Islanders 1       Panthers 3           Tied 1-1

GOALS

1st

FLA    Smith (3)        Bjugstad (2), Huberdeau (1)

2nd

FLA     Bjugstad (1)      Smith (2), Kulikov (2)

3rd

NYI   Tavares (2)        Leddy (2), Okposo (2)

FLA   Kulikov (1)          Barkov (1)                                  Empty Netter

Effort: Offense: 8    Defense: 8   Goaltending: 10    Total: 8.6

GOALTENDING

Luongo     41\42

Greiss       28\30

My 3 Stars: Luongo, Smith, Bjugstad

 

The Panthers bounced back from last night’s defeat. Matheson made his playoff debut as Kindl served as a healthy scratch. Matheson logged 13:28 of Ice Time paired with Petrovic. Luongo played great. He made 41 saves making many quality saves. He made a big one when he lost his stick for a while before Gudbranson was finally able to get it to him. The problem is you can’t pass a teammate’s stick to him with your stick. Barkov found that out the hard way against Washington on February 2nd for 1 of his 4 penalties this year. While Lou was sharp it seems like Smith and Bjugstad are gaining chemistry. Both set each other up for beautiful goals. It’s good to know that when Trocheck comes back if he gets reinjured Bjugstad can step into the role. Poor Rocco Grimaldi only got 7:58 of ice time and only like 30 seconds in the 3rd. I wonder if McKegg will play next game. There was a funny moment when each team had their whole fourth lines in the box. Thornton-MacKenzie-Wilson and Clutterbuck-Cizikas-Martin. Cizikas got  an extra two for punching Ekblad in the stomach. Thornton called one guy on the Islanders a cry baby. The Panthers PK came up big. Huberdeau improved from a bad game 1. Barkov did pretty well. Jagr struggled though. On shutting down Tavares we did ok. Luongo saved us a lot. Tavares’s shots on goal are worrisome at 9. That’s not good. He needs to have like no more than 4 or 5 shots on goal a game. The best part was the scrum where each team’s fourth lines got sent off. It was a good game.

NEXT GAME: Sunday @ NY Islanders      NBCSN, FSF      8:00pm