Drew Shore, rookie Aleksander Barkov and Nick Bjugstad also scored for the Panthers, who improved to 4-1-2 in their last seven games. Tim Thomas made 31 saves for his third victory in five starts.

Colin McDonald and Thomas Vanek replied for the Islanders, who saw their four-game winning streak come to an end and fell to 3-1-0 on their six-game road trip. Kevin Poulin stopped 22 shots for his first loss since Evgeni Nabokov was injured.

Barkov opened the scoring 32 seconds into the contest, finishing a give-and-go with Brad Boyes for the eighth goal of the season. Shore netted his first of the season on a sneaky shot from the right faceoff dot and Bjugstad capitalized on a turnover with a forehand deke to put Florida up 3-0 before the end of the period.

Upshall extended the advantage with 4:01 remaining in the second period when he stole the puck from Andrew MacDonald and scored on a short-handed breakaway. McDonald spoiled Thomas’ shutout bid with 31 seconds left in the second and Vanek added his 16th of the season 2:38 into the third, but the Islanders could not pull any closer.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Upshall, 30, has two career short-handed goals in 454 games. His only other one came on March 10, 2007 while a member of the Philadelphia Flyers. … The Panthers were 0-for-5 on the power play, dropping to 0-for-22 in their last seven contests. … Islanders captain John Tavares was held off the scoresheet for the second time in three games and finished with a minus-3 rating.