Islanders rally with four goals in third period to defeat Panthers

The Islanders were happy for Mike Reilly and thrilled to finally get rewarded.

A four-goal rally in the third period was the payoff after a dominant first period and a strong overall 40 minutes still left the Islanders in a two-goal deficit against the reigning Stanley Cup champion Panthers. And it allowed them to celebrate Reilly’s emotional return from heart surgery with a 4-2 win on Sunday night at UBS Arena.

“He wanted to fight and come back and join us at some point this year,” said fellow defenseman Noah Dobson, who scored the winner off a strong move to the crease at 12:33 of the third period 17 seconds after fourth-liner Maxim Tsyplakov took the puck to the net to tie it at 2-2.

“It was pretty special to see him. I’m happy to see him back and get rewarded. He played a great game. It says a lot about the guy he is. We all love him here.”

The Islanders (30-28-8), who snapped an 0-2-1 skid, moved within four points of the Rangers for the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card spot. The Islanders have played two fewer games than the Rangers.

Ilya Sorokin made 22 saves — including eight in the final two minutes of regulation with the Panthers skating six-on-five — and Simon Holmstrom clinched it with an empty-netter with 6.5 seconds left. Vitek Vanecek stopped 30 shots for the Panthers (41-24-3), who also lost to the Canadiens, 3-1, in Montreal on Saturday night.

“It feels great,” said Reilly, 31, who had a heart defect detected after he suffered a concussion on Nov. 1. “It’s a lot of hard work that’s been put into it to get to tonight. There was some uncertainty. A lot of that stuff is behind me, and it feels great. My teammates have been great to me, making me still feel a part of it.”

Reilly, whose assist on Tsyplakov’s goal was his first point in 12 games during his interrupted season, entered the lineup with defenseman Adam Pelech (lower body/day-to-day) sidelined after blocking a shot with his lower right leg in overtime of the Islanders’ 2-1 loss to the Oilers on Friday night.

Which means, as Dobson pointed out, the Islanders earned three of four possible points against the Panthers and Oilers, last season’s Cup finalists.

“We didn’t necessarily get the results in Los Angeles [in Tuesday’s 4-1 loss] or against Edmonton, but we got them tonight,” said Anders Lee, who set up Dobson’s winner. “We got them tonight because we didn’t deviate from our goals and what we wanted to do. It’s good to get some juice from this one.”

The Islanders trailed 2-0 as the Panthers got a power-play goal from Sam Reinhart at 1:00 of the second period on their second shot of the game and a fluky score from Aleksander Barkov with one second left on a power play as Reinhart’s shot hit him at the crease and fluttered over Sorokin.

This after the Islanders held a 12-1 shot advantage in the first period but could not score despite two power plays. The Panthers’ lone shot came shorthanded on a wrister from defenseman Dmitry Kulikov at 9:33. He exited the game later in the period after a neutral-zone collision with Anthony Duclair.

“The first goal was huge for us,” coach Patrick Roy said. “Like I said to them after the second period, ‘We’re doing everything right. Now let’s do a little more to find a way to score that goal. Be stronger around the net and bear down on those chances.’ ”

Vanecek turned aside Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s shorthanded breakaway at 1:38 of the third period. Rookie fourth-liner Marc Gatcomb brought the Islanders within 2-1 on a wraparound at 6:29 of the third period.

Notes & quotes: Tsyplakov scored his first goal in 27 games and Gatcomb and Holmstrom both had their first goals in 12 games . . . Defenseman Adam Boqvist participated in the morning skate wearing an orange non-contact jersey. It marked his first time skating with teammates since taking a high shoulder check on Tuesday from the Kings’ Kevin Fiala. “He’s continuing to progress, which is good, but we don’t know more right now,” Roy said . . . Roy flip-flopped Holmstrom and Duclair among the top-six forwards, putting Holmstrom on Bo Horvat’s top line with Kyle Palmieri and moving Duclair to Pageau’s second line with Lee, hoping to create more offense . . . Matt Martin and defenseman Scott Perunovich remained healthy scratches.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.