Islanders tame Panthers

Islander Frans Nielsen scores in shootout against Jose Theodore (Photo by Eliot J. Schechter/NHLI via Getty Images)

          The Islanders battled back twice against the Florida Panthers, and eventually ousted them in a shootout, to win 3-2.
          The win was the Isles' third in four chances, on this current five-game road trip.  They will end the road trip in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
          The Islanders fell behind early, when the Panthers scored just six minutes into the game.  At the 5:55 mark center Stephen Weiss took a pass from behind the net and buried a wrist shot over the glove of Islander goaltender, Evgeni Nabokov, to make it 1-0.  The goal was Weiss' nineteenth of the year.  
          The Islanders would bounce back, and tie the game, late in the second period.  At the 18:57 mark, while on the powerplay, left winger Matt Moulson took a pass from linemate, center John Tavares, and buried a wrist shot past the Florida goaltender, Jose Theodore, to tie the game at one.  The goal was Moulson's team leading thirty-fourth of the season.  
          The two teams would match each other in goals in the third.  Florida scored first at the 9:51 mark, when left winger Tomas Fleischmann would take a weird bounce off the boards and fired a wrist shot under the right pad of Nabokov, to make it 2-1.  The goal was Fleischmann's twenty-fourth of the year.  Just over two minutes later, at the 12:22 mark the Isles would tie the game once again.  Right winger Kyle Okposo would throw the puck towards the net and it would deflect off the stick of Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov, and past Theodore, to tie the game.  The goal was Okposo's seventeenth of the year, and his second in two games.  Regulation time would end with the game tied at two, and it was time for overtime.
          Neither team would score in the overtime period, sending this game to a shootout.  Florida shot first, and it was center John Madden against Nabokov.  Madden would try to go over the glove of Nabokov, but was not able to put it past him, giving the Isles the early advantage.  The Islanders would send out one of the best lead-off hitters in the game, center Frans Nielsen.  Prior to this shot Nielsen had been 6-10 (60%) in shootouts this year.  Nielsen would go in on Theodore and bury his famous backhand over him and give the Isles the 1-0 advantage.  Nielsen continued his amazing showing in shootouts, and is now 7-11 (63.6) this year.  That would be all the Islanders would need as Nabokov would stop the following two Florida shots, and the Islanders would skate away with the shootout victory.
          Unfortunately for the Isles, the eighth place Washington Capitals also won, and their hopes for the playoffs are almost gone.  With only seven games left, the Islanders sit eleven points out of a playoff spot.  
          The Islanders will conclude, what has been a successful road trip so far, when they visit the CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, for a tilt against Sidney Crosby and the Penguins.  Puck Drop is scheduled for 7PM.