“Obviously he’s been great for us all year. He showed it tonight”.
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The Panthers led 2-0 after two, but had blown similar leads twice this season to the Islanders, and they had to sweat this one out as well.
“A great play by Johnny”, Okposo said. “We have to clean some stuff up”, Campbell said. “We created chances, but there was some defensive lapses on our part”. So many factors go into scoring in a playoff series that it is completely unfair to pin it on just one person, especially when scoring takes a nosedive in the playoffs anyway. “But we found a way”. Their second line still is operating smoothly with Jussi Jokinen and Reilly Smith, but the loss of Trocheck hurts. Some of his saves were spectacular, like when he denied the Islanders’ Ryan Strome from point-blank range in the slot midway through the second period, and another when he managed to deflect a shot off the stick of Cal Clutterbuck – who was getting hauled down by Florida’s Alex Petrovic early in the third. Tavares was clearly New York’s best player in last night’s win and he was the only Islander to find the back of the net on Friday. 8, N.Y. Islanders, Strome 1 (Quine, Hamonic), 6:01. Despite the lack of Jaroslav Halak, the Islanders are putting their faith in Thomas Greiss.
Florida continued to dominate the Islanders but, against the run of play, Islanders center Brock Nelson tied the game up from the individual’s breakaway, ending in his snap-shot whizzing past Robert Luongo. He had 21 saves.
Thomas Greiss, who entered Friday 2-0 against Florida this season, took the loss. He picked Brian Campbell’s pocket deep in the Florida zone and fed Kyle Okposo, who ripped a shot over Luongo at 2:33 for a 4-3 Isles lead.
Power-play opportunities_N.Y. Islanders 1 of 2; Florida 1 of 3.
Aleksander Barkov, Jaromir Jagor and Jonathan Huberdeau had chances all night, but failed to put the puck in the back of the net. But we’ve got to do some things better. “I thought we did a pretty good job, (the Panthers) are a big team and they’re fast and physical”. “It’s easier to play when you are excited”.
There’s a big reason why the Panthers will not make it out of the first round, and I think it’s because what the Panthers are doing this season is “unsustainable”. NOTES: Islanders D Travis Harmonic (knee) returned after missing six games in a row…. Panthers C Vincent Trocheck (foot) is not skating yet but could return late in the series…. South Florida is one of just five markets with an National Basketball Association and an NHL team in the playoffs, joining Detroit, Los Angeles, Dallas and Oakland/San Jose….
NY hasn’t advanced past the first round since 1993, while Florida hasn’t gotten into the Eastern Conference semifinals since 1996.
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Tavares had 14 points in his final 10 games of the regular season and clearly carried that momentum into Game 1. Yeah, It’s been a long time for the team from Sunrise, Florida. After placing the blame of a rough patch on his shoulders just a couple of weeks ago, his recent play has propelled NY into the playoffs.
