Despite Hot Offense, Panthers Can’t Outscore Islanders, Lose In Homestand

Sunrise, FL – Back at the sunny confines of South Florida after a four-game road trip against Canadian opponents, the Florida Panthers looked to begin a three-game stretch at the Amerant Bank Arena on a high note against a New York Islanders team that had lost five games in a row at one point. The Islanders had not won a game in Sunrise in their last four meetings but played some of their best hockey this whole season. Despite the Panthers dominating the shots on goal and holding the puck in New York’s zone for most of the game, it was the Islanders that came out on top by a final score of 4-3, as the Panthers lose, kicking off their homestand.

A Great Offense Everywhere But The Scoreboard

This was one of those frustrating-to-watch games for the reason that the Panthers looked like the better team for most of the night. The difference in shots on goal was remarkable, with Florida managing 45 and New York just 27.

However, it was New York that got on the board first off a Panthers penalty 12 minutes into the first period. Florida had a streak of 26 straight penalties killed off, but that was smashed off a power play, and they were down early.

In fairness, it didn’t take long for the Cats to respond as Sam Reinhart found the back of the net just 66 seconds later. This was his 16th goal of the season, which is the second-most in the NHL right now.

Boys come right back ‼️ pic.twitter.com/39ROk9uqDn

— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) December 2, 2023

That tied the game up at one goal each, which carried all the way to intermission. Florida couldn’t capitalize on a power play of their own later in the period.

The second period was when things started to go wrong for backup goalie Anthony Stolarz and the Panthers defense, who gave up an early Islanders goal four minutes into the second period. In an effort to equalize, the Panthers began to give up some turnovers and the puck found a lot of time in their zone.

A Southern-Based New York Takeover

The damage got really bad five minutes after the first goal, as a wrister off a rebound got by Stolarz for a healthy 3-1 lead for New York.

Florida did not quit, but they couldn’t one-up New York. They did keep the score within reach in the 13th minute when Matthew Tkachuk capitalized off a Carter Verhaeghe pass to cut their lead to 3-2, but still were looking for answers heading to the third period.

But that chance never came, unfortunately. Another early goal for the Isles gave them a two-score lead, and it was up to Florida to get two goals in this period to tie and send it to overtime.

Things you love to see… First #Isles goals. pic.twitter.com/Tn2piVmA3t

— New York Islanders (@NYIslanders) December 3, 2023

A backhander by Verhaeghe with 11 minutes to go kept some hope for the Panthers, but an extended period with four minutes to go in which they took out Stolarz for an extra attacker didn’t result in an equalizer, sealing a 4-3 New York win.

Not The Stats We Want To See

Aside from Florida leading the shots on goal, the rest of the stats went toward the Islanders. They achieved seven takeaways, blocked 25 shots, and 20 hits – all of which were more than the Panthers.

Stolarz gave up four goals but still recorded 23 saves, but that hails in comparison to Ilya Sorokin for New York – 42 saves, including six during power plays.

For the first time in a while, the Panthers fail to pick up any points but still sit comfortably with a 14-8-2 record. As mentioned earlier, this is the start of a homestand with Florida as they get set to host the Dallas Stars – the Western Conference Final runner-up. That’ll be on Wednesday, December 6th at 7 pm.