Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored with 3:03 left in overtime and Sam Reinhart posted his league-leading 20th power-play tally, leading the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 victory over the New York Islanders on Saturday night at Elmont, N.Y.
The Islanders pulled their goalie for an extra attacker in the final two minutes and it worked as Kyle Palmieri tied the score at 2-2 with 1:29 left. That sent the game to overtime, where Evan Rodrigues got the primary assist on a two-on-one rush.
Matthew Tkachuk had a goal and an assist as the Panthers, who have won four in a row, also extended their franchise-record road winning streak to eight.
Backup goalie Anthony Stolarz earned the victory, making 21 saves, and also assisted on the game-winning goal.
Simon Holmstrom scored the first goal for the Islanders, who got 34 saves from Semyon Varlamov.
New York is 1-2-1 since Hall of Fame goalie Patrick Roy took over as coach last Saturday.
Reinhart’s 20 goals with the man advantage set the franchise record, breaking a tie with Pavel Bure and Scott Mellanby. To put Reinhart’s feat in perspective, there were six NHL teams that had 20 or fewer power-play goals this season entering Saturday.
In addition, Reinhart has at least one point in 13 straight games and at least one goal in nine consecutive road contests.
His points streak tied Colorado’s Nathan McKinnon for the longest active run. Reinhart is only the fourth player in Panthers history to have a points streak of at least 13 games, along with Mike Hoffman, Bure and Jonathan Huberdeau. Hoffman holds the franchise record at 17 games.
For the season, Reinhart has 37 goals, which trails only Toronto’s Auston Matthews (40).
After a scoreless first period, Florida got the game’s first goal on Reinhart’s power-play tally with 12:04 left in the second. Tkachuk, who has at least one point in 14 of his past 15 games, earned the primary assist. Tkachuk did his work behind the Islanders’ net, slipping a pass to Reinhart, who scored on a one-timer from the slot.
The Islanders tied the score at 1-1 with 3:31 remaining in the second. The sequence started with Oliver Wahlstrom, who won a faceoff against Kevin Stenlund. Jean-Gabriel Pageau had his shot stopped by Stolarz, but Holmstrom scored on a rebound from the slot.
Florida took a 2-1 lead on Tkachuk’s power-play goal with 14:01 left in the third. Tkachuk’s deflection went between Varlamov’s legs before bouncing in off the left post. Aleksander Barkov earned the primary assist.
Palmieri’s tying goal was set up by Noah Dobson’s 46th assist of the season. Dobson threaded a pass past Barkov and Gustav Forsling and right to Palmieri’s stick just below the left circle.
–Field Level Media
