Panthers at Islanders
THE STORY: There’s nowhere to go but up for the Florida Panthers and New York Islanders, who occupied the bottom two spots in the Eastern Conference last season. When teams are down that far, up is a relative term, but both clubs took steps during the offseason to address a losing culture that has permeated both franchises. For the Islanders, the emphasis was on building from the ground floor by signing their bevy of talented forwards, including 2009 No. 1 overall pick John Tavares, to long-term deals. The Panthers, who haven’t made the playoffs for 10 seasons running, purged their roster and brought in new bodies at a dizzying pace. New coach Kevin Dineen, who replaces the fired Peter DeBoer, will be charged with getting all the new faces to mesh. The first step starts Saturday night when the Panthers visit the Islanders.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSFL, MSG+
ABOUT THE PANTHERS: Florida was among four teams that failed to score 200 goals last season. To that end, the Panthers will be banking on new additions Scottie Upshall and Kris Versteeg (22 and 25 goals, respectively) along with Tomas Fleischmann and Sean Bergenheim to put some juice in the offense. Former No. 1 overall pick Ed Jovanovski and Brian Campbell should solidify the defense, while Jose Theodore will be counted on in net.
ABOUT THE ISLANDERS: Scoring shouldn’t be a problem for the Isles. Preventing opponents from doing so will. Michael Grabner, Matt Moulson and Tavares combined for 94 goals last season – or about half of Florida’s total. Defenseman Mark Streit returns after missing all of last season, but questions abound with Rick DiPietro, Evgeni Nabokov and Al Montoya in goal. Coach Jack Capuano will be mindful of avoiding a slow start that cost his predecessor his job last season.
OVERTIME:
1. The Islanders led the league with 15 shorthanded goals last season.
2. Florida ranked 30th (read: last) in the NHL with a dismal 13.1 percent success rate on the power play.
3. Although Florida has won 12 of the last 17 meetings, the Islanders took the last two in February and March.