The New York Islanders’ seven game win streak came to an end in Florida, with former Islanders property Carter Verhaeghe delivering the heaviest damage via his fourth NHL hat trick, but the Isles can return home happy about how they’ve revived their season while enduring a daunting string of injuries.
Playing on a back-to-back, the Islanders finally gave 2018 draft pick Jakub Skarek his NHL debut at age 25. Skarek allowed five goals on 32 shots, hardly a banner debut but not marked by any howlers. The Isles looked fatigued overall and it would’ve taken an impressive debut to get points amid some of the mistakes made in front of him.