Colin McDonald and Thomas Vanek replied for the Islanders,
who saw their four-game winning streak come to an end and fell
to 3-1-0 on their six-game road trip. Kevin Poulin stopped 22
shots for his first loss since Evgeni Nabokov was injured.
Barkov opened the scoring 32 seconds into the contest, finishing
a give-and-go with Brad Boyes for the eighth goal of the season.
Shore netted his first of the season on a sneaky shot from the
right faceoff dot and Bjugstad capitalized on a turnover with a
forehand deke to put Florida up 3-0 before the end of the
period.
Upshall extended the advantage with 4:01 remaining in the second
period when he stole the puck from Andrew MacDonald and scored
on a short-handed breakaway. McDonald spoiled Thomas' shutout
bid with 31 seconds left in the second and Vanek added his 16th
of the season 2:38 into the third, but the Islanders could not
pull any closer.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Upshall, 30, has two career short-handed goals in
454 games. His only other one came on March 10, 2007 while a
member of the Philadelphia Flyers. … The Panthers were 0-for-5
on the power play, dropping to 0-for-22 in their last seven
contests. … Islanders captain John Tavares was held off the
scoresheet for the second time in three games and finished with
a minus-3 rating.
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