Florida Panthers and New York Islanders Head Back to Sunrise Tied at Two

The Atlantic Division regular season champions, Florida Panthers and first wildcard team, New York Islanders have been pretty much even through the beginning of their matchup with each other. 

As the series reaches the midway point, after the first three games the team on the losing end, seemed to have played the better despite coming up short in the end. 

The opening game of the series down in Sunrise, the Panthers scored early when Teddy Purcell lit the lamp just under two minutes into the match. The Islanders battled back about five minutes later when Brock Nelson would find the back of the net. 

At the 14-minute mark of the opener, Jussi Jokinen would put the Cats back on top on the power play, but the Isles would answer back almost two minutes later when Frans Nielson would score a power play of his own. 

Reilly Smith, who has been on fire for the Panthers, would pick up his first of the playoffs early in the middle frame. Islanders captain, John Tavares, would get his team even again just before the horn sounded, sending the teams to their respective dressing rooms for the second intermission.

In the third period of the opening game, the Islanders would pick up tallies from Kyle Okposo and Ryan Strome within the first six minutes. The Panthers would get one back less than a minute later as Smith would find the back of the net, for his second of the night. 

In the opener Tavares had a goal and two assists for the Islanders, while Smith had two goals and an assist for the Panthers. 

In his first Stanley Cup Playoff start, Islanders’ netminder turned away 42 shots by the Panthers, while Roberto Luongo made 21 saves for Florida. The Panthers outshot the Islanders 46-26 and matched their franchise record for highest scoring post-season games, a 6-3 victory of the Boston Bruins in the 1996 Eastern Conference Finals and an 8-1 defeat to the Colorado Avalanche in the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals. 

The Panthers were able even up the series after the second game, as Luongo turned away 41 shots. Smith opened the scoring four and a half minutes into the opening period of game two and Nick Bjugstad doubled the lead for the Cats, 6:17 into the middle frame. 

In the third Tavares would get the Isles on the board 16 and a half into the final period, but the Panthers would cap it off with 10 seconds left as Dmitry Kulikov would score into the empty net to finish of the game and even the series at one. 

The Islanders outshot the Panthers in game two, 42-31 marking the second time in the series that the team with more shots lost. 

To go with the two goals and an assist from the first game, Smith added another goal and assist in game two. After that game he said, “It seems like the puck is following me around right now, and I have to give a lot of credit to my linemates. It is awesome to be able help the team at this stage. It seems like there are a lot of dirty goals this time of year and I just try to get to the net and find pucks.”

The line of Bjugstad, Jokinen and Smith has been one of the top lines for the Panthers in the opening round. While Tavares has been on fire for the Islanders. 

As the series shifted north to Brooklyn, Smith continued his hot streak scoring early for the Panthers. He found the back of the net two and a half minutes into the game at the Barclays Center. 

The second period saw the goal light lit five times as Aleksander Barkov opened the middle frame just over a minute in. Smith and Jonathan Huberdeau would pick the assists on the tally. 

Ryan Pulock would get the Islanders on the board as Tavares and Okposo would find him just about four minutes later. Two minutes after Pulock’s goal, Bjugstad would reclaim the Cats two goal lead. Smith would continue his hot streak picking an assist along with Kulikov. 

At the 11:48 mark of the middle frame Shane Prince would get one back for the Islanders and almost five minutes after that Tavares and Okposo would continue their hot streaks picking up the assist on Nielson’s tying goal. 

Game three may have turned shortly after Barkov gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead. Aaron Ekblad had appeared to score and give the Cats a 3-0 lead 4:08 into the middle frame, but the Islanders decided to challenge the goal thinking Huberdeau was offside on the play. The goal was overturned following the review giving the Islanders a little bit of new life in the game. 

Both goalies were pretty even in the third game, as Greiss turned away 36 shots and Luongo stopped 35. The third period included no scoring in game three, after the five goals in the second. In overtime, Thomas Hickey was able to get to a loose puck and slip it behind Luongo to take a 2-1 lead in the series. 

With the first three games being a tight battle game four, was not any different. After a scoreless first period, Purcell opened the scoring with just under five minutes left in the middle period, scoring on the power play from Jaromir Jagr and Ekblad. Tavares got the equalizer, also on the power play with 16 seconds remaining in the second. Pulock and Brock Nelson would get the helpers on the equalizer.

Florida defenseman Alex Petrovic would notch the go ahead goal 9:25 into the third frame after taking a Derek MacKenzie pass towards the top circle, firing a wrist shot, through traffic past Greiss.

 Jagr’s assist on Purcell’s goal, was the 200^th Stanley Cup Playoff point in his career, moving him into fifth place all-time. Jagr has not scored a playoff goal since April 13, 2012 when he scored for the Philadelphia Flyers against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round. 

Luongo turned away 26 shots by the Islanders, while Greiss made 27 saves for New York. The Islanders were not able to build off their 4-3 overtime victory in game three and have been unable to win consecutive playoff games, since they beat the Toronto Maple Leafs in games three and four of the 2002 Eastern Conference Finals. 

While the first period was scoreless, the Panthers outshot the Islanders in the first 10-5 and more than double the attempts the Isles had in the period. 

Each team had a goal waved off in the second as well. Huberdeau thought he scored at the 10:45 mark, but the goal was as he slid, with the puck into Greiss. Josh Bailey poked a rebound past Luongo 90 seconds later, but it was after the whistle so that too was waved off. 

The series now heads back to South Florida tied at two games apiece. The two teams have been matching up so closely, that it gives the impression that it more than likely will go the distance.