SUNRISE, Florida (Ticker) -- Defenseman Mattias Timander wasn't brought back for his offense, but the New York Islanders were happy to take his contribution.
A day after being recalled from the minors, Timander scored the go-ahead goal late in the first period to send the Islanders on their way to a 4-1 triumph over the Florida Panthers.
With 6:18 left in the opening period, Timander got the puck from Justin Papineau at the right point. He skated to the middle of the ice and put a wrist shot past former Islanders goaltender Roberto Luongo to give New York a 2-1 lead.
"I was a little nervous before the game," Timander admitted. "I haven't played at this level for a while. Getting the goal was good."
Timander had just three goals in 80 games for the Islanders last season.
"Regardless of the goal or not, he played pretty well," New York coach Steve Stirling said. "I don't pay much attention to who scores and stuff like that, and that's not an indicator. He was pretty solid and gave us some pretty good minutes."
Trent Hunter scored twice and Shawn Bates added his fifth goal for New York. Just about the only thing that went wrong for the Islanders was a missed penalty shot by Michael Peca with 2:06 left in the first period.
"(Luongo) got it with the heel of his skate," Peca said. "I made my move a little too close and he did a nice job of coming out and getting an angle on the shot."
Rick DiPietro made 26 saves for New York, beaten only on a strange power-play goal 7 1/2 minutes into the game.
"He made a few great saves when he had to," Florida coach Rick Dudley said. "I thought early in the game he was especially sharp."
After Valeri Bure's slap shot from the left point was knocked down in traffic in the left circle, the puck bounced to rookie Nathan Horton, who put a shot off the crossbar and into the net for his third goal.
"Val shot it and I got it off a deflection," Horton said. "After it came right to me, all I had to do was shoot it into the open net. Just a matter of being in position to make the play."
DiPietro left the net open because he was playing the angle for Bure's shot.
Luongo stopped 28 shots but matched a season high by allowing four goals.
