John Tavares Forces OT in Final Minute, Sends Islanders Through on Double-OT Winner

The New York Islanders won their first playoff series in 23 years last night, almost entirely thanks to franchise wunderkind John Tavares. The 25-year-old captain waited until literally the last minute to get the Islanders on the board against the Florida Panthers, but it was well worth the wait. Florida took a one goal lead on a [knuckling wrister with just over a minute to play](Jonathan Huberdeau) in the first period. The Panthers held on to that lead for nearly two periods until Tavares calmly swiped the puck away from Roberto Luongo's shadow and tucked it neatly back into the net.

It's a testament to how breakneck the pace of play is in the final minutes of a close playoff game that John Tavares, who scored 33 goals and assisted on another 37 during the regular season, can be left all by himself on the backside of the goalie with nothing but a wide open net in front of him. You can almost hear the Jaws theme as he skates into the picture:

Tavares then scored the game-winner at the midway point of the second overtime period. Luongo kicked aside a low wrist shot from the nearside post, but Tavares was able to control the rebound and make another pass at net. Luongo was slow getting back to the other side, fearful that Tavares could still tuck it in short side. Tavares went with the wraparound instead, sneaking in the triumphant goal and sending the home crowd into a delirium. Tavares had given the Islanders a playoff series win for the first time since they beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1993, a season that saw the franchise lose to the Montreal Canadiens in the Conference Finals. Tavares was two years old at the time.

The win didn't come without some controversy, though. In the moments before the goal, the Panthers looked like they were going to put the game away with an empty-net goal, but Vincent Trocheck looked to be obviously tripped by Matt Martin. The refs swallowed their whistles and let play continue. The Panthers got off another shot, but it obviously did not go in and the Islanders pushed it back up the ice for the eventual Tavares game-tying goal.

Right before the Tavares goal. pic.twitter.com/HppjOXYWBQ
— Matt Porter (@mattyports) April 25, 2016

It was obviously a tripping call, and if made it all but ends the game with a Panthers win. But…that's a tough call to end the game on, especially since the Panthers retained possession in the Islanders goalie-less zone. It's certainly a tough break for the Panthers, but they also had 30 more minutes worth of play to try to force a Game 7. Aren't sports fun? All this arguing?

The Islanders will play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round.

[NBCSN]