Game 1 of the Florida Panthers best-of-five series against the New York Islanders went pretty much like the three regular season meetings between the two teams did this season.
The Panthers out-played the Islanders for stretches, but couldn’t finish, while the New York took enough advantage of Florida mistakes to grind out a 2-1 victory over the frustrated Cats.
A turnover by rookie Riley Stillman led to the first Islanders goal exactly twelve minutes into the first period. Deep in his own end, Stillman carelessly backhanded the puck up the boards without looking and Derick Brassard, who played ten games with the Panthers last season, found deadline day acquisition Jean-Gabriel Pageau crashing the net for New York’s first-ever August goal.