The New York Islanders are far from being one of the NHL’s elite teams, which makes it all the more frustrating that the Florida Panthers were almost entirely incapable of cashing in on opportunities against them in a 3-1 loss to the Islanders on Saturday night. Facing a stretch of extremely tough opponents in a short period of time, the Panthers were blessed to have the Islanders, who won’t be making the playoffs, on their schedule. Unfortunately the Panthers dropped crucial points in a critical playoff run.

Perhaps the most frustrating part of the Panthers loss last night was the fact that they dominated each period of play, but were simply unable to find the back of the net. The Panthers outshot the Islanders 28-20 through the first 2 periods of play, but had nothing to show for their effort but a 1-0 deficit. The Islanders scored at 18:34 of the 1st period to take a lead they would never relinquish in the game.

The 2nd period came and went with no goals scored, despite a 12-8 advantage in shots on goal for the Panthers. Still in the game down 1-0 to start the 3rd, but the wheels fell off quickly for the Panthers. The Islanders went up 2-0 at 4:19 of the 3rd, in effect sealing the victory. At 11:02 the Islanders would go ahead 3-0 with a power play goal. The Panthers would get a consolation goal with 1:27 left in the game as Gregory Campbell would deflect a shot into the back of the Islanders net.

Last nights result was nothing short of disastrous for the Panthers. The loss certainly didn’t end their run at the playoffs, but it wasn’t the desired result against an inferior opponent and could be harmful to the teams mental state. However, this time of year the Panthers need to have short term memory and forget each game’s result before the next game rolls around. The Panthers need to make sure that from here on out they win the games against teams they should beat.