Isles 4

>Panthers 1SUNRISE, Fla. – After spending three days baking by the pool of their posh hotel here, the Islanders were ripe for a third-degree burning against the Panthers.

But wait – instead of coming out flat, as they’ve done all season on the road, the Islanders played a leathery brand of hockey and tanned their hosts 4-1 for their second victory in their traveling whites.

“I don’t know if it was the sun. We played well – we needed it,” coach Steve Stirling said. “Everyone found a way to contribute.”

Rick DiPietro eclipsed Roberto Luongo in nets for the second straight facemask-to-facemask duel, and remains undefeated this year against the player with whom both he and the GM will forever be linked.

DiPietro was unconscious in making 26 stops.

But this one was much bigger for the Islanders than a battle of past and present franchise goaltenders. It was a crucial win by all accounts, because the Isles face the first-place Lightning tonight in Tampa in the second part of the back-to-back, before ending this four-game trip Saturday in Columbus against a team they have never beaten (0-4-1-0).

“This is a huge win for us,” DiPietro said. “It’s good for our confidence.”

The Isles came into last night’s game losers of three of their last four, and the victory not only snapped that slide, but it also put to bed some of the embarrassment hanging in their room from Saturday’s defeat in Nashville.

“It was real important for a lot of reasons,” Michael Peca said.

Trent Hunter’s seventh goal of the year, Bridgeport band-aid Mattias Timander’s first since Jan. 28 and Shawn Bates’ deflection gave the Isles a 3-1 advantage before the second period was two minutes old. Hunter got his second at 4:56 of the third – his second two-goal game of the year – for a three-goal lead after Eric Godard issued Lyle Odelein a beating.

“When they tried to stir it up,” Stirling said, “Goddie took care of business.”

Had Peca scored on his first-period penalty shot, it would have been far more lopsided of a win in front of a press box stuffed with members of the Isles’ inner circle – Ken Morrow and Kevin Maxwell – and scouts from Carolina, Detroit, Columbus, Los Angeles, Calgary and Chicago.