UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Matt Moulson scored three times for his second straight multigoal game, Al Montoya stopped 20 shots and the New York Islanders cruised to a 5-1 win over the Florida Panthers on Monday.
Moulson got the Islanders going 7:40 in and added his 25th goal with 5:02 left in the first period, when New York outshot Florida 16-3. Radek Martinek added a power-play goal in the second, and Josh Bailey scored to turn it into a rout.
Moulson completed his hat trick and took the team lead in goals by scoring an empty-netter with 2:37 left.
Montoya has been quite a find for the Islanders, who have used six goalies this season because of injuries. On Saturday, he stopped 35 shots in New York's 3-0 win over Los Angeles and became the first Islander to post a shutout in his first start with the club.
He lost a bid for his third shutout in six career NHL starts when Mike Santorelli scored a power-play goal with 9:26 remaining. Montoya, acquired from Phoenix on Feb. 9, has yielded three goals in his four wins as a starter.
The Islanders have scored at least three goals in nine straight games, the first time they have done that since a 10-game run from Feb. 27-March 17, 1994. They held a 37-21 shots advantage.
The latest spurt has helped them continue their second-half turnaround. The Islanders have won six of seven and are 19-20-4 since Jack Capuano took over for fired coach Scott Gordon on Nov. 15. New York is 18-12-2 in its past 32 games.
However, wins over the Panthers have been uncommon.
Florida had won three straight over the Islanders, six of seven (6-0-1) and 12 of 15 (12-2-1) before being dominated in front of a kid-filled, energetic crowd on Presidents Day.
Unlike Saturday when Moulson scored twice against Los Angeles goalie and brother-in-law Jonathan Quick, the left winger has no family connection to the Panthers' Tomas Vokoun.
Moulson took a pass from behind the net from John Tavares to Vokoun's left and slammed a shot in to make it 1-0. The goal came just over a minute after defenseman Jack Hillen rang a shot off the post.
That was the Panthers' last break.
Moulson made it 2-0 when he ripped in a one-timer from the dot in the left circle while down on one knee.
Panthers coach Pete DeBoer used his timeout, but it hardly helped.
The Islanders controlled play and were helped by a pair of power plays in the first, including a 5-minute major against Panthers leading scorer Stephen Weiss, who was ejected for elbowing Martinek.
New York didn't take advantage until 37 seconds into the middle period when Martinek got revenge when his drive from the blue line clipped the shin guard of Florida's Jack Skille and bounced past Vokoun. That snapped the Panthers' streak of 31 penalty kills.
Bailey made it 4-0 at 6:41 for the Islanders, who held a 22-3 edge in shots. Florida went nearly a full period without a shot after its last one in the first at 5:57.
Notes: Montoya has allowed four goals in four games with the Islanders. ... Florida entered with an NHL-low 8.4 penalty minutes per game before having 26 against New York. ... The Panthers' previous regulation loss to the Islanders was Jan. 31, 2009. ... Islanders LW Matt Martin returned after serving a four-game suspension. ... Moulson's other NHL hat trick was Dec. 3, 2009, at Atlanta.
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