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 The Islanders rallied from three deficits, getting tying scores
from Brock Nelson, Frans Nielsen and John Tavares. The fifth goal
was scored by Ryan Strome, who pounced on a rebound with 13:59 left.
On the tie-breaking goal, Tavares stole the puck from Florida
defenseman Brian Campbell and fed to Okposo.
Tavares, who led the Islanders with 33 goals in the regular season,
was brilliant against Florida, posting one goal and two assists.
Reilly Smith scored twice for Florida. His second goal, which came
with 13:04 left in the third period, closed New York's lead to 5-4.
Florida's other goals came from Teddy Purcell and Jussi Jokinen.
Florida right winger Jaromir Jagr, who has just one goal in his past
34 playoff games, did not get a point.
 Game 2 in the best-of-seven series is set for Friday.
Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss, who made his first career playoff
start, got the win with 42 saves.
Veteran Roberto Luongo took the loss and now has a career playoff
record of 32-32. He had 21 saves.
It took 1:55 for Florida to score the first goal as Purcell, skating
on the right wing, took a perfect cross-ice pass from Jiri Hudler
and beat Greiss.
New York tied the score less than five minutes later as Ryan Strome
dug the puck out of the corner at center ice and fed Nelson, who
skated alone on Luongo, beating him high.
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With 6:09 left in the first period, Florida went ahead 2-1 on a
power-play goal by Jokinen, who tipped in a shot from the point by
defenseman Brian Campbell.
New York tied it less than three minutes later on a power-play goal
by Nielsen.
The Islanders, 0-for-7 vs. the Panthers during the regular season on
their power play, broke through thanks to a sensational juke move by
Tavares, who fed Nielsen on the left side.
Nielsen beat Luongo high to his stick side.
Florida needed only 1:35 of the second period to take a 3-2 lead on
Smith's rebound goal. Florida center Nick Bjugstad started the
sequence by winning a faceoff, and assists went to Alex Petrovic and
Jokinen.
New York came back again, tying the score 3-3 with 22 seconds left
in the second period on a goal by Tavares.
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