Greiss managed to deny Smith’s breakaway but the puck pinballed to Nick Bjugstad, who stuffed it into an open net for a 3-1 Panthers lead at 7:23. John Tavares got the Isles back within one score with 3:33 to go in the 3rd, but then Dmitry Kulikov responded with an ENG for the Panthers in the closing seconds.
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It took an astute coaching challenge and a lot of grit to turn the Islanders’ fortune fast in their first-ever playoff contest in Brooklyn, a 4-3 overtime victory against the Florida Panthers on Sunday to take a 2-1 series lead.
Jonathan Huberdeau had crossed the Islanders line a full 11 seconds before Aaron Ekblad snapped a wrist shot over Thomas Greiss’ shoulder to apparently make it 3-0 Panthers at 4:08 of the second.
The Islanders stormed out of the gates to start the series and while they nearly let a game one lead slip out of their grasp they showed some great resolve and held on for a big 5-4 win to kick things off. The Atlantic Division-champion Panthers will have less than 24 hours to rebound after watching three one-goal leads evaporate in a 5-4 setback when the clubs reconvene at BB&T Center for Game 2 on Friday.”I thought our defensive game was bad and some of the (Islanders’ goals) were great”, Florida coach George Gallant told the Miami Herald.
James Neal and Colin Wilson also scored, while Forsberg scored the go-ahead goal when his cross-ice pass to Craig Smith hit defenceman Shea Theodore’s skate and trickled past John Gibson. Though they finished with 100 points, the 82-game ordeal felt less rewarding and much more taxing than last season’s 101-point effort. It’s a big goal, but that game’s over and we’ve got a series to win here. “He was able to pick the defender’s pocket. and I don’t think Luongo even saw it”.
“Going into Philly, if we had the games like we had these last two games, we’re probably not going to come out on top because of discipline issues”, Holtby said.
The Islanders will look to go up 3-1 when the teams meet Wednesday at Barclays Center.
“Coach Gerard Gallant said although Sunday”s loss was disappointing, it wasn”t deflating, adding his team is going “to be confident.”. So no, we weren’t really surprised.
Ryan Strome had the best of the Islanders’ scoring chances on Friday night, taking a shot from the slot midway through the second period and later deflecting a shot by Cal Clutterbuck on net. We had a few break downs but when we did, Thomas (Greiss) made some big saves.
The Panthers – somewhat predictably, since the franchise hadn’t played a postseason game in four years – came out flying, getting on the board just 1:55 into the game when Purcell tapped a flawless pass from Jiri Hudler into a wide-open net to start the scoring.
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Florida posted a 36-6-6 record when scoring first this season, but the playoffs have been a different story so far. Luongo had 35 saves for the Panthers, who are 1-1 all-time in series in which they have trailed two games to one. Greiss made sure that was the last moment Florida enjoyed, stopping 15 of the shots he faced in the final period. Florida fell to 4-4 all-time in Game 1s. They won Thursday’s opener, an outcome that for nearly two periods looked like a pipe dream, and then dropped Game 2 on Friday, despite playing a better and more responsible brand of hockey. “Three games in four nights with an overtime”. And while Luongo dismissed the idea that the video reversal got the Islanders back into the game, the Isles themselves embraced it.
