The Islanders weren’t able to complete the sweep of Florida State, although all things considered, they might be a little happy about exiting back-to-back games by a few points. They ended the campaign with a 4-1 defeat to Panthers, a game they described as “out of sync”, and upbeat Patrick Roy said there were some learning lessons to be learned from the cup winners.
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Uvis Balinskis gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead in the first, but Max Shabanov struggled in the second, allowing deserter Carter Verhaeghe to make it 2-0.
Mat Barfzal added a backhand goal two minutes later to help the Isles stay on course and give them some morale. Great net interference from Anders Lee and another assist from Matthew Schaefer (13):
If they’re going to succeed, it’ll likely be like the win in Tampa, a game in which the Isles hung on long enough to smash and grab. But that never happened.
Despite only making three field goals in the third quarter, the Panthers were never fully in trouble until Seth Jones restored the Panthers’ two-goal lead on a 4-on-4 in the final frame. For Schaeffer and Tony D’Angelo, coverage of the show has been a confusing mess:
When Dave Rittich pulled a sixth offensive player, Sam Reinhart sealed the ball in an empty net with less than three minutes remaining, bringing us all back to Sunday night.
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The fun continues from Vegas on Tuesday night as the Isles return home, with Thursday’s matchup against the upstart Ducks and another matchup Saturday against the Chargers – who are sure to get their blood pumping.