3 Takeaways: Islanders Drop Fourth Straight With 6-1 Loss to Florida

The New York Islanders dropped a 6-1 result to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night at FLA Live Arena, extending their losing streak to four games.
The game was the Islanders' second leg of a back-to-back set down in the Sunshine State and marked the official end of their historic 13-game road trip to start the season. It was the team's first four-game losing streak since Feb. 13-19, 2020 and Tuesday marked the first time under Barry Trotz the Islanders had allowed four first-period goals.

"We're definitely upset with our play, we take a lot of pride in who we are how we play," Casey Cizikas said. "It's not easy, but we'll be upset about this tonight, get home, get the body ready for that home opener. It's time for us to pick it up and play our game, four lines, six D, two goalies and come out hard. That's the only way we're going to get out of this, playing hard. It's up to us, we can't rely on anyone else to help us, it's on us. We have a group here that believes in each other, we don't care what anyone in the outside world says, we believe in each other and know what we are capable of. It's a matter of getting back to that and finding our groove. It's not going to come easy; it's going to be hard and we're ready for that challenge."
Jonathan Huberdeau, Ryan Lomberg, Carter Verhaeghe, Patric Hornqvist, Aaron Ekblad and Frank Vatrano scored for the Panthers.
Kyle Palmieri scored the Islanders' sole goal of the game and in doing so, netted his first goal of the season and also got in a fight early in the third period. Ilya Sorokin made 13 saves on 17 shots through 20 minutes of action. Semyon Varlamov replaced Sorokin in net after the first intermission and made 17 saves on 19 shots, while Sergei Bobrovsky made 27 saves on 28 shots in the win for Florida.
The Islanders were without defenseman Ryan Pulock, who was out with a lower-body injury, and forward Josh Bailey, who was placed on COVID-19 protocol ahead of the game.

COSTLY DEFENSE LAPSES CONTINUE

A theme that has burdened the Islanders throughout this four-game losing stretch is their uncharacteristic defensive breakdowns.
"The mistakes that we're making, they're on us," Trotz said. "Our decisions are getting caught in between, we're not getting about people, we're not playing almost good hockey and really bad hockey. You can't do that. We just played against two top teams that make you pay the deal."
The Islanders started the game off on a tough note as they fell to a 4-0 deficit heading into the first intermission that saw Varlamov replace Sorokin as a result. The Islanders' defensive woes that have burdened them through this losing streak continued and accounted for Florida's early and cushioned lead.
The Panthers' first goal came shortly after the Islanders were unsuccessful on their first power play and were in the midst of a line change. After forcing a turnover, Florida swiftly countered and Panthers forward Anthony Duclair zipped a pass across for Huberdeau to bury on the doorstep to beat Sorokin at 6:58.
PANTHERS 6, ISLANDERS 1
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"They came out trying to jump on us," Trotz said. "I thought we were managing it OK, but I thought we sagged after they scored the first goal. I thought we were OK, the shots were even, I didn't feel that we were under too much duress, but we sagged. That's part of being a little fragile [right now]. We were squeezing it and they jumped on it."
The Panther's next two strikes gave Florida a 2-0 and 3-0 lead and were converted in the span of 1:24, which was a deflating outcome for the Islanders. A failed outlet pass out of the Islanders' zone allowed Florida to counter on the second goal. Sorokin came up with a stop on Hornqvist's initial shot, but Lomberg swooped in for the rebound and roofed it over the Islanders goaltender at 14:40.
Just over two minutes later, the Panthers high-flying transition game beat the Islanders once more off the rush with their third goal of the game when Verhaeghe slipped past Adam Pelech's extended stick and centered a backdoor pass to Brandon Montour. Sorokin gloved away the first attempt, but lost the puck and Sam Bennett corralled it just for Verhaeghe to circle back and tap it in.
Florida scored its fourth goal heading into the first intermission off a defensive zone faceoff with Hornqvist collecting a mis-played puck, walking down to the goal line and banking his shot off of Sorokin and ultimately ending his night.

SOROKIN STARTS, VARLAMOV PLAYS REMAINDER

Varlamov relieved Sorokin following the first intermission and was solid in the 40 minutes of action for the Islanders.
Without having a proper warmup, the Islanders netminder was put in a tough spot right from the get-go as Scott Mayfield was ejected from the game for an open-ice collision in front of Florida's bench with Aleksander Barkov just 1:47 into the period. Mayfield received a kneeing major, which automatically triggered a game misconduct. The Islanders went on a five-minute penalty kill but were four-on-four for two minutes of it as Sam Bennett took a hooking penalty.
While neither team converted on the penalties, Varlamov was sturdy, but the Panthers extended their lead 5-0 at 13:41 to beat him. MacKenzie Weegar threaded a cross-slot pass to Ekblad at the right circle where he wound up for a clapper that beat Varlamov blocker-side.

Varlamov would face a total of 12 shots in the second period but were able to match Florida's scoring for the frame. The Islanders beat Bobrovsky with five minutes left in the middle frame as Palmieri scored his first goal of the season.
Palmieri collected a neutral zone pass from Kieffer Bellows and charged down the right wall. He patiently drew Bobrovsky out of his crease and lifted his shot past him to put the Islanders on the board.
The third period was chippy and saw two fights from Palmieri and Matt Martin each dropping the gloves with Florida's Radko Gudas. Varlamov, who was playing on consecutive nights, made some big stops, but another defensive breakdown at the Islanders' blueline allowed for an odd-man rush in which Florida scored its sixth and final goal of the game. Vatrano buried a feed from Owen Tippett to total the Panther's six-goal effort.

PULOCK OUT WITH LOWER-BODY INJURY, BAILEY IN COVID-19 PROTOCOL

During warmup, the team announced that Pulock suffered a lower-body injury in last night's game against Tampa Bay and will be further evaluated as the team returns to New York and that Bailey would miss the game as he was placed in COVID-19 protocol.

"I can't give you a real update," Trotz said of Pulock. "We'll see where that is. He's obviously a pretty big defenseman for us. That's an area that we have to crack the rope at. It's a hole, but we're going to have to find ways to fill that hole if he doesn't come back the next game or whatever."
Pulock's absence snapped a 263-consecutive game streak. On Monday, Pulock surpassed Denis Potvin for sole in the club record's ironman streak record among defensemen.
In Pulock's place, Noah Dobson returned to the lineup after being healthy scratched against Tampa Bay while Cizikas also returned to the lineup as he missed Monday's game after dealing with a non-COVID-19 related illness.
Sebastian Aho played in his second-straight game for the first time since March after making his season debut against Tampa. The Swedish blueliner gave the Islanders some mobility to their backend. Aho flexed his offensive instincts late in the second period shortly after Palmieri's goal with a wraparound attempt. The play was unfortunately swatted away by Sam Reinhart's stick at the goal line.

NEXT GAME:

The big day is here. The Islanders' next game will finally be their grand opening at UBS Arena this Saturday night against Calgary. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.