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National Hockey League
Florida 6, NY Islanders 3
When: 6:00 PM ET, Sunday, February 2, 2025
Where: Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise, Florida
Referees: Ghislain Hebert, Dan O'Rourke
Linesmen: Tyson Baker, Jonny Murray
Attendance: 19721

Carter Verhaeghe scored his fourth career hat trick and added an assist to lead the Florida Panthers to a 6-3 win over the visiting New York Islanders on Sunday night.

Sam Reinhart and Matthew Tkachuk each had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who have won three straight. Aleksander Barkov had three assists, Gustav Forsling had two, and Spencer Knight made 31 saves.

Kyle MacLean, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Marc Gatcomb scored for the Islanders, who had won a season-high seven straight games. Dennis Cholowski had two assists and Jakub Skarek, 25, made 27 saves in his NHL debut.

Both teams were playing the second of back-to-backs.

Verhaeghe gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead just 39 seconds in when he took a pass in front from Sam Reinhart and lifted a backhander past Skarek.

Verhaeghe made it 2-0 at 12:52, knocking in the rebound of Forsling's shot on the rush.

MacLean pulled the Islanders within 2-1 at 3:10 of the second period when he scored in front off the rebound of Tony DeAngelo's shot.

Pageau tied the score 2-2 with a power-play goal at 10:00, knocking in a loose puck at the right post.

Gatcomb put New York ahead 3-2 at 14:51. Gatcomb was stopped on a breakaway, but moments later he tipped in Adam Pelech's shot from the left point.

Evan Rodrigues tied the score 3-3, sliding a back-hand shot past Skarek from in front of the crease off a pass from Anton Lundell.

Reinhart gave the Panthers a 4-3 lead when he entered the zone 2-on-1 with Gustav Forsling, got behind the defense and tapped in a return pass at 19:09.

Verhaeghe finished his hat trick at 10:41 of the third period, scoring a power-play goal on a shot from the left circle off a cross-ice pass from Matthew Tkachuk to make it 5-3.

Tkachuk scored into an empty net at 18:21 for the 6-3 final.

New York played without Scott Mayfield and Mathew Barzal, who were both injured on Saturday.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
NY Islanders   Florida
Dennis Cholowski 2 Points Carter Verhaeghe 4
Marc Gatcomb 1 Goals Carter Verhaeghe 3
Dennis Cholowski 2 Assists Aleksander Barkov 3
Jean-Gabriel Pageau 1 Power Play Goals Carter Verhaeghe 1
N/A Short Handed Goals N/A
Jakub Skarek .844 Save Percentage Spencer Knight .912
Jakub Skarek 27 Saves Spencer Knight 31
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
NY Islanders 34 3 1-3 1-2 6 41
Florida 33 6 1-2 2-3 8 21
Upcoming Games
  • Florida will play their next game on the road against Washington. The Panthers have a W/L % of .562 after a win and .636 after a loss.
  • NY Islanders will play their next game at home against Vegas. The Islanders have a W/L % of .400 after a win and .519 after a loss.