Florida @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 4, 2019 ) NY Islanders 2, Florida 1

Both teams could use a victory to start moving forward after an uneven start to the season as the Florida Panthers visit the New York Islanders on Saturday at Nassau Coliseum following losses a day earlier. The Panthers salvaged a point on Mike Hoffman’s goal with 11 seconds left in regulation before losing 3-2 in a shootout at Buffalo on Friday while New York dropped a 5-2 decision at Carolina.

Florida earned points in two of its four games (1-2-1) to open the campaign but has allowed an average of four goals despite the addition of two-time Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky, who likely will give way to backup Samuel Montembeault on Saturday in the second game of a back-to-back set. Hoffman leads the way for the Panthers with five goals after scoring a team-high 36 last season and also has notched a pair of assists while captain Aleksander Barkov (three assists) still is looking for his first tally of 2019-20. The Islanders have totaled nine goals while losing three of their first four games and were outshot 40-19 in the setback against the Hurricanes as Brock Nelson (one goal) and Jordan Eberle posted two points apiece. New York was without Casey Cizikas and defenseman Nick Leddy on Friday, and the duo’s status for the game against Florida is uncertain.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Florida, MSG Plus (New York)

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (1-2-1): Florida registered 19 shots in the third period against the Sabres and Hoffman unleashed nine of the team’s overall total of 43 to give him 21 in the first four contests. Jonathan Huberdeau recorded his fourth assist of the season on Friday while Evgenii Dadonov scored for the second straight game and added an assist after going without a point in his first two contests of 2019-20. Bobrovsky has turned aside 97-of-110 shots in four games while Montembeault, who gave up a goal on 20 shots against Carolina in relief on Tuesday, went 4-3-2 with an .894 save percentage in 11 contests last season.

ABOUT THE ISLANDERS (1-3-0): Anthony Beauvillier recorded two goals and two assists in the first three games of the season but was held without a shot and finished with a minus-3 rating in Friday’s setback. Mathew Barzal, who will become a restricted free agent after the season, has yet to get on track in the early going with one point (assist) and was held without a shot in Tuesday’s loss before registering three versus Carolina. Thomas Greiss got the call in net and allowed four goals on 39 shots, which likely means Semyon Varlamov will make his third start with New York on Saturday after yielding six tallies while losing his first two.

OVERTIME

1. The Panthers have earned at least one point in six straight meetings (4-0-2) after recording two wins and a shootout loss last season.

2. New York C Josh Bailey, who played in his 800th NHL game on Tuesday, is five assists shy of 300 for his career after notching one against the Hurricanes.

3. Florida leads the league with an average of 39.5 shots per game but ranks 29th in faceoff percentage (45.7).

PREDICTION: Islanders 4, Panthers 3