Jonathan Huberdeau

Semyon Varlamov stopped 27 shots and the New York Islanders opened their best-of-five playoff series with a 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Saturday in the NHL’s return following a 4 1/2-month break

Brett Connolly sparked the comeback with two goals in 27 seconds in the second period, and Dominic Toninato tied it with 4:23 remaining in the third.

Jonathan Huberdeau, Colton Sceviour and Mike Hoffman also scored and Evgenii Dadonov had two assists as Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 35 shots.

Aleksander Barkov had a goal and an assist for Florida as Evgenii Dadonov, Brett Connolly and Frank Vatrano also scored

Florida trailed 3-1 with around eight minutes remaining when Aleksander Barkov picked a good spot for his first goal of the season, a power-play tally that started the Panthers on the comeback trail.

The Panthers are on a six-game points streak, and four of their past five have gone past regulation as Huberdeau has 10 points in his last eight games.

The Panthers had a busy offseason which has led to renewed optimism ahead of the 2019-20 season

Dale Tallon and Joel Quenneville are together again, and the Florida Panthers are ready for them to recreate their magic.

Bob Boughner has become the latest coach to pay for Florida’s almost-annual inability to reach the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Roberto Luongo made 27 saves as the Panthers won their third straight game with him in net.

Florida’s rookie netminder Sam Montembeault allowed two goals on four shots before getting pulled just over four minutes into game.

Aleksander Barkov deflected Jonathan Huberdeau’s shot from the right-side boards over the goalie and added a power-play goal that tied the game at 2 late in the second period.

Evgenil Dadonov and Aaron Ekblad scored for Florida, and rookie goalie Sam Montembeault finished with 19 saves.

Josh Brown and Dryden Hunt each scored their first NHL goal as Florida earned its second straight win since a costly six-game slide.

Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice and Aleksander Barkov also had a goal for the Panthers, who lost their sixth straight game.

The Panthers, who came up one point short of the playoffs last season, have been making a push of late, going 5-1-2 in their past eight games.

The Panthers were assessed a season-high eight penalties, three in the third period, and it didn’t sit well with some Panthers players.

The Panthers have won eight of their past 12 games, while Montreal lost its fourth straight

Evgenii Dadonov had his first goal in nine games and Colton Sceviour also scored for the Panthers, and Aleksander Barkov had two assists.

Roberto Luongo made 33 saves in his 77th career shutout, Mike Hoffman scored twice and the Florida Panthers beat the Boston Bruins 5-0 on Tuesday night.