The pre-game ceremony would start with a beautiful tribute video to honor the Islanders of the past at the start of the 50th NHL campaign for the Islanders. To conclude the ceremony, Islanders captain Anders Lee and Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov would greet the first captain in Islanders history Ed Westfall for the ceremonial puck drop.
The first period was defensive-minded from start to finish, despite the Islanders finishing the period with 16 shots. Each time would go to the power play one time in the frame, courtesy of an Anders Lee hooking call 22 seconds into the game, followed by a Marc Staal tripping call just over six minutes later. To conclude the penalties in the first period, Nick Cousins and Matt Martin would each receive roughing calls 16:31 into the first, and the two sides would play four on four hockey. Though there was a lack of scoring in the first, the Islanders would find themselves with a Casey Cizikas short-handed attempt that went wide during the first penalty kill. During four on four hockey, Mat Barzal would find himself with a chance of his own on a break, swallowed up by Panthers netminder Sergei Bobrovsky.
The second period would see the first scoring action of the game, coming from a redirected Radko Gudas shot to put the Panthers ahead 1-0. Eetu Luostarinen would be credited with his first goal of the season on the deflection. This would be the lone goal for either side in the period.
This was a period that defenseman Robin Salo would like to forget, as he would be called for two penalties, tripping, and interference, six minutes apart from one another. Adam Pelech would also be called for holding with less than a minute to go in the period. Salo would finish the game a -2, with 4 PIM, two blocked shots, and a giveaway.
The Islanders offense would waste no time getting the tying goal, as Noah Dobson would score a power play goal just over three minutes into the third to tie the score at 1. Mat Barzal and Brock Nelson would be credited with assists. Unfortunately for the Isles, the Panthers would only wait 30 seconds to reclaim the lead and, from there, wouldn’t look back. Newly acquired forward Matt Tkachuk would score an empty net goal at the 18:45 mark to seal the deal and help secure the Panthers first win of the season.
Although losing is never a good thing, there were a handful of positives to take away from this game on the Islanders side. For one, the entire team did not look afraid to approach the offensive zone with a shoot-first mindset, something the Isles have not done in the past few seasons.
The Islanders special teams were also on display tonight. In Addition to the lone Dobson power play mark, the penalty kill would be tested five times and succeed on each try.
Defenseman Alexander Romanov put on a show tonight on the blue line, despite finishing without a point. Romanov would log a shot on goal, nine (yes, nine) blocked shots along with four hits in 22:24 of ice time, 5:55 of which came from the penalty kill unit. Islanders fans should hope that Romanov becomes more responsible with the puck, as he led the team in giveaways with four.
This was not the strongest showing from Ilya Sorokin, as he would look sloppy trying to leave his net to play the puck, one of these instances costing the Islanders the eventual game-winning goal on a wraparound attempt by Patric Hornqvist. In the grand scheme, Sorokin would still make 26 saves on 28 shots and finish the game with a .929 save percentage.
All things considered, the Islanders had a strong performance tonight despite only notching one goal in the contest. The Isles would out-shoot the Panthers 33-29, as well as take the edge in faceoffs (59%), hits (37), and blocks (25). As mentioned, the Islanders showed a nice touch of shoot-first mentality breaking into the offensive zone, which some Islander fans may take as a breath of fresh air, seeing how the Islanders as a unit were very pass-first oriented in the last number of seasons. It was incredibly comforting seeing Mat Barzal looking to take shots rather than forcing a play away from the net. If Barzal can keep that up, perhaps he will become the 30-goal scorer we all know he is capable of becoming this year. There were a number of other strong showings tonight, particularly from Jean Gabriel Pageau and Zach Parise, who were both pivotal points in the success of the penalty kill, logging a combined total of 8:42 seconds of penalty kill time (3:48 Parise, 4:54 Pageau). Noah Dobson was the star of the show for the Islanders throughout the night, and it’s difficult to be shocked about it. Through 22:15 of ice time, Dobby would log his first goal of the season, with six shots on goal, one block, and two takeaways. Additionally, Dobson would finish -1 with two giveaways.
It’s difficult to pinpoint the Islanders loss Thursday to any aspect of their play in particular. It goes without saying that you can’t win hockey games without putting pucks in the net. So offensively, the Isles need to find a rhythm to get the scoring going. Teams like the Panthers, as well as the rest of the upper-tier teams throughout the league, are the teams the Islanders may have to see in the playoffs come April and May, so setting the tone with them now is a crucial component to the long-term success. Fortunately for the Islanders, they can seek revenge on Florida in less than two weeks, as they will head to the FLA Live Arena on October 23rd to visit the Panthers.
The Islanders will continue their hunt for their first win of the season Saturday, October 15th, as they host the Anaheim Ducks.
