Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2020 | Scotiabank Arena | 12 PM (ET) Television: Fox Sports Florida | FOX Sports GO | NBCSN Radio: 560 WQAM | 640 WMEN | 100.3 WCTH | 1370 WAXE | SIRIUSXM STREAMING 932
PANTHERS vs. ISLANDERS ALL-TIME vs. NYI (PLAYOFFS): 2-5 ALL-TIME ROAD vs. NYI (PLAYOFFS): 1-3 ALL-TIME vs. NYI (REGULAR SEASON): 51-32-8-11 ALL-TIME ROAD vs. NYI (REGULAR SEASON): 25-19-2-6 2019-20 vs. NYI: 0-2-1
FLORIDA ALL-TIME ACTIVE LEADERS VS. NY ISLANDERS (REG. SEASON) Games Played: Boyle (42), Stralman (37), Yandle (25), Connolly (22), Huberdeau (20) Goals: Boyle (7), Barkov/Dadonov/Hoffman (6), Yandle/Huberdeau/Haula (4) Assists: Yandle (18), Stralman (12), Huberdeau/Barkov (9) Boyle (5) Points: Yandle (22), Barkov (15), Stralman/Huberdeau (13), Boyle (12) Wins: Bobrovsky (16) Shutouts: Bobrovsky (3)
TEAM STATS (REG. SEASON)
FLORIDA (35-26-8) NY ISLANDERS (35-23-10) GOALS FOR 228 (6th) 189 (24th) GOALS AGAINST 224 (T-5th) 190 (T-25th) POWER PLAY % 21.3 (T-10th) 17.3 (T-24th) PENALTY KILL % 78.5 (20th) 80.7 (15th) SHOTS FOR PER-GAME 32.7 (7th) 29.6 (T-28th) SHOTS AGAINST PER-GAME 32.3 (10th) 31.2 (17th) 5-on-5 SHOT ATTEMPT % 49.8 (16th) 46.5 (29th)
FACEOFF WIN % 50.3 (T-13th) 49.9 (T-17th)
UPCOMING QUALIFIERS SCHEDULE
DATE/TIME OPP TV RADIO
Aug. 4 – 12 PM
FS-Florida, NBCSN, Sportsnet, TVAS
560 WQAM, FS-640 AM, WCTH-FM 100.3, SiriusXM 932 Aug. 5 – 12 PM
at NY Islanders
vs. NY
FS-Florida, NBCSN, Sportsnet,
560 WQAM, FS-640 AM, WCTH-FM Islanders
TVAS
100.3, SiriusXM 932
Games 4 & 5 scheduled for Aug. 7 and Aug. 9 if necessary. Times and broadcast information TBD. All FOX Sports Florida games are available on FOX Sports GO.
SERIES RESULTS
GAME DATE FINAL SCORE GWG
1 Aug. 1 2-1 L NYI – Beauvillier (PPG)
CATS STATS
• Dating back to April 20, 2016, Florida’s last four playoff match-ups against NYI ended in 2- 1 final scores. Two of FLA’s three 2019-20 match-ups with NYI finished with a 2-1 score.
• FLA has won Game 2 in each of their two prior postseason appearances: a 4-2 win April 15, 2012 vs. NJD and a 3-1 win vs. NYI April 15, 2016.
• FLA recorded 32 hits in Game 1, matching their regular-season high from Feb. 8 vs. PIT. Five Panthers logged at least three hits (Noel Acciari, Evgenii Dadonov, Aaron Ekblad, Dominic Toninato)
• Erik Haula has posted 22 points (9-13-22) over 45 career playoff games.
AGAINST THE ISLES Aleksander Barkov is FLA’s active points leader vs. NYI, with 15 (6-9-15) over 17 regular season games. Jonathan Huberdeau owns 13 points (4-9-13) in 20 contests vs. NYI. Barkov and Huberdeau have each recorded four points (2-2-4 each) over their past seven postseason games against NYI. Evgenii Dadonov has produced nine points (6-3-9) over nine career games vs. NYI including two points (1-1-2) in three games in 2019-20. Since joining FLA in 2016-17, Keith Yandle has produced 14 points (3-11-14) over 12 games in a Panthers uniform vs. NYI. In his career vs. NYI, Yandle has produced 22 points (4-18-22) over 25 games.
JONNY B. GOOD Jonathan Huberdeau scored FLA’s first goal of the series 0:23 into the third period, matching Stephen Weiss‘ franchise playoff record for fastest goal to start a period (0:23 – 1st period, April 15, 2012 vs. NJD). The goal was Huberdeau’s second in his past two postseason contests against NYI (1-0-1, April 24, 2016 at NYI). Huberdeau also recorded two shots, two hits,
and a blocked shot over 18:32 time on ice in Game 1. The Saint-Jerome, Quebec, native led FLA with 78 points (23-55-78) in 69 games in 2019-20 which propelled him to the top of the Panthers’ all-time franchise assists (289) and points (437) lists.
BACK ON THE CASE Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 of NYI’s 28 shots against in his Panthers postseason debut, including 24 of 25 at even strength (.960). Bobrovsky did not allow a goal in the final 36:21 of the contest and has now posted at least a .929 save percentage in three of his last six postseason starts. In 2019-20, Bobrovsky led FLA with 23 wins and 50 games played, including an eight-game point streak (5-0-3) over eight starts from Oct. 11 to Nov. 2.
THE CAPTAIN Panthers Captain Aleksander Barkov recorded an assist in Game 1 and led FLA with four hits. His 20:13 TOI was the most by a forward in the game. In 2019-20, Barkov finished second on FLA in points (20-42-62), while owning a team-best 54.3 faceoff win percentage. The native of Tampere, Finland, stands third in franchise history for goals (155) and points (407), while ranking second in assists (252). Over 479 games since entering the NHL in 2013-14, Barkov leads all Finnish-born NHLers in goals, assists, points and game-winning goals (27).
RETURN OF THE MACK MacKenzie Weegar played in his first career postseason game on Aug. 1, notching his first career postseason point with an assist. He logged 22:45 TOI, the second-most ice time by a Panther in the game. The native of Ottawa, Ontario, set career-bests in goals (7), points (18), and plus-minus (+6) in 2019-20, while tying his career-high in assists (11).
NOEL’S GOALS Noel Acciari won 8 of 12 faceoffs and led FLA with four blocked shots in Game 1. Acciari set career-bests in goals (20), points (27), shots (108), and shooting percentage (18.5) in his first regular season with FLA. The Johnston, RI, native also led the team in game-winning goals (5), even-strength goals (19), and hits (121), and led all NHL forwards in blocked shots (103), the third- most by an NHL forward in a season since the stat began being recorded in 2005-06.
EK’S GON’ GIVE IT TO YA Aaron Ekblad posted a game-high 25:34 time on ice, led FLA with four shots on goal and led FLA’s defense with three hits in Game 1 against NYI. In 2019-20, Ekblad set career-bests in assists (36), and points (41), while leading FLA in time on ice per game (22:59) and plus-minus (+12).
TOO HOT TO YANDLE Keith Yandle led Florida’s defensemen in points (45) and power-play points (21), while his 40 assists were tied for fifth-most by an NHL D-man this season. The Boston, Mass., native has appeared in 52 career playoff games including trips to the Western Conference Final (2012 – PHX) and Eastern Conference Final (2015- NYR). Yandle’s 866 consecutive regular season games played marks the longest active ‘iron man’ streak in the NHL and the fourth-longest in NHL history.
FINAL FRONTIER Brian Boyle (115) and Anton Stralman (105) each have played over 100 Stanley Cup Playoff games and have each reached the Stanley Final twice together (2014 – NYR, 2015 – TBL). The two veterans have notched 30 points (15-15-30) and 26 points (6-20-26) respectively in the playoffs. Additionally, three Panthers players have reached the Stanley Cup Final over the last two seasons, Noel Acciari (2019 – BOS), Erik Haula (2018 – VGK) and Brett Connolly who won the Stanley Cup in 2018 with WSH. Connolly and the Capitals were coached by now-Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz. Over the 24 games he played during that playoff run, the native of Campbell River, BC, produced nine points (6-3-9).
2019-20 RECAP In Florida’s first season with Head Coach Joel Quenneville behind the bench, the Panthers earned a 35-26-8 record (78 pts). 30 of Florida’s wins were achieved in regulation. The Panthers recorded a season-high six-game winning streak from Jan. 9 to Jan. 21, in which the club earned victories over VAN, TOR, LAK, DET, MIN and CHI. Through the season, the Cats averaged 3.30 goals per game, the sixth-most in the NHL.
ROAD WARRIORS FLA did not lose a game when leading after two periods on the road in 2019-20. Away from BB&T Center, the Cats scored the second-most third period road goals (46), the seventh-most goals per game (3.18), the eighth-highest power-play success rate (22.0), and the seventh-highest points percentage (.588, 18-12-4 record). From Jan. 1 to the end of the regular season, the Panthers scored 56 goals over 17 road games, tying them for the second-most road goals scored in 2020. Over that span, the Cats allowed 2.71 road goals per game, tying them for the eighth- least goals allowed on the road.
COACH Q Head Coach Joel Quenneville enters the postseason standing second all-time in playoff games coached (216) and third all-time in playoff game wins (118), leading all active head coaches. ‘Coach Q’ has won the Stanley Cup three times as a head coach (2010, 2013, 2015) and once as an assistant coach (1996). Quenneville is five playoff wins shy of passing former NYI Head Coach and Hockey Hall of Famer Al Arbour (123) for second in NHL history. The native of Windsor, Ontario, ranks second all-time in regular season games coached (1,705) and wins (925).
POSTSEASON REMATCH The Panthers return to the postseason for the first time since 2016, when they faced the Islanders in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Cats fell to NYI in six games (2-4) in that series, with three losses occurring in OT and the final two in 2-OT. Aleksander Barkov, Aaron Ekblad, Jonathan Huberdeau and Mike Matheson all played for the Panthers during the 2016 playoffs.
CAT TRICKS The Panthers posted five hat tricks in 2019-20, matching FLA’s single-season record from 1999- 00. Mike Hoffman, Noel Acciari (2X), Frank Vatrano, and Mark Pysyk all recorded at least one three-goal performance. Acciari’s consecutive hat tricks from Dec. 16-20 made him just the
second Panther in franchise history to do so since Pavel Bure accomplished the feat Feb. 10-14, 2001. Acciari’s second hat trick came in a 3:59 span in the second period against DAL, the fastest hat trick in franchise history, and was capped off with a shorthanded penalty shot goal.
