Elmont, ny – In the second half of a rear backrest, the Florida Panthers saw in a 4-2 defeat against the New York Islanders in the UBS Arena on Sunday.
The Panthers led the Atlantic Division with 41-24-3 and only lost four games when they led after two periods, but two of these losses have taken place on this road trip.
Despite this street, the Panthers believe that it is somewhat necessary.
“It's good for us now,” said head coach Paul Maurice. “There is a certain amount of humiliating people you want to do before you go into the playoffs. We still have something to do to get there and we lose body. I think that will be the trend if we still have four sets of back-to-backs and rest of all teams we play. Everyone is fighting for their life. It is a mill to the goal. “
In the first period, the islanders checked a large part of the play.
After the penalty, Vitek Vanecek came into the clutch to keep the islanders off the board early when he took Bo Horvat out of the slot. Later Vanecek continued to stand up with another decisive stop on Horvat, this time on a shot from the right circle in front of the hurry.
After 20 minutes, New York led in goal with 12: 1, but had no goals.
“He gave us every chance to win,” said captain Aleksander Barkov about Vanecek, who was outstanding in his first two starts after he was acquired by the Panthers before the trade period of last week. “We didn't do well enough before him.”
Dmitry Kulikov lost a key player in the first period and was injured with an injury to the upper body for Florida.
Maurice did not return and said the experienced defender would be seen tomorrow.
“It was a big loss,” said Barkov that he lost to a large part of the Kulikov game. “Playing with five D, these boys are many minutes. You did well enough, but we just have to be a little better. “
The Panthers came out much more in the second period and pulled the first blood.
In the 19-minute brand, Barkov Sam Reinhart used a goal outside the fold with a sophisticated touch pass to achieve it 1-0. Soon afterwards Barkov was rewarded with his own goal for his generosity and steered a shot to do it 2-0 at 4:48.
