The Florida Panthers posted a 3-1 victory over the New York Islanders at UBS Arena, making Paul Maurice a winner in his first game behind the bench after taking over from departed interim head coach Andrew Brunette.
After a scoreless first period that saw Sergei Bobrovsky shine by stopping all 16 New York shots, Eetu Luostarinen opened the scoring at the 12:45 mark of the second. Colin White claimed the puck in the high slot and dished off to Radko Gudas, who took a saoft wrister from near the blue line. Luostarinen deflected the puck, angling it just past both defenseman Robin Salo and netminder Iiya Sorokin for the Cats first of the season.