Spokesman-Review
National Hockey League
Florida 6, NY Islanders 3
When: 7:30 PM ET, Saturday, October 26, 2024
Where: UBS Arena, Elmont, New York
Referees: Jon McIsaac, Carter Sandlak
Linesmen: Ryan Daisy, Derek Nansen
Attendance: 15807

Matthew Tkachuk collected his first two goals of the season Saturday night for the Florida Panthers, who scored the final six goals as they stormed back to beat the host New York Islanders 6-3 in Elmont, N.Y.

Mackie Samoskevich and Sam Bennett had the tying and go-ahead goals for the Panthers, who have won the first two games of a five-game road trip (which ends with a pair of games in Finland). Sam Reinhart opened the Florida scoring while Gustav Forsling added an empty-netter in the third.

Goaltender Spencer Knight made 26 saves.

Dennis Cholowski, Kyle Palmieri and Brock Nelson all scored in the first for the Islanders, who have alternated losses with wins in each of their last seven games. Semyon Varlamov recorded 22 saves.

Cholowski, making his season debut with the Islanders, opened the scoring at the 1:32 mark when the defenseman's shot from the blue line threaded a gaggle of players -- including teammates Anders Lee and Casey Cizikas and the Panthers' Jesper Boqvist and Forsling -- and went past Knight's stick arm.

The Islanders doubled their lead 4:29 later after Palmieri got his raised stick on Ryan Pulock's shot from the blue line before nudging the puck between Knight's legs.

Nelson put the Islanders up 3-0 with 8:19 remaining when he collected the rebound of Maxim Tsyplakov's shot off the back boards and tucked the puck into the corner of the net.

The Panthers started inching back into the game just 1:46 later. Eetu Luostarinen picked off Cholowski's attempted clearing pass and fed a streaking Reinhart, who bore in on Varlamov and sent a shot under his glove.

Tkachuk got behind Varlamov to put back the carom of Carter Verhaeghe's shot off the far post at the 6:38 mark of the second. Samoskevich tied the score with 1:44 left on his first NHL goal, when he took a pass from Dmitry Kulikov in the neutral zone and surged past Bo Horvat and Noah Dobson before beating Varlamov with a wraparound shot.

Bennett was credited with the go-ahead goal 6:19 into the third when Tkachuk's shot glanced off Varlamov and ticked off Bennett's stick. Tkachuk scored a power-play goal with 10:11 left before Forsling's length-of-the-ice empty netter with 2:17 left.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Florida   NY Islanders
Matthew Tkachuk 3 Points Kyle Palmieri 2
Matthew Tkachuk 2 Goals Kyle Palmieri 1
Anton Lundell 2 Assists Maxim Tsyplakov 2
Matthew Tkachuk 1 Power Play Goals N/A
Gustav Forsling 1 Short Handed Goals N/A
Spencer Knight .893 Save Percentage Semyon Varlamov .821
Spencer Knight 25 Saves Semyon Varlamov 23
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Florida 29 6 1-2 3-3 6 28
NY Islanders 28 3 0-3 1-2 4 39
Upcoming Games
  • NY Islanders will play their next game at home against Anaheim. The Islanders have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .750 after a loss.
  • Florida will play their next game on the road against Buffalo. The Panthers have a W/L % of .500 after a win and .750 after a loss.