Islanders hold off Panthers for 4-3 win Sorokin makes 42 saves in win

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In Sunrise, the visiting New York Islanders held off the Panthers on Saturday night for a 4-3 win.

Ilya Sorokin made 42 saves in the win.

The Islanders improved to 10-7-6.

Seventeen of the saves came in the third period.

“You can look at the shot clock and go, ‘Oh boy,’ but how many scoring chances did they really have?’’ New York coach Lane Lambert said.

Anders Lee scored off the power play at 12:36 of the opening stanza to the Isles a 1-0 lead.

“It was an important game for us, tough week of games against tough opponents in tough buildings,’’ said Lee, whose team defeated the host Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 in overtime Thursday after losing 5-4 at the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday to start the trip. “We wanted to make the trip a decent one, be able to come home on a decent note, continue to move forward.”

Sam Reinhart replied just over a minute later to tie the 1-1 for the Panthers.

New York struck for a pair of markers in the middle frame.

Pierre Engvall restored the lead for the Isles at 4:37 for a 2-1 advantage.

The Panthers dropped to 14-8-2.

“I thought we were real good,” Florida coach Paul Maurice said. “That guy stood on his head.”

Simon Holmstrom extended the lead to 3-1 near the midway point of the second.

The Panthers’ Matthew Tkachuk ended an 11-game goal drought with a strike at 13:14  of the period to trim the deficit to 3-2 headed to the third period.

“I am not too worried about him,” Verhaeghe said of Tkachuk. “He is a leader on this team and one of the best players on this team. Sometimes the puck doesn’t bounce your way. He has been getting a lot of looks. He has stuck with it and is going to get a lot of goals.”

Julien Gauthier  scored at 3:45 of the third to give the Isles a little breathing room at 4-2.

“Bo told me to go there,” Gauthier said. “He won the face-off nicely, I had a clear shot.”

That was goal was the winner as the Panthers’ Carter Verhaeghe scored midway through the third to make it 4-3, for the final.

“It is obviously fun to win,” Gauthier said. “We had a little tough stretch but we have won a couple here now and feel great.”

Anthony Stolarz made 23 saves in the loss.