The New York Islanders took a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-five qualifying series with a 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers Tuesday in Toronto. Jordan Eberle scored the game-winning and insurance goals, Anthony Beauvillier and J-G Pageau again had strong games, and Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves to move his Islanders playoff record to 2-0.
Unlike Game 1, where the Islanders worked from their preferred position of protecting the lead through automated suffocation, in Game 2 the Isles conceded the first goal, then conceded another lead barely a minute after tying it 1-1 in the second period.