In Brooklyn Monday night, the Florida Panthers’ James Reimer made 32 saves to shutout the New York Islanders, 3-0.
Reimer also added an assist on the scoresheet.
The win pushed the Panthers to within one point of the second wild card spot in the 
Eastern Conference; they are one point back of the New Jersey Devils.
“You’re just enjoying every day; it’s meaningful hockey,” Reimer said. “We’re at the end of March, early April here … this is what’s fun. Obviously we’re serious competitors and we’re going to prepare like professionals, but at the end of the day when you’re relaxed and having fun, that’s when things go your way.”
The loss officially eliminated the Islanders from the playoff race with a record of 31-35-10.
“We got off to a pretty good start this season; the second half of the year really hasn’t been very good,” John Tavares said. “We put ourselves in this position.”
Keith Yandle, Nick Bjugstad and Evgenii Dadonov scored for Florida.
“There’s not much breathing room here,” Bjugstad said. “We don’t want to be looking at it at the end of the season saying, ‘We wish we would have had that one.’ Guys are definitely realizing how important these games are. A lot of guys are stepping up to the plate. We’ve got a tough schedule coming up here, a lot of games, but it’s going to be a fun challenge and guys are ready for it.”
Florida improved to 39-28-7.
“This time of year, every game is so big for us. There’s not a lot of time in between games, we’ve got another back-to-back coming up,” Panthers head coach Bob Boughner said. “We’re just trying to reserve as much as we can and get the emotions up when it’s game time and try and relax when it’s not. It’s going to be a big push for us in the next two weeks, and we’re going to need every ounce of energy that we have.”
[WATCH: All Panthers vs. Islanders highlights]
Christopher Gibson made 38 saves in the loss.
“We’ve got six games left here and we’re going to lay it on the line,” the Islanders’ Thomas Hickeysaid. “That’s the message from coaches to management … we’ve got a job to do and we’re going to do our best.”
A season that started with so much promise for the Isles ended Monday night with a thud as the club has been unable to gain any traction in the latter half of the campaign.
“It’s tough. It’s tough for us, and it’s not good enough. It’s tough for the fans, it’s tough for everybody involved. All we can say is we’re going to be better, we’re going to be better soon,” Islanders coach Doug Weight said after the loss. “I believe it. We’ve all got to be better; I’ve got to be better. We’ve got to find a way to make our team better quickly. I think we have the ingredients and we have the drive, and we’re going to work at it.
“We can’t ignore it. But we have a good team and a good group and we’ll figure some things out.”
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