The Florida Panthers saw what looked like a win turn into a loss in a tough 3-2 defeat at the hands of the New York Islanders on Monday.
Florida held a 2-0 lead until the 12:50 mark of the third period and that was when things changed. New York scored two goals in a span of less than two minutes to tie the game. What had been a great night for Roberto Luongo in Florida's net quickly changed. New York would score the game-winner at the 18:21 mark.
The Panthers are fighting for their playoff lives in a tough Eastern Conference. A win in this game would have put Florida into first place in the Atlantic Division. Instead, the Panthers find themselves in second still and precariously close to falling more. This loss snapped a two-game winning streak for Florida as well.
Aleksander Barkov put home Florida's first goal of the day with his first period score. Barkov's goal at the 15:11 mark came with an assist from both Alex Petrovic and Jonathan Huberdeau. It was just the beginning of Barkov's day as he would take part in Florida's next score as well.
During a power play in the second period, Barkov helped Nick Bjugstad score his 11th goal of the year. Huberdeau also assisted on the score that put Florida up 2-0. That looked like it could be the clinching goal at the time. Instead, it simply turned into the last score of the game for the Panthers.
Florida will continue its road trip on Tuesday when it heads north of the border to take on the Montreal Canadiens at 7:30 p.m.
