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Islanders slip past Panthers in SO

Mar 26, 2012 - 2:41 AM Sunrise, FL (Sports Network) - Frans Nielsen scored the game-winner in the first round of the shootout, lifting the New York Islanders to a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Sunday at BankAtlantic Center.

Nielsen went on goal with speed and held the puck as long as he could before making a quick move to the backhand and lifting it under the crossbar behind Panthers netminder Jose Theodore.

Evgeni Nabokov stopped John Madden, then Wojtek Wolski and Marcel Goc was wide of the net seal the win for New York.

Matt Moulson and Kyle Okposo scored in regulation and Nabokov posted 33 saves in the victory for the Isles.

"I'm happy with the effort the last two nights from our guys," Islanders head coach Jack Capuano said. "We're playing hard, we just want to make sure that we continue to elevate our battle level, and we have to make sure that we're strong on our sticks and strong on the body."

Tomas Fleischmann had a goal and an assist and Stephen Weiss also lit the lamp for the Panthers while Theodore gave up two goals on 37 shots.

Florida's lead in the Southeast Division is down to three points over the Washington Capitals, who topped Minnesota earlier Sunday.

Florida opened the scoring 5:55 into the first period after Fleischmann chased down a loose puck behind the Islanders net. He looked up and quickly fed Weiss, who easily chipped it past Nabokov from in close.

Skating on the power play, the Islanders tied the game with 1:03 showing on the second period clock. Moulson one-timed a pass from the slot to the goal line to the right of the net for John Tavares. Tavares quickly sent it back and Moulson snapped it past Theodore with traffic in front.

Fleischmann gave the Panthers a 2-1 lead 9:51 into the final period as a result of some sloppy play by New York.

Islanders captain Mark Streit picked up the puck behind his net and sent a pass up the left wing on the breakout, but he sent it into traffic and it was picked off by Fleischmann, who wristed it past Nabokov low to the far side.

New York tied the game at two at 12:22 after Nielsen threw the puck toward the net from the left wing and it was tipped in front by Okposo and snuck past Theodore.

"We didn't have jump tonight," Weiss said. "When you don't have jump this time of year, something's missing. We have to score goals, we're not scoring enough goals, so whatever the formula is for scoring more goals, we need to find it."

Game Notes

Weiss extended his season-high point streak to six games... Nielsen has five points in his last four games...Moulson has 14 points in his last 14 games, and Tavares has 12 points in his last eight games...It was Fleischmann's 11th multi-point game of the year...The Islanders improved to 7-4 in shootouts, while the Panthers fell to 5-10...Florida went 0-for-2 with the man advantage, while the Isles went 1-for-2 on the power play.