The Florida Panthers were supposed to be serious playoff contenders this season Ottawa Senators Hoodies Authentic , and the New York Islanders, well, weren’t.But through roughly the first-eighth of this season, the opposite seemed true.The Islanders, who visit the Panthers on Saturday night at the BB&T Center, entered the weekend atop the Metropolitan Division with 18 points and an 8-5-2 record.Article continues below ...New York hasn’t seemed bothered by what many hockey writers predicted would be a catastrophe for the franchise — superstar center John Tavares’ decision to bolt to the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent.“We know we can play with anyone,” Islanders center Mathew Barzal said of his team sans Tavares. “We know we can beat anyone.”Meanwhile, the Panthers, who finished just one point short of the playoffs last season and then traded for winger Mike Hoffman — who has averaged better than 25 goals in each of the past four seasons — entered the weekend tied for last in the NHL with 11 points.But it appears Florida’s fortunes are changing. Goalie Roberto Luongo, a sure-fire Hall of Famer, injured his right knee in the season opener. Ever since he got back, the Panthers are undefeated at 2-0-0.“It’s good to get on a roll,” said Luongo, who has a stellar 1.19 goals-against average and a .959 save percentage in three games this season. “We’ve got to keep pushing hard.”Assuming Luongo gets the start Saturday, he will be facing an Islanders team that has lost two straight games Ottawa Senators Hats Authentic , allowing eight goals during that span.Winger Evgenii Dadonov leads the Panthers this season in goals (seven) and points (14). Hoffman is tied for third on the team with 11 points, and he also has a career-best 10-game points streak.In 25 years of Panthers history, only three other players have had points streaks of that duration – Pavel Bure, Olli Jokinen and Jussi Jokinen.“I guess it’s good,” Hoffman modestly said of his streak. “You’ve got to get a couple of lucky breaks to have a streak like that, but I’m just trying to help the team win as many games as possible.”Hoffman leads Florida in power-play goals (three) and power-play shots (43). He has led a Panthers power play that has recovered since starting the season with no goals in 13 tries.In their last five games, Florida has gone 7 of 23 on its power play.As for the Islanders, they are led in scoring in points by Josh Bailey (17) and in goals by Brock Nelson (seven).In goal, the Islanders have Thomas Greiss and Robin Lehner. Greiss is 4-2-1 with a 1.98 GAA and .940 save percentage. Lehner is 4-3-1 with a 2.53 GAA and a .924 save percentage.One issue for the Islanders is that left winger Matt Martin, who has three goals in 11 games this season, has an upper-body injury. If he can’t play against the Panthers, that would be the fourth straight game he has missed.Florida is relatively healthy, especially now that Luongo is back. Most of the Panthers’ current injuries are to players who are bottom-six forwards or Mark Pysyk, who is one of their bottom-three defensemen. In other words, Florida’s injuries are manageable now that Luongo has returned. The Vancouver Canucks go from one Stanley Cup Finals participant to the next Custom Ottawa Senators Jerseys , losing to the defending champion Washington Capitals at home Monday night and traveling to Las Vegas to play the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday night at the T-Mobile Arena.Vancouver coach Travis Green said he believes the Canucks (5-4-0) can learn from the way the Capitals played in his team’s 5-2 loss on Monday night.“They don’t just go out there and just play summer hockey. They play the game the right way,” Green said of Alex Ovechkin and Co. “These are valuable experiences and lessons for our players, our young players especially.Article continues below ...“They’re big, they’re strong, they’re skilled, they win puck battles, they manage the puck. They do everything that Stanley Cup winning teams do. And they’re deep. Man, that’s a good hockey team.”The same could be said about Vegas (4-4-0) in the Golden Knights’ dreamy inaugural season last year, when they shocked the NHL by advancing to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Capitals.The Golden Knights have shown flashes of yesteryear in their present three-game winning streak, which includes a dominating 3-1 win over the first-place Anaheim Ducks on Saturday.William Karlsson, Ryan Reaves and Jonathan Marchessault scored off a season-high 45 shots while allowing the Ducks to attempt only 18. Marchessault’s score came on an empty net.“Our forecheck was amazing,” Marchessault said. “We played fast. We got a lot of shots off — not necessarily quality ones — but we still got good chances. … It was good to get a good home game here.”Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 17 saves for his 408th career victory and passed Glenn Hall for 10th on the all-time list for goaltenders.Fleury has allowed two goals in his last three games and has stopped 69 of 71 shots in that span.Vancouver goalie Anders Nilsson had a much tougher night against Washington, allowing five shots to reach the net out of 33 attempts.Penalties played a big part in the Canucks’ loss, with Washington netting two power-play goals. The Canucks also converted on a power play, a point of emphasis for them.Right winger Brock Boeser fired a hard shot with puck bouncing off the pads of Capitals goalie Braden Holtby and on to Sven Baertschi’s stick. Holtby didn’t have time to reset before Baertschi fired the shot past him for his third goal of the year.“For us on the power play www.officialflyersproshop.com , we’ve talked about taking more shots, playing more direct and not trying to be too cute,” Vancouver center Bo Horvat said. “(Boeser) made the right play, put it on net and (Baertschi) was right there for the rebound.”Horvat echoed Green by saying the Canucks can learn from how the Capitals played –aggressive, creating penalty opportunities and capitalizing on them.“They were moving their feet, getting on the forecheck, taking the play to us at times,” Horvat said.The Golden Knights hope to put together a strong first 20 minutes against Vancouver similar to how they played against the Ducks. They had more than twice as many shot attempts as Anaheim (27-12) and held a 15-3 advantage in shots on goal.Despite that discrepancy, Vegas did not score until 13.7 seconds remained in the first period on a power-play goal by Karlsson when he redirected Marchessault’s shot in the net. It was Karlsson’s second goal in as many games after he was held without a goal in the first six games.“We played a good team and controlled the play a lot,” Fleury said. “It’s still early in the season, but when the playoffs come around and you need to push to make it, getting those early points can help you win the race.”