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The New York Islanders picked up a huge Game 3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes last night, cutting Carolina’s lead in the series to 2-1.
Alexander Romanov also returned for the Islanders, taking the spot of Samuel Bolduc.
The Islanders didn’t have a great start, being outshot 15-7 in the opening frame. While they did have a power play midway through the period, they couldn’t get a ton going and after a strong period from Ilya Sorokin, they got through the frame tied.
Then in the second period, New York ended up taking some penalties early, but two big kills kept the game scoreless. However, the Islanders started to take over in the back half of the period and midway through the frame, Casey Cizikas got a pass in alone and beat Antti Raanta, opening the scoring. Hudson Fasching then had a great chance soon afterwards to blow the game right open, but Seth Jarvis made an excellent diving save to stop a sure goal.
New York kept pressing though and had all the momentum from there, and it looked like the team was in a good spot. But then just as the Islanders had a power play with another chance to extend the lead, they gave up a shorthanded odd-man rush, with Jordan Staal feeding Jesper Fast, who beat Sorokin to tie the game with only minutes left in the period. It was a pretty tough break for New York, after they really started to look like they were in control.
The third period saw a bit of an uneventful first half of the frame, but the Islanders started to build momentum and had their chances in back half. Then on a power play with only four minutes to go, Kyle Palmieri tipped in a shot from the point, putting the Islanders ahead. New York wasn’t done there, and only 44 seconds later, Matt Martin took a pass coming down the wing and beat Antti Raanta, giving the Islanders an insurance goal. Scott Mayfield ended up scoring an empty netter afterwards, but even after Raanta returned to the net following Mayfield's goal, Anders Lee deflected a puck in front to mark a fourth goal in just over two minutes, leading to a 5-1 win.
Obviously, it was a pretty much a must-win game for New York to avoid going down 3-0 in the series. They started to take over midway through the second period and aside from a pretty frustrating shorthanded goal which sunk momentum, the team put together a really solid back half of the game.
I think over the last two games, the Islanders have started to take control. They arguably played well enough to win Game 2, then outshot Carolina 30-16 over the last 40 minutes of yesterday’s game.
Special teams were a factor as well, with the Islanders killing off all four of Carolina’s power plays, which went a long way to keeping the game scoreless through the first half of the middle frame.
Cal Clutterbuck did land awkwardly after a big hit in the win, but reportedly told the media after the game he's fine. On the other hand, we saw a wild sequence where Jean-Gabriel Pageau benched Martin Necas, who then turned around to fire a punch at Brock Nelson, seated on the bench. Things have gotten a bit more chippy as the series goes on, creating more of a playoff feel to the matchup.
Seeing how the last two games have gone, you still have to feel good about the Islanders’ chances in the series, despite being down 2-1. They still desperately need to win Game 4 too, but with last night's victory, they’re right back in the series.
Game 4 is set for tomorrow afternoon.
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