That line has been outstanding for us in the playoffs with Bjugstad in there. “They know they”re playing good hockey.”. Kyle Okposo and John Tavares registered two assists each. They’re also 19-9 in their last 28 home games while the Islanders are just 8-20 in their last 28 conference quarterfinals games.
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Florida took the lead on three occasions in the first two periods, and the Islanders came back and tied it every time.
But that goal doesn’t matter if the Islanders don’t rally from a 2-0 deficit against the Panthers.
A pair of Panthers penalties after the reversed call gave the Isles new life.
The Panthers have survived the first three games without injury and have played well enough to win all three games. 4, N.Y. Islanders, Nielsen 1 (Tavares, Leddy), 16:46 (pp).
The sold-out Barclays Center crowd went from 0 to 100 with the “no goal” announcement, and suddenly an Isles squad short on big-game experience was forechecking harder than ever before. Statistically speaking, the Islanders and Panthers are very close together.
VoteIslanders vs. Panthers: Who has the edge? The fact that the Flyers trail the Capitals 2-0 won’t lessen the intensity.
Playoff scoring narratives are stupid, for the record. “There’s been some ups and downs, just as there’s ups and downs in a playoff series”, Tavares said before the series, via Arthur Staple of Newsday. His 27 goals this season is the highest total for him since 2006-2007. Jagr is the ageless wonder for a reason.
Unfortunately for Smith, his production will be all for naught if the Panthers keep blowing leads, which they’ve done twice thus far in this series. Panthers D Brian Campbell played in his 100th career playoff game…. So the whole goalless drought does not exactly mean that Jagr deserves criticism.
It’s weird that Kulemin has been so ineffective outside the penalty kill this year.
The Islanders have several legitimately scary threats on the ice.
Reilly Smith and Nick Bjugstad each had a goal and an assist for Florida, which salvaged a split in the series-opening back-to-back. Ryan Strome also buried what wound up being the game-winning goal.
Center Vincent Trocheck (ankle) has yet to appear in the series, but the Panthers’ third-leading goal scorer skated Monday and may practice with the team on Tuesday. The loudest noise was saved for last, when Hickey took a pass from Brock Nelson, who was behind the net, and fired a shot between the legs of Roberto Luongo, who fell slowly on his back as Hickey’s teammates began to mob him. Previous year a promising NY squad downed in the first round to Washington, but there was one thing about the series: Travis Hamonic.
In the case of Sunday night, the replay reversal changed the complexion of a game and maybe a series.
New York’s X-Factor: Thomas Greiss.
A few minutes later, it looked like the Panthers had scored again to put the Islanders away when Barkov set up Aaron Ekblad for a goal. NY coach Jack Capuano challenged the play and it turned out that Hubderdeau was just a bit offsides when he entered the zone, nullifying the score. Each side’s goalkeepers had to pull out big saves, with both teams having an even crack of decent scoring opportunities. Gress stopped 42 of 46 shots.
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But the Islanders can’t simply rely on the atmosphere if they plan on seizing control of this series. They will be attempting to do so with their second-string goaltender in net.
