RECAP: Panthers 3, Islanders 2 (OT)

ELMONT, NY – For the second straight game, we got to see some extra hockey.

And for the second straight game, the Florida Panthers picked up two key points.

Heading into the All-Star break on a very high note, Oliver Ekman-Larsson collected a pass from Evan Rodrigues and roofed a shot past Semyon Varlamov at 1:57 of overtime to give the Florida Panthers to a thrilling 3-2 win over the New York Islanders on Saturday.

“We know that if we stick with it, we’re going to have a chance to win,” said Ekman-Larsson, who leads the team’s defensemen with nine goals. “We did that again tonight.”

Improving to 31-14-4, Florida, which secured a 3-2 shootout win at Pittsburgh just 24 hours earlier on Friday, has now won a franchise-record eight straight games on the road.

“There was nothing smooth or pretty or easy about the game, and we never fought that,” Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said. “I don’t think that we ever fought it trying to make it better than it was going to be. It was going to be ugly and be a grinder.”

With not a lot of action at either end, the first period came and went in the blink of an eye. Picking up where they left off in Pittsburgh, the Panthers killed off the only power play they faced in the period. 

Keeping the Islanders off the board, Anthony Stolarz stoned Bo Horvat on a breakaway less than five minutes into the second period. Carrying a hot stick, Horvat entered tonight’s tilt with three goals in his last four games.

In the win, Stolarz stopped 21 of 23 shots.

“I thought the [defense] did a great job tonight of letting me see the shots from the point,” said Stolarz, who's gone 6-2-1 with a .928 save percentage on the road this season. “The Islanders are a very big team and like to get in front of you.”

Setting a new franchise record with his 20^th power-play goal of the campaign, Sam Reinhart finally broke the ice and put the Panthers on top when he beat Varlamov with a one-timer from the slot on the power play to make it 1-0 at 7:56.

Stretching his point streak to 13 games and extending his franchise-record road goal streak to nine games, Reinhart also increased his team-leading and career-high goal total to 37, which is just three behind Toronto’s Auston Matthew for the most in the NHL.

Next weekend, Reinhart, who’s scored 18 goals over his last 16 games, and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky will represent the Panthers at 2024 NHL All-Star Game in Toronto.

“First time for me,” Reinhart said of NHL All-Star Weekend. “Going to take it all in.”

Following a faceoff win in the offensive zone, Simon Holmstrom, taking advantage of some chaos around Florida’s crease, pounced on a loose puck in the slot and fired it past Stolarz and into the twine to get New York on the board and make it 1-1 at 16:29.

Hustling to a loose puck, rookie Mackie Samoskevich drew a tripping penalty in the third period that would lead to a crucial power play for the Panthers. On the ensuing man advantage, Matthew Tkachuk deftly tipped in the go-ahead goal to make it 2-1 at 5:59.

On fire in 2024, Tkachuk has tallied 24 points (11 goals, 13 assists) in 13 games since Jan. 1.

Pulling their goaltender for the 6-on-5 advantage, the Islanders got the game knotted up when Kyle Palmier one-timed a perfect cross-ice pass from Noah Dobson into the back of the cage to make it 2-2 with 1:29 remaining in regulation and force the extra frame.

In overtime, three first-year Panthers teamed up for a big moment.

After Stolarz made a save on Brock Nelson, he quickly sent the rubber to Rodrigues, who flew up the right side of the ice before finding a streaking Ekman-Larsson with a centering feed. With just a quick second to take aim, the sharp-minded Swede then lifted a shot over Varlamov's blocker and into the top of the twine to lock in the 3-2 win.

“I got on the ice a little bit late there, so I had to get back,” Ekman-Larsson said of the sequence. “Stolie made a big save. A nice pass by E-Rod there. I was little bit scared because I thought I was offside first. I was humming pretty good there on the left side.”

THEY SAID IT

“I didn’t think we hurt ourselves mentally. I think we couldn’t move the puck the way we normally could. I think we lost some battles. Our legs maybe weren’t there, but we weren’t foolish with what we did.” – Paul Maurice

“I just want to be reliable. I want to be someone that the team can count on when my name’s called.” – Anthony Stolarz

“It probably wasn’t the prettiest game to watch, but it was two teams competing out there and not giving up much space. We knew it was going to come down to the wire, and it was nice to get the extra point.” – Sam Reinhart

CATS STATS

- Sam Reinhart is the third player in franchise history with a point streak of at least 13 games.

- Aleksander Barkov went 16-for-18 (88.9%) in the faceoff circle.

- Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour each blocked two shots.

- Matthew Tkachuk has three multi-point performances in his last four games.

- Anthony Stolarz has allowed two or fewer goals in six of his last seven appearances.

- Jonah Gadjovich skated in his 100^th NHL game.

WHAT’S NEXT?

It’s time to rest up for the playoff push.

After enjoying some downtime during the All-Star break, the Panthers will return to the ice to host the Philadelphia Flyers at Amerant Bank Arena on Tuesday, Feb. 6 at 7 p.m. ET.

For tickets, click HERE.