The New York Islanders defeated the Florida Panthers 5-2, with a hat trick from John Tavares along with goals from Jason Chimera and Nick Leddy. Chimera and Tavares opened the scoring early in the first period, and despite the Panthers’ best efforts to close the gap, the Islanders held three separate two-goal leads throughout the game. Tavares now has 501 points in the NHL, all as an Islander, and moved into tenth in all-time points in franchise history at only 26 years old.
About two minutes into the first period, the Islanders opened the scoring with a goal from Jason Chimera.