Verhaeghe scores 4th goal in 3 games, Panthers defeat Islanders

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Carter Verhaeghe scored his fourth goal in the past three games, and the Florida Panthers defeated the New York Islanders 4-1 at Amerant Bank Arena on Sunday.

Sam Reinhart had a goal and an assist, and Uvis Balinskis and Seth Jones also scored for the Panthers (14-12-2) who ended a four-game losing streak with a 7-6 overtime win against the Columbus Blue Jackets here on Saturday. Daniil Tarasov made 20 saves for his third win in his past four starts.

“We need every point we can get right now,’’ Jones said. “A couple of big wins this weekend and hopefully we can carry that momentum into next week.”

Mathew Barzal scored for the Islanders (16-11-3), whose three-game winning streak ended. David Rittich made 26 saves.

“This is a team that plays a heavy game and they shorten the zone,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said of the Panthers. “I felt like this was an experience for our guys and I think we are going to learn a lot from a game like this, seeing how they play and the way they played. We were right there until the end. I see a lot of positives from this. We had our chances and did not give up a lot to them until they had a couple good looks at the end."

Balinskis scored his first goal of the season to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 12:14 of the first period, sending a point shot into traffic that beat Rittich gloveside.

Verhaeghe made it 2-0 at 7:05 of the second period. Florida defenseman Jeff Petry poked away a New York clearing attempt and Verhaeghe sent a one-timer through from the left circle.

The forward has four goals and an assist on his three-game goal streak.

The Islanders cut their deficit to 2-1 at 9:03. Barzal put a backhand shot at the net, and the puck glanced off the leg of Florida defenseman Gustav Forsling then went underneath the pad of Tarasov.

“It definitely was not our best,” defenseman Adam Pelech said. “They did a good job of checking, rimmed a lot of pucks and they came hard. Maybe we didn’t break it out well enough, and when we did get it stopped in the defensive zone, we didn’t break it down well enough from there, either.’’

Jones gave Florida a 3-1 lead at 13:57 of the third period during 4-on-4 play. Florida center Anton Lundell brought the puck up with speed, feeding Jones in the right face-off corner as he crashed the net. Jones sent a hard wrist shot over the glove of Rittich.

Reinhart scored into an empty net at 17:06 for the 4-1 final.

The Panthers held the Islanders to three shots on goal in the third period.

“We were trying to be as aggressive as we could, but they have some guys who can move it on that back end,’’ Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “We had to be patient, but we got tighter as we got toward our net.’’

Florida ended its longest homestand of the season 2-3-1, with points in the final three games.

“It’s good to get back on the winning track,” Balinskis said. “Tarasov was backing it up like always, he is great in the net. He made great saves and it’s nice to have a guy like that behind us.’’

NOTES: Islanders rookie Matthew Schaefer assisted on Barzal’s goal and has 21 points (eight goals, 13 assists) in 30 games this season. He surpassed Ray Bourque for the second-most points by an 18-year-old defenseman through 30 NHL games. Only Phil Housley (26) has more. … The Islanders, who won 2-0 at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, had been 4-0-0 in the second leg of back-to-back games this season. … With his 146th goal, Verhaeghe passed Stephen Weiss for seventh place on the Panthers career list. He is tied with Weiss and Pavel Bure for the sixth-most game-winning goals (23) in Panthers history.