Recap: Islanders 5, Panthers 4 SO

Resiliency has been a recurring theme for the New York Islanders this season.
Twenty-six games into the season, the Islanders haven't gone two straight games without a point - and they kept that trend alive Monday with a 5-4 shootout win over the Florida Panthers at BB&T Center.
Mathew Barzal's nifty backhand - on his first-career shootout attempt - was the lone shootout goal, as the Islanders jumped back into the win column and started the team's four-game road trip on the right foot.

"It was a grinding win," Barzal said. "It's huge to start the road trip off right. We wanted that second point in overtime and the shootout."
To even get a point Monday, the Islanders had to lean on their ability to shake-off some in-game adversity.

It looked like the game was getting away from the Islanders during a chaotic stretch in the second period. A mini-brouhaha put the Islanders down 5-on-3, and the Panthers scored the first of their two goals, as Aaron Ekblad snuck a shot through traffic and Jaroslav Halak just as the two-man advantage expired at 8:45.
A minute later, the Islanders were on the PK again, with Cal Clutterbuck getting two minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and a 10-minute misconduct. The Panthers struck again on the power play, with Aleksander Barkov beating Halak from the circle and in a 1:49 span, a 2-1 Isles lead turned into a 3-2 deficit.
"Your emotions sometimes come out and we paid for it a little bit," head coach Doug Weight said. "We got composed and started playing smart hockey and just concentrated on getting pucks in and playing really fast in their zone. I really like the way we responded. Take away those six or seven minutes of some bad penalties and I thought we had a heck of a game."

The Islanders showed some resolve after the two power-play goals and answered with two quick strikes of their own. Brock Nelson took a feed from Josh Ho-Sang and beat James Reimer - who replaced an injured Roberto Luongo early in the period - five-hole for his first goal in seven games at 16:19. Just over two minutes later, John Tavares restored the Islanders lead, finding a puck in traffic, spinning and beating Reimer five-hole.
"We've done it all year, we've been resilient and we haven't let too much get in the way of what we're focused on trying to do," Tavares said. "That's just the way we've approached every night."

The Panthers didn't go away, as Denis Malgin tied the score 4-4 5:06 into the third period, but the Islanders continued to press through overtime. Barzal had the best chance of OT, spinning off Aaron Ekblad and curling off the goal line out front, where he had Reimer dead to rights, but couldn't elevate the puck over the goalie's outstretched pad.
"They didn't have too many chances after they tied it," Tavares said. "It just came down to the shootout and we did a good job."
Florida had opened the scoring in the first period, as Keith Yandle beat Halak through a screen at 10:25. The Islanders answered, as Anders Lee scored his 100th career goal, sweeping a rebound off the end boards underneath Luongo at 13:51.

Luongo left the contest 2:31 into the second period, appearing to suffer a lower-body injury after kicking out a Ryan Pulock point shot. The Islanders got to Reimer early, as Thomas Hickey scored his first goal of the season, a shot that deflected off a Panthers stick and in.
Halak made 39 saves on 43 shots and came up with a game-saving stop on Jonathan Huberdeau in the final round of the shootout.
The Islanders continue their road trip on Tuesday when they visit the Tampa Bay Lightning. Puck drop is at 7:30.