RECAP: Panthers 6, Islanders 3

ELMONT, NY – Matthew Tkachuk scored twice to help the Florida Panthers claw back from an early deficit in an intense 6-3 win over the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Saturday.

Improving to 6-3-1, the Panthers became the third team this season to erase a three-goal deficit and win.

“We were not great to start, but found a way to change it and change it in a hurry,” Tkachuk said. “We came out and played really two good last periods in the second and third. It’s something that we can build on, for sure.”

Stacking up bodies in front of Florida’s net, the Islanders opened the scoring when Dennis Cholowski threaded a point shot through traffic to make it 1-0 at 1:32 of the first period.

Kyle Palmieri doubled the lead for New York when he poked in his own rebound after Spencer Knight had made the initial save to make it 2-0 at 6:01. Tacking on another, Brock Nelson scored after a flukey bounce off the boards to make it 3-0 at 11:41.

Halting New York’s momentum, Sam Reinhart settled down a beautiful saucer pass from Eetu Luostarinen and scored on a breakaway to cut Florida's deficit to 3-1 at 13:27. Off to a scorching start, Reinhart has recorded a team-high 14 points.

Given that the Islanders were playing on the second half of a back-to-back, the Panthers knew they’d have a chance to pounce later in the game if they could continue to chip away.

“I think it was an important time,” Reinhart said. “Coming into the locker down two as opposed to down three is a little bit different. We knew we were getting our legs under us a little bit and knew they played last night. It was a quick turnaround, and we were able to wear them down as the game went on.”

With the bleeding stopped, the Panthers ramped up the pressure in the second period.

Moments after taking a stick to the mid-section from Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov, Tkachuk got the Panthers to within striking distance when he followed up on a shot from Carter Verhaeghe and poked in the loose puck to make it 3-2 at 6:38.

After clanging a shot off the far post earlier in the period, rookie Mackie Samoskevich tied the game and was finally rewarded with his first NHL goal when he sped around New York’s net before slipping the puck past Varlamov on a slick wrap-around to make it 3-3 at 18:16.

“It felt like a thousand pounds off my shoulders,” said Samoskevich, who the Panthers took with the 24^th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft. “I felt like I’d played good enough to score, but it just wasn’t going in. They (my teammates) were supporting me the whole way, telling me to keep going and that it was coming. It was a huge help.”

Putting the Panthers on top in the third period, Sam Bennett won a key draw in the offensive zone before heading to the net and deflecting in a shot from Tkachuk to make it 4-3 at 6:19.

As part of the “Benny’s Buddies” initiative that was announced earlier in the day, Bennett is funding the adoption fee of a pet at Humane Society of Broward County every time he lights the lamp. With a team-high seven goals already, there’s a lot of happy pets in South Florida.

Keeping the Islanders at bay, Knight made seven key saves in the second period.

“Completely locked it down and was incredible for us,” Tkachuk said of Knight, who finished with 25 saves in the win. “When you look at the game and see he gave up three, people that didn’t watch maybe didn’t see how great he was. He was incredible tonight and gave us a chance to win. In the second period, he made some incredible stops.”

Picking up his third point of the game and netting an insurance goal for the Panthers, Tkachuk buried a shot from the right circle on the power play to make it 5-3 at 9:49.

After missing five games earlier this month, Tkachuk feels like he’s getting back into a groove.

“To be back and feeling good and getting some games underway and just feeling confident as the game goes on, I’m starting to feel better,” the star winger said. “That’s always good.”

After the Islanders earned a late power play and then pulled Varlamov to gain a 6-on-4 advantage, Gustav Forsling fired a shot from behind his own goal line that floated all the way down the ice and into the abandoned cage to extend Florida’s lead to 6-3 at 17:43.

Even with a less-than-ideal start, the Panthers once again showed they won’t go down easy.

“We had a very difficult first period,” head coach Paul Maurice said. “The Islanders played very smart, very well, and then we were able to get our game back, which is a very difficult thing to do. I thought we built. Then our forecheck got to be pretty dominate by the end. They played last night. Really pleased that we were able to change gears.”

THEY SAID IT

“I don’t think we’re going to forget that one. One of the nicest first goals I've ever seen. Way nicer than mine." – Matthew Tkachuk on Mackie Samoskevich’s first NHL goal

“It means the world. They’ve sacrificed so much for me. You have so memories of them driving you to the rink and stuff. It all leads up to this. It feels a lot better that they’re in the building. I wanted to save it for them.” – Mackie Samoskevich on having his family in the stands for his first NHL goal

“It’s important to have that ability to flip a switch when you don’t like your start. A little slow, a little passive early on. It took us a bit to get going. That’s an important step to be able to learn that.” – Sam Reinhart

CATS STATS

- Matthew Tkachuk recorded his 11^th multi-goal game as a Panther.

- Sam Bennett extended his goal streak to four games.

- Spencer Knight stopped all 19 shots he faced in the second and third periods.

- Niko Mikkola blocked a team-high four shots.

WHAT’S NEXT?

Just one more game until the 2024 Global Series in Finland.

Wrapping up the New York portion of their road trip, the Panthers will head to Buffalo for an early-season rematch against the Sabres at KeyBank Center on Monday at 7 p.m. ET.

To follow the action, visit FloridaPanthers.com/HowToWatch.