Game Preview: Islanders at Panthers

NEW YORK ISLANDERS (0-1-0) VS. FLORIDA PANTHERS (1-0-0)
6 P.M. | FLA LIVE ARENA
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The New York Islanders are looking to get their first win of the 2021-22 regular season as they head down to Sunrise, Florida for their first meeting of the season against the Florida Panthers.

It's been nearly two years since the Islanders and Panthers last met in the regular season, which was on Dec. 12, 2019 when the Islanders picked up a 3-1 road win. However, the teams most recently met in the 2020 postseason, where the Islanders knocked the Panthers out of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, winning the best-of-five series three games to one.
The Islanders enter the meeting against the Panthers coming off a 6-3 loss in their season opener to the Carolina Hurricanes. Mathew Barzal, Brock Nelson and Anders Lee scored, while Ilya Sorokin made 35 saves on 40 shots.
"We didn't play for each other, we had a lot of cheat in our game, we had a lot of drift in our game," Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz said in reflection of Thursday's loss. "We weren't good in our battles; we weren't firm enough; that being a forward in a puck battle or a [defenseman] in a net-front box out. In faceoffs, we weren't very good. A lot of our detail allowed them to have more sustained pressure, more sustained opportunity to take advantage of us...At the end of the day, I didn't think we played extremely well in terms of our detail…We talk about being a detailed team and I just didn't think we were as detailed as we can be."
After taking a 2-0 lead in their season opener, the Panthers found themselves down 4-2 to Pittsburgh on Thursday night but rallied to pick up their first victory of the season with a 5-4 result in overtime. Carter Verhaeghe scored twice, including the OT winner, and Aaron Ekblad scored two third-period goals to send the game into extra time. Anthony Duclair also found the back of the net, while Sergei Bobrovsky backstopped the win with 43 saves on 47 shots.
Saturday night's game will be a good refresher for the two competitive clubs.

ISLANDERS NOTES:

• Barzal scored the Islanders' first goal of the 2021-22 campaign. It was a strong game for Barzal and his linemates, Lee and Kyle Palmieri, who combined for four points (2G, 2A). Lee, who appeared in his first regular-season game since March after recovering from ACL surgery, also scored. Palmieri posted a team-high two points with two assists.
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• Nelson, who turned 30 on Friday, notched his first goal of the season with assists from Anthony Beauvillier and Josh Bailey. Nelson also played in his 302nd consecutive game to pass Bobby Nystrom for second place on the club's all-time list.
• Sorokin made his first start of the season and was backed up by Cory Schneider. The 26-year-old Russian netminder made 35 saves on 40 shots in his sophomore-season debut.
• The Islanders lost the special teams battle against the Canes, as they went 0-for-3 on the power play and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill.
• Zdeno Chara made his official return to the club that drafted him as he began his 24th NHL season.
• Zach Parise made his Islanders debut. The veteran winger skated alongside Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Oliver Wahlstrom.
• Neither forward Matt Martin, who is recovering from offseason ankle surgery, or goaltender Semyon Varlamov, who has been tending to a 'nagging injury,' played in Thursday's season opener. However, both players joined the team for the road trip. Varlamov took the ice - and some shots - after Friday's practice.

PANTHERS NOTES:

• The Panthers have added some new faces to their roster since the last time they met the Islanders. During the offseason, Florida added center Sam Reinhart from Buffalo, Joe Thornton from Toronto and acquired defenseman Olli Juolevi from Vancouver.
• Carter Verhaeghe, who joined Florida in October 2020 after winning the Stanley Cup in the Bubble with Tampa Bay that summer, tied Ekblad (two goals) and Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov (two assists) for the team lead in points with his two goals.
• Ekblad made his first regular-season appearance since March of last season after he underwent surgery on his left leg for a fracture.
• Duclair scored his first goal of the season with assists from Frank Vatrano and Gustav Forsling.
• Bobrovsky made 43 saves on 47 shots in the win. Panthers Head Coach Joel Quenneville announced that Bobrovsky will start on Saturday vs the Isles.
• The Panthers lost the special teams battle to Pittsburgh after a 0-for-6 showing on the power play and a 7-for-9 execution on the penalty kill.
• Last season, the Panthers boasted one of the most high-octane offenses with a 3.36 goals for average per game, which ranked fourth best in the NHL. They also finished the regular season last year with the highest shots for per game average at 34.9.
• Florida's season-opening lineup was without forward Noel Acciari (undisclosed) and defenseman Kevin Connauton (lower body), who are both on injured reserve.