it a 2-goal lead for the Isles.
- Islanders 4, Panthers 3 (9:36, 3rd): Aaron Ekblad keeps the puck from being cleared, feeds it to Gus Forsling whose point shot bounds off Sorokin and lands on Verhaeghe’s stick.
FHN’S 3 STARS OF THE GAME
1. Ilya Sorokin, Islanders
2. Julien Gauthier, Islanders
3. Carter Verhaeghe, Florida
ON DECK
DALLAS STARS AT FLORIDA PANTHERS
- When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
- Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise
- National TV/Streaming: TNT, HBO Max
- Radio: WAXY 790-AM; WBZT 1230-AM (Palm Beach); WCTH 100.3-FM (Florida Keys); SiriusXM
- Panthers Radio Streaming: SiriusXM 932, NHL app
- Last Season: Dallas won 2-0
- This Season — At Florida: Wednesday. At Dallas: March 12.
- All-time Regular Season Series: Florida leads 24-21-2, 3 ties
- Up Next for the Panthers: Friday vs. Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.