Islanders lose to Panthers, 4-1, at Coliseum

There was no question the Islanders knew what was on the line Sunday: a chance to move within six points of a playoff spot and put some heat on the teams ahead of them with another two points.

They got the start they wanted when Frans Nielsen took P.A. Parenteau's nifty pass and beat Panthers goaltender Jose Theodore on the game's first shot 3:35 in.

That was all, though. From an increasingly frustrated John Tavares on down, the Islanders failed to capitalize on chances, and the Panthers made the most of theirs. Florida got goals from its third and fourth lines and its top line chipped in two others in a 4-1 Isles defeat that stalled any progress they thought they made in Saturday's hard-fought overtime win over the Kings.

"I just didn't like the desperation [level] on our team," Parenteau said. "Considering where we are in the standings, we needed to battle harder."

Parenteau himself was one of the guilty, losing a puck battle off a faceoff to fourth-liner Jack Skille, who wired a wrist shot past a mostly blameless Evgeni Nabokov at 18:33 of the second. That capped a three-goal middle period for the Panthers. Florida scored four goals on 15 shots through 40 minutes and chased Nabokov. Al Montoya played the third period.

The game could have looked very different after Nielsen's goal. Josh Bailey, who missed on two close-in chances Saturday, took a feed off the end wall from Matt Martin, wove through traffic and flipped a backhand off the post at 9:12 of the first. Tavares was sprung by Matt Moulson's pass for a two-on-one with Mark Streit, but Theodore (26 saves) gobbled up Tavares' wrist shot.

Less than a minute after that chance to put the Isles up two goals, Marcel Goc beat Nielsen on a faceoff and Tyson Strachan's point shot glanced off Steve Staios' leg and behind Nabokov.

"There's going to be times when you don't score, and of course, we want to contribute," said Tavares, who had seven of the Isles' 27 shots Sunday but now hasn't scored a goal in six straight games after his wondrous January. He, Moulson and Kyle Okposo were out of sync, making the extra pass when shots were needed on a couple of occasions.

"You know Johnny's line can't keep up that pace they had, and this is when the other lines have to pick it up," Parenteau said. "That's why we're a team. It's not just him."

Okposo lost his backcheck near the end of a shift in the second, and Kris Versteeg's neat diagonal feed was directed in by Tomas Fleischmann at 4:17 to break the 1-1 tie. On the only power play the Islanders allowed, Versteeg beat Nabokov through Tomas Kopecky's screen at 11:41. Milan Jurcina let Kopecky stand on Nabokov's toes for a good 10 seconds before Versteeg's shot.

"We can't let these breakdowns happen," Tavares said.

The Islanders head to Winnipeg for a game Tuesday, then to St. Louis on Thursday, two extraordinarily difficult places to play. The Jets (16-8-2 at home) and Blues (23-3-4) have made themselves playoff contenders by dominating on home ice.

The Isles are 0-2-2 in their last four Coliseum games against teams in the Eastern Conference. They are not out of it yet, with 27 games still to play. But they knew what was possible with a win Sunday, and the Islanders didn't seize the opportunity.