“We never quit. Nobody picked us to win the Atlantic, ” coach Gerard Gallant said. The veteran Cats keeper made one of his best stops in regulation on Nikolay Kulemin with 5:17 to go. “We have to feed off our crowd and that’s the big thing”.
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The Islanders will take on the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second round and the series is expected to begin Thursdayat Amalie Arena in Tampa. They’d like to only wait a couple weeks to win another one.
NY held a lead in just 46 minutes of a series that went 439 minutes but had a hot goalie in Thomas Greiss, a superstar rising to the occasion in Tavares and a penchant for scoring late. It’s been a generation – 23 years – since the club last won a playoff series. “So hopefully we’re going to come out and respond the right way”. To think, the Islanders were just under 54 seconds away from a Game 7 in Florida.
Sunday’s game will be televised on NBC Sports Network with live streaming also available on the NBC Sports Live Extra app. Further details for Game 6 between the Panthers and Islanders are below.
“The last one is always the hardest one to win”, defenseman Travis Hamonic said”. From myself and the rest of the LBC, just want to thank everyone for joining us for what was a very exciting season of Panthers hockey.
Hedman, picked second by the Lightning that year and having advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals last year, might have restored the luster, too. He was signed as a backup to Jaroslav Halak in the offseason and the two mostly shared the starts until Halak was injured on March 8 against Pittsburgh. You saw the passes, you saw the execution in our game. Barkov’s failure to beat Greiss on a penalty shot in Game 5 was a monster moment. The 44-year-old Jagr finished the series with two assists and a -2 rating. The kid’s (Greiss) playing really well….
Capitals at Flyers, Washington leads 3-2 (noon EDT, NBC).
Not these Capitals, and certainly not against punchless Philadelphia.
In a series in which no team recorded a single “clear victory” and both goaltenders were superb, the Islanders won this series because they employ John Tavares and the Panthers don’t.
Tavares scored his fourth and fifth goals of the series, finishing the first round with nine points.
“Everybody talks about, “The past, the past, the past” – the only pressure that we’ll have is on ourselves”, Trotz said. “We want to keep this thing going”.
Players are not focusing on the past series defeats.
With no-one else even coming close to his magnificent game, John Tavares was given the first star. “This is our first playoffs together, so in my opinion, no”.
But with just 53 seconds remaining in regular time, John Tavares scored to send the game into overtime at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. But Wild captain Mikko Koivu scored the tying goal to force overtime, then redirected Ryan Suter’s shot for the victor.
Tavares, who logged 36-plus minutes of ice time got his team on the board with less than a minute to go in regulation.
When asked if Minnesota had momentum now, Stars coach Lindy Ruff responded that he loved the way his team competed and skated. With the Islanders 3-2 up in the series, the stage was set for the Panthers to get a win and take the series to Game 7. “We’re hoping to write a few more chapters”.
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Since that year, NY has lost in the first round seven times, including Game 7s at Toronto in 2002 and at Washington a year ago. Losing today can be a fuel for the future, a learning lesson the Panthers won’t soon forget but would be wise to learn from.
