Panthers Lose Barkov To Injury, But Stay Unbeaten At Home
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 27 shots and the Florida Panthers overcame the loss of center Aleksander Barkov to remain unbeaten at home with a 6-1 rout of the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
Jonathan Huberdeau and Carter Verhaeghe each scored a goal, Ryan Lomberg recorded his first goal of the season and Patric Hornqvist had a goal and an assist. Aaron Ekblad and Frank Vatrano also scored goals for the Panthers.
Ilya Sorokin allowed four goals on 17 shots in the first period for the Islanders and was replaced before the second by Semyon Varlamov, who finished with 17 saves. Kyle Palmieri scored the goal for the Islanders, who ended a 13-game trip.
The Panthers, 8-0-0 at home, broke a four-game winless streak, but the victory may prove costly.
Barkov collided knee-on-knee with Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield with 18:13 left in the second period. Barkov remained on the ice for several minutes before leaving the game, putting no weight on his left knee. He did not return to the game with what was officially called a lower-body injury.
Mayfield, who appeared to lean into the hit, was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct. In addition to Mayfield, Matt Martin and Palmieri also received game misconduct penalties.
The Panthers kicked off their lead when Huberdeau fired the puck in from in front to open the scoring and Lomberg poked in a rebound top shelf to go ahead 2-0. Verhaeghe also put in a rebound for a 3-0 lead and Hornqvist's odd-angle shot along the goal line bounced of the mask of Sorokin and in the net with 1:47 left in the first.
Ekblad's goal stretched the Panthers lead to 5-0 with 6:19 left in the second, then Palmieri's goal, his first of the season, made the score 5-1 with 5:00 left in the second. Vatrano's goal made the score 6-1.
IT'S OVER
After 13 games that took them through four time zones and 12 cities -- including Sunrise twice -- the Islanders were packing up after the game for a new destination: home.
The team makes its debut at UBS Arena on Friday against Calgary. The new building needed a few extra weeks to be finished, so the NHL sent the Islanders on the road. The team was able to return to New York at various times this season, but only for practice.
The Isles will play 25 of their next 36 games at home, a stretch that runs through the start of the Olympic break in February.
NOTES: The Islanders aren't back in Sunrise again during the regular season. The teams play on the Isles' new home ice on April 19. ... The only road trip in NHL history that was longer than the Islanders' was a 14-game stretch by the Vancouver Canucks in 2010, when their building was unavailable for weeks because of changes that needed to be made for that year's Olympics.
UP NEXT
Islanders: Host Calgary on Friday.
Panthers: Host New Jersey on Thursday.
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