UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) – Florida’s Roberto Luongo made 29 saves, including a penalty-shot stop in the third period, and earned his first non-shutout win of the season by holding off the New York Islanders 3-1 Monday.

Luongo (3-1) posted shutouts in the first two games, stopping 61 shots, and didn’t allow a goal until a 2-1 loss Saturday to Tampa Bay.

He kept the Panthers in it in the first period against the Islanders, who took the lead six minutes in on Miroslav Satan’s second goal.

Kristian Huselius and Chris Gratton scored 4:31 apart in the second period to give Florida a rare early lead. Rostislav Olesz scored his first NHL goal into an empty net on his 20th birthday.

Luongo’s biggest test came with 14:34 left when Satan was given a penalty shot after he was hooked on a breakaway by former Islanders defenseman Branislav Mezei. Satan come straight down on the attempt, and his low shot was steered away by Luongo’s stick.

Luongo, a former first-round pick of the Islanders, was sharp early – making one save when he sprawled across the crease to deny Jason Blake with his stick and another off a shot that struck him in the mask near his throat.

With the Islanders already ahead 1-0 and on a power play in the final minute of the period, rookie defenseman Tomi Pettinen let go a hard shot that hit Luongo flush on the bottom right portion of his mask.

Luongo, who entered having stopped just under 98 percent of shots against, dropped down onto his stomach but remained in the game after being attended to by trainers. He was chosen as the NHL’s defensive player of the week earlier Monday.

Rick DiPietro made 20 saves for the Islanders (1-2).

The Panthers took a 2-1 lead on a play that appeared promising, broke down, and reformed to produce a goal.

After Oleg Kvasha turned over the puck near center ice, Florida broke into the Islanders’ zone on an odd-man rush. Niklas Hagman had two skaters alongside but dumped a pass into no man’s land as he came in off the left point.

Nathan Horton got to it with only Brent Sopel back on defense for New York. Horton got the puck across to Gratton, who easily steered a shot into the open right side at 7:46 for his first goal.

Huselius gave Florida its first lead since the second game of the season with his first goal at 3:15.

With the Panthers on their fourth power play of the afternoon, Huselius got to a rebound of Sean Hill’s long shot and drove the puck out of traffic and past DiPietro.

That marked the first goal scored by Florida that didn’t come in the third period. The Panthers scored five total goals in their first two games, including consecutive 2-0 victories to start the season.

Satan got his second goal in two games after going seven preseason games and the first real one without a point. Just 15 seconds into a power play, Alexei Zhitnik drove a shot from the blue line off the right post, and Satan was there to knock in the rebound.

Notes: Luongo has stopped all five penalty shots against him in his career. … Florida LW Gary Roberts played only 3:07 after aggravating a groin injury. He is day to day. … The Islanders had a 12-5 shots advantage in the first after being outshot 17-5 in the opening 20 minutes Saturday against Carolina. … Florida was 1-for-10 on the power play.

AP-ES-10-10-05 1550EDT

Copy the Story Link