The Florida Panthers have had good luck in their history against the New York Islanders. They have gone 41-28-8-7 against them since coming into the league in the 1993-1994 season. Especially, at home where the Panthers are 22-11-6-2 against them. However, these Islanders aren’t the same team as they have been over the last twenty years or so as they have a 10-5 record so far on the season. They have started as one of the hottest and most surprising teams in the NHL led by captain John Tavares.

The biggest issue for the Islanders coming into this season was defense. After defensemen Johnny Boychuk and Nick Leddy were acquired during this past summer’s off-season, their holes have seemed to be filled quite well. They have allowed less than 30 shots in each of the last three games. “When we do the right things defensively, we give ourselves a chance. We have to sustain success shift-by-shift and period-by-period. We’re a humble team. We’ve had some success, but we have to be able to sustain that. It’s about habits and we’ve created those habits, but we have to maintain those habits.” Islanders head coach Jack Capuano stated after Tuesday’s 6-0 huge win against the Colorado Avalanche where they recorded 46 shots on goal.

Goaltending as of late has also been spectacular with Jaroslav Halak going for his third straight shutout and has not allowed a goal in his last 181 minutes played. Halak faced the Panthers early last season as a member of the St. Louis Blues and recorded a 7-0 shutout to win his fourth straight game against them. Over his last six games, he has posted a 0.84 goals against average and received wins in five of them.  It’s an understatement that the Panthers will have to shoot as many pucks at Halak as possible as goals will be very difficult to come by.

The Panthers are coming off arguably their biggest win of the season on Tuesday as well with a 4-1 win at home against the San Jose Sharks after previously going 0-2-1 in their last three games. They had also allowed ten goals between their previous two games as well, but kept the Sharks in check with allowing only 26 shots on goal. This was the second game in a row where they scored four goals while the offense overall this season has severely struggled with only 24 goals.

Goaltender Roberto Luongo will have to play outstanding and match Halak tonight if he wants to secure his team to a victory. Since being pulled against the New Jersey Devils in a 5-1 loss on October 11th, he has posted a 1.00 goals against average and has a 3-1 record. huge reason of why the Panthers are staying in most games this season. He currently has a three-game winning streak going against the Islanders while playing for the Vancouver Canucks with a 2.57 goals against average.

Forwards Aleksander Barkov and Tomas Fleischmann both scored two of the four goals during Tuesday’s game against San Jose. One of Florida’s key offensive threats, Barkov only had one goal previously on the season in ten games and no assists. Fleischmann was still looking for his first goal in twenty-two games after only recording one assist in eleven games this season. It was a 60-minute complete game from the Panthers who received effort from all four offensive lines.

“I thought all the guys competed. I don’t think there was one passenger. We want to play a good 60 minutes. When we play like that we have a chance to beat a lot of good teams.” said head coach Gerard Gallant. “As a team, we weren’t pleased with our last couple game. I’m really happy the way we responded. It was a character win for our boys.” stated goaltender Roberto Luongo.

This will be the final home game for the Panthers before they embark on a tough four game road trip that starts in Anaheim on Sunday to play the Ducks. They will also travel to Los Angeles for a Tuesday matchup against the Kings, rematch against the Sharks in San Jose on Thursday, and wrap-up in Nashville next Saturday to face the Predators.

Team Against Team Notes:

Islanders Against the Panthers:

- Forward John Tavares has 11 points (6-5-11) in 16 career games.

-Forward Kyle Okposo has 10 points (4-6-10) in 19 career games.

-Forward Mikhail Grabovski has 10 points (6-4-10) in 21 career games.

- Goaltender Jaroslav Halak has an 8-1-0 record with two shutouts in nine career games.

Panthers Against the Islanders:

- Defenseman Brian Campbell has recorded 21 points (3-18-21) in 33 career games.

- Forward Scottie Upshall has recorded 15 points (6-9-15) in 23 career games.

- Forward Jonathan Huberdeau has recorded three assists in five career games.

-Goaltender Roberto Luongo owns an 18-10-2 record in 24 career games.