Panthers coach Pete DeBoer said Saturday morning that his team had no excuses if it came out flat later that night.

After the game, DeBoer didn't offer any for Florida's horrible start, but the team's finishing touches made it a little easier to swallow.

The Panthers got four goals between the second and third periods and Nathan Horton scored the shootout winner as Florida beat the Islanders 5-4 in Sunrise. It was Florida's second victory in a row and fifth in its past seven games.

``It wasn't the start we wanted, but I thought we came back and played all right,'' said Horton, one of two Panthers to score in the shootout.

``It was a weird game. Good thing we're doing better in the shootout. That extra point is key.''

Florida trailed 2-0 within the first five minutes but rallied midway through the second and scored three times before the second intermission. Florida led 4-2 in the third but allowed the Islanders to come back and force overtime with two goals.

A TEAM EFFORT

The Panthers won when Horton beat Dwayne Roloson in the fourth round and Tomas Vokoun (36 saves) stopped Sean Bergenheim.

Florida is 4-1 in shootouts this season, one year removed from a dismal 3-8 shootout record that cost the team a berth in the playoffs.

``You fix one problem and another crops up,'' DeBoer said. ``We're good in shootouts now unlike last year. Last year, we held leads. This year, we can't. It's like sticking your finger in the dike. You fill one [leak] and another pops up.

``That's an NHL season. You want to fix the problem areas as quick as you can.''

The Islanders scored their first goal a scant 16 seconds into the game. Vokoun didn't look sharp early as Trent Hunter made it 2-0 at 4:29. The Panthers only got off two shots in the first eight minutes of the game but came strong on a delayed penalty midway through the period. Florida had a 5-on-3 for 37 seconds but didn't get off a shot with the two-man advantage nor for the remainder of the penalty.

``We're learning to battle back and play well after not starting real good,'' said Cory Stillman. ``If we can just learn to eliminate these starts on a consistent basis, we're going to win games. They came hard and did that the night before. We knew they had a 3-0 lead Friday night. We knew they were going to come hard.''

Florida looked a touch better to start the second but didn't get really rolling until Bryan Allen smashed Tim Jackman behind the net. Just 31 seconds later, Stillman got his fourth goal in six games by firing off a shot from the top of the left circle to make it 2-1. Less than a minute later, Stephen Weiss got the puck and raced across the ice, beating Freddy Meyer to the net and going top shelf to tie it against Roloson.

MOMENTUM SHIFT

The Panthers took momentum into the second break as Rostislav Olesz chopped at a puck resting on Roloson's pad and knocked it through with 26.1 seconds remaining to give the Panthers their first lead.

Florida made it 4-2 with Michael Frolik's goal early in the third before Islanders rookie John Tavares followed up on a rebound during a power play chance to make it 4-3. Kyle Okposo, who scored the game-winner against Carolina on Friday night, tied the score with 6:46 left off a faceoff winner as the Panthers were serving their fourth penalty of the night -- the period's second.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@