5 Takeaways: Panthers Top Isles, Sateri Earns 1st NHL Win

There was a party going on in visiting dressing room of the Barclays Center after Harri Sateri helped lead the Florida Panthers to a 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday night to earn his first NHL win.

"The hooting and hollering is for Harri getting his first NHL win," Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle said. "It's a great moment for him and obviously something he'll never forget."
A 28-year-old journeyman, Sateri began the season as the Panthers' third-string goaltender, but was thrust into a starting role after injuries claimed both Roberto Luongo and James Reimer. Making the fourth start of his career, Sateri stopped 32 of 33 shots to earn a long-awaited victory.
"There's a lot of guys that are happy for him," Panthers coach Bob Boughner said of Sateri, who was named the team-appointed MVP of the game. "He got the ball tonight, a tradition that we do after the game. He's got a smile ear to ear. It's nice to see. He's been at it a long time. It was a game where we got a little bit of goal support for him and he made some big saves. It was a perfect game for him."
The game-winning goal came from Evgenii Dadonov, who beat Isles goaltender Jaroslav Halak with a slick wrap-around that put the Panthers up 2-0 at 14:40 of the second period. Mike Matheson, Jonathan Huberdeau and Yandle also scored for Florida, which now sits 10 points behind Philadelphia for the second wild card.
"No one's waving the white flag here," Boughner said. "We're going. We're going to scrape every point we can. Tonight was a good start for that."
After allowing four-or-more goals in each of their three previous contests - all losses - Florida played possibly its most well-rounded game of the season in New York, limiting the Islanders' second-ranked offense to one goal while taking only one penalty.
"I think that was probably our best game of the year, from beginning to end," Matheson said.
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday's win in Brooklyn…

1. OPEN MIKE NIGHT

Matheson opened the scoring on Tuesday night, firing a bomb from the blue line past Halak to put the Panthers up 1-0 at 8:57 of the first period. At first, the celebration for the goal was muted. The puck entered and exited the net so quickly that officials had to review whether not it ever actually tickled the twine. Watching the scoreboard from the ice, you could even see Matheson asking his teammates if they thought it was going to count. After a brief review, the NHL Situation Room eventually decreed that the puck found its way into the back of the net "in a legal fashion." Good goal. Matheson credited teammate Micheal Haley for screening Halak on the play. "It was right in front of his eyes and he never saw it," he said. "Soon after that, Matheson also made sure the Islanders wouldn't match his tally by breaking up an excellent scoring chance by All-Star John Tavares for his 36th takeaway of the season - the most among the Panthers blueliners. Following a slow start out of the gate, Matheson has now recorded eight points (5-3-8) over his last 19 contests and ranks third among all Panthers defensemen with 15 points (5-10-15) in 47 games.

2. BLOCK PARTY

Aside from Matheson's goal, the first period was all about playing defense for the Panthers. From defensemen to forwards, every player was putting their body on the line to keep the Islanders off the scoreboard early. Florida held New York to just 17 shot attempts through the first 20 minutes, with 10 of them being blocked. What's more impressive, however, is that each of those 10 blocks came from a different skater. Overall, the Panthers matched the Islanders in shot attempts in the first period, but held a 12-7 advantage in shots on goal. Tavares and Mathew Barzal, who each have more than 50 points this season, were both held without a shot in the first frame. Aleksander Barkov, meanwhile, was on ice for nine shots for and just three against in 6:43 ice time - his fist game since All-Star Weekend. "I'd say that we did a great job of keeping them to the outside," Matheson said after the first period. "They have a lot of skilled payers that like to cycle the puck on the outside. As long as we don't let them penetrate the coverage, we'll be alright."

3. WRAP AROUND

Dadonov's got a need. A need… for speed. The rapid Russian showed off his wheels on Tuesday night, flying into the offensive zone past defenseman Scott Mayfield, swinging around the net and tucking the puck by Halak to put the Panthers up 2-0 at 14:40 of the second period. The goal was Dadonov's fourth in his past six games, barely resembling the player that weathered a 19-game goal drought earlier in the season. In the first season of a three-year deal signed this summer, Dadonov has been an excellent addition to Florida's top-six thus far, ranking fourth on the team in both points (30) and goals (11).

4. TOO HOT TO YANDLE

Yandle earned a reputation as more of a playmaker than a trigger man, but that doesn't mean he can't let it rip when the opportunity presents itself like it did on Tuesday night. With Florida already up 2-0, Yandle unloaded a slap shot from just below the below the blue line that managed to find its way through traffic and past Halak to put the Panthers up 3-0 at 4:14 of the third period. "I was just trying to hit the net and luckily found the back of the net," he said. Yandle, playing in his 681st consecutive game, was also on the ice for 22 shot attempts, second to only Aaron Ekblad's 23. In his second season with the Panthers, the 31-year-old leads Florida's defensemen with 26 points in 48 games. "I thought we played a really good game, a sound game." Yandle said. "I thought the compete level was great."

5. YOU'RE A WINNER, HARRI

"Finally I'm here," Sateri happily decreed after earning his first victory in the NHL. A former fourth-round pick of the Sharks in 2008 NHL Draft, Sateri spent nearly a decade bouncing around the AHL, KHL and Liiga before signing a one-year deal with the Panthers this offseason. He entered Tuesday night's game with a .880 save percentage, but had played well beyond that number since assuming the starting role after Reimer's injury on Jan. 23. Of his 32 saves against New York, at least several were worthy of repeat viewings. But, acting like a veteran goalie, Sateri made sure to give most of the credit to his defense after the game. "It was a great 60-minute game," he said. "We outworked them. Our defense was awesome today. It was fun to play down there." Sateri hasn't yet picked out a place to put his ceremonial first-win puck, but it likely won't be his last "W" of the year, as both Reimer and Luongo are expected to remain out for at least another week.

BONUS: GIF OF THE GAME

Was it a goal or not?
The suspense is killing Matheson.