Injury, Illness May Challenge Panthers Winning Record
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MIAMI (AP) -- The Florida Panthers likely viewed their longest homestand of the season as a promising chance to boost their playoff hopes.
A goaltending corps decimated by injury and an outbreak of illness could make it challenging for the Panthers to end their lengthy stay with a winning record. A visit from the Metropolitan Division-leading New York Islanders on Saturday night could make that even more difficult.
Florida (28-23-14) went into a seven-game homestand with three consecutive defeats then took another to Chicago in the opener Feb. 26 before registering back-to-back victories. The Panthers are now 2-2-1 on that stay after losing the past twogames and had a bevy of absences in a 4-3 shootout loss to Dallas on Thursday.
They were forced to call up Dan Ellis from the minors when goaltenders Roberto Luongo (shoulder) and Al Montoya (groin) were both injured in a 3-2 loss to Toronto on Tuesday. Luongo is slated to miss at least one more game while Montoya is expected to sit out at least two weeks.
The Panthers also had three players out with the flu, including the recently acquired Jaromir Jagr. Defensemen Erik Gudbranson and Willie Mitchell were also out, and Mitchell was expected to end a 15-game absence because of an upper-body injury before getting sick.
Coach Gerard Gallant said four other players played through illnesses Thursday and helped the Panthers have enough man power to salvage one point. They remained two points behind Boston for the Eastern Conference's final wild-card spot after the Bruins' shootout defeat to Calgary on Thursday.
"I'm not happy about the one point. Tomorrow, I'm going to be happy and we're going to move on," Gallant said. "We're going to get some players back hopefully or the next day and get ready for a big game on Saturday."
The Islanders (42-21-3) are coming off a hard-fought 4-3 win at Central Division-leading Nashville on Thursday. Brock Nelson scored the tiebreaking goal with 6:08 remaining after his team blew a two-goal lead in a 31-second span in the third period.
The Islanders moved two points ahead of the New York Rangers in the Metropolitan while avoiding a third straight loss. They won for the first time in three road games but still have a season-high five-game point streak away from Long Island (3-0-2).
"We've got a positive group," coach Jack Capuano said. "It's such a different team than we've had in the past. I've said that. We just wanted to play with poise and confidence moving forward."
They recovered from a blown two-goal lead in the third period for a 4-3 shootout win in Florida on Nov. 14. New York has won in four of its last six visits with three victories coming via shootouts.
The Islanders, though, also lost 4-2 at home to the Panthers on Feb. 3. Florida's Jimmy Hayes scored a pair of goals, including the tiebreaker early in the third period.
Hayes, second on the Panthers with 17 goals, has four goals and two assists in four career games against New York, but is currently mired in a season-worst nine-game goal drought. He has just two assists in that stretch.
Anders Lee scored both Islanders goals in the most recent matchup. He has nine of his career-best 22 goals in 17 games since the beginning of February to go with eight assists.
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