Islanders Come From Behind, Stun Champion Cats 4-2

ELMONT, N.Y. — The New York Islanders (30-28-8) are many things. Frustrating and inconsistent. You choose the adjectives. There’s also an absolute lack of high-end talent with the Mathew Barzal injury and Brock Nelson trade.

You can’t ever say that this team doesn’t fight. They fight harder than any of the 31 other teams in the NHL. They find ways to scrape points and keep themselves alive. They were down 2-0 with 14 minutes to go against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers.

New York scored only one goal in the last 134 minutes they’d played. Tonight, they outshot Florida 22-10 in the first two periods. Even so, they found themselves down 2-0 with 14 minutes to go.

What’s more, they had so many golden opportunities early in the third period. Jean-Gabriel Pageau nearly scored on a breakaway, but Vitek Vanecek made the save. It felt like another one of those nights where no matter what the Islanders would do, they would not score, let alone come back and win.

Then, with under 14 minutes to play, it all changed.

The Comeback:

At 9:32 p.m., I tweeted, “More ‘Let’s Go Panthers’ chants ringing around UBS Arena. Islanders fans boo, then start their own ‘Let’s Go Islanders’ chant.”

At 9:33 p.m., Marc Gatcomb scored his fourth of the season.  Gatcomb made an absolutely gorgeous play on the goal. He and Pierre Engvall made hard forechecks, with Engvall chipping it to Anthony DeAngelo at the point. DeAngelo sent an innocent wrister, but Gatcomb deflected it. Initially, Vanecek made the save. Gatcomb scooped up the rebound, quickly wrapped it around the net, and easily beat Vanecek.

Life filled UBS Arena from that moment onward. The equalizer did not come right away, but when it did, a switch flipped. Mike Reilly, returning from open heart surgery in November, sent a gorgeous pass to Maxim Tsyplakov, springing him for a breakaway.

On the breakaway, Tsyplakov hit a pair of moves. He faked a wrister from the hashes, which froze Vanecek. Then, moving right to left, he opened up Vanecek’s legs and scored his first goal of 2025, and first in 27 games. Tsyplakov’s face screamed emotion, and he joyously celebrated.

Seventeen seconds later, Noah Dobson gave New York a permanent lead. Off a bump by Anders Lee, Dobson rushed forward and flew past Florida’s new #1 defenseman Seth Jones. Once past Jones, Dobson, a righty, carried the puck on his backhand. As he cut in, he quickly moved from his backhand to his forehand, opening up Vanecek’s entire glove side, where he sent the puck in for his seventh of the season.

Simon Holmstrom scored an empty-netter with six seconds left for his first in 12 games. Ilya Sorokin made 22 saves in the victory.

What the Win Means:

Back in 2013, the Boston Bruins famously lost the Stanley Cup in 17 seconds. Tonight, the Islanders saved their season in 17 seconds. Staring down a six-point abyss between them and the playoffs, the Islanders rallied and found a way to win.

Not just any win either, mind you. Down two in the third period against the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Islanders rallied. Florida had not lost back-to-back games since Jan. 11-13 and had not lost two straight in regulation since late December. That’s one hell of a win.

Now, they’re just four points outside of a playoff spot with two games in hand on the New York Rangers, whom the Edmonton Oilers defeated 3-1 tonight. Like it, love it, or hate it, the Islanders are absolutely in the race. This is a team that refuses to die every single year. Sure, Adam Pelech is day-to-day again. Yeah, Barzal remains out indefinitely. Adam Boqvist skated this morning but wore a no-contact jersey.

This team is alive and will fight tooth and nail until the bitter end. That much is certain.