Islanders squander three-goal lead in telling lopsided loss to defending champion Panthers

This was barreling toward a blowout victory, the Islanders getting to the net and humming on all cylinders, making a statement with a win over the defending champions.And then reality crashed in on the Islanders like all the empty seats at UBS Arena in the form of six unanswered goals and a 6-3 loss to the Panthers — a reminder of the gulf between these two teams and the standard for which the Islanders are still reaching.The Islanders might be able to hang with the champs for a period or two.But over 60 minutes, even if they get spotted three goals, there’s still a gap between them and the Panthers — and here it was on display for all to see.It took 12 minutes for the Islanders to take a 3-0 lead.

By the second intermission, they’d handed it right back, with Mackie Samoskevich tying the game late in the second.That set the stage for another testing third, in which the end outcome felt a little bit inevitable even as the Islanders fought against it.Despite that, it didn’t take too long for the Panthers to take the lead.Sam Bennett put in Matthew Tkachuk’s rebound after Semyon Varlamov directed the puck right into his path at 6:19 of the third, completing the collapse as the Panthers went ahead 4-3.There was still time for the Islanders to stage a comeback effort of their own, but instead of doing that, things got worse.Sign up for Inside the Islanders by Ethan Sears, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.

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Enjoy this Post Sports+ exclusive newsletter! Mere minutes after the Islanders let a power-play opportunity of their own go to waste, Matthew Tkachuk sniped one in for the Panthers at five-on-four to extend their lead to 5-3.On a night that started with so much promise, the comeback effort never got off the ground floor — and Gustav Forsling twisted the knife further with an empty-net...