SUNRISE, Fla. _ The Florida Panthers had six months and 19 days to store up their bitterness over losing to the New York Islanders in an Eastern Conference first-round playoff series that they felt they should've won.
It wasn't exactly a Game 7 win, but the Panthers finally got some revenge thanks to an overtime goal by rookie Denis Malgin to pull out a 3-2 comeback victory in overtime Saturday at a raucous BB&T Center.
The combination of anger over their mediocre start, blowing leads, the sight of the New York Islanders' blue-and-white jerseys and absolutely uneven officiating had Panthers players and fans in a bellicose mood. Similarly to the six-game playoff series, the Florida outplayed the Islanders everywhere but the scoreboard until 13.6 seconds remained in regulation when with the Panthers' net empty, Jonathan Marchessault fired it in to force overtime.
Despite not scoring on a two-minute power play in overtime, the Panthers, who lost three overtime games to the Islanders in the aforementioned playoff series, scored at 4-on-4 as Malgin poked in a rebound of Vincent Trocheck's shot with 45.8 seconds left. It was the rookie's third career goal and first OT winner.
Even mild-mannered Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo and struggling defenseman Aaron Ekblad were throwing punches at Islanders players after several scrums and calls by officials.
The Panthers returned to .500 at 7-7-1 before heading on a four-game trip starting with the NHL-best Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday. The Islanders fell to 5-7-3 and still haven't won on the road in regulation (0-4-1).
Trailing 2-0 after two periods despite holding a 28-16 shot advantage, rookie forward Kyle Rau banked in his own rebound off Jaroslav Halak (39 saves) at 8:56 to breed hope in the arena. It was Rau's first NHL goal in his 18th game.
With 50.4 seconds left Panthers coach Gerard Gallant replaced goalie Roberto Luongo with James Reimer, so he could use his speed to get off the ice when yanked for the extra skater. It worked to perfection.
Just as a reminder of the controversial Game 6 ending, one Panthers' fan with a long memory held up a banner that read: Trocheck was tripped! It was a blatant non-called trip on Trocheck in the waning moments of Game 6 that enabled John Tavares to tie it with 53.2 seconds left before winning it 2-1 in double-overtime to clinch the series.
"It's in the back of our minds," Trocheck said after morning skate. "I think we learned a lot last year, having that bitter taste in our mouths after losing in the first round. It definitely puts a little hair on your chest."
As they did in the playoff series last April, the Panthers controlled time of possession and shots on net (14-8) for all but 22 seconds of the first period, but an unlucky carom off the end boards right to Brock Nelson handed the Islanders a 1-0 lead after one.
Once again a tripping penalty cost the Panthers against New York, although this time the refs got defenseman Alex Petrovic for a ticky-tack call to set up an Islanders' power play. Nick Leddy's shot from the point was seemingly stopped by Luongo (18 saves), but the puck popped up and Luongo accidentally swatted it in with his glove at 9:54 of the second.
After a challenge by Gallant, claiming goalie interference, the goal stood for a 2-0 deficit. Boos, and not plastic rats rained down from the rafters. Five minutes later the Panthers seemingly made it 2-1 on Ekblad's straightaway slapper that glanced off Leddy, but it was waved off because Jaromir Jagr bumped Halak. The officials consulted and reversed the call. However, Islanders coach Jack Capuano challenged, and the Situation Room agreed with the original call, eliciting more jeers from the irate fan base to keep it 2-0 after a 50-minute second period.
Searching for a spark to get slumping Aleksander Barkov and Jagr going, Gallant placed Jussi Jokinen with them and moved Marchessault to the second line with Trocheck and Reilly Smith.
