Florida hangs on to hang in series

Panthers trying to make history against Islanders

Aleksander Barkov was born in Finland, but his parents were born in Russia, so the Finnish-russian centre grew up fluent in both languages. He only learned English when he arrived in Florida as an NHL rookie in 2013. Sometimes, it shows. Twenty- four hours before the Panthers’ biggest win of year, Barkov had been asked if he was disappointed that his team had begun the playoffs with consecutive losses to the New York Islanders. After all, the stats say that trailing 2- 0 in a best- of- five series might as well be a death wish. Only once — out of 57 attempts — has a team come back and won the series.

Barkov knew this. But he also knew that there was an English phrase that summed up how he felt about possibly packing it in.

“If I’m disappointed being here? No,” said Barkov. “This is a great chance for us. I’ve seen so many teams coming back from 3- 0, 2- 0, 3-1. It’s not over until … ”

As Barkov paused, trying to remember how the rest of the phrase went, his teammate completed the thought.

“The fat lady sings,” said Keith Yandle, smiling.

The Panthers, who hung on for a 3-2 win against the Islanders in Game 3, didn’t hear the fat lady on Wednesday. But in a shortened series where alarm bells tend to go off with each and every loss, everyone is aware that her vocal cords are primed and ready.

“I’d say we’re trying not to get too high or too low,” said Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad. “Obviously going down 2- 0 is heartbreaking at times, but at the end of the day we’re going to take it one game at a time … and control things as much as we can and move forward. That’s the only way. You can’t really dwell on what happened those first two games. You have to move forward and we did tonight in a big way.”

Based on history, they might have simply been delaying the inevitable. But in a 24-team expanded playoffs that comes on the heels of a four- month layoff where all the games are played in empty arenas with no travel and no fans and no outside pressure, does history even matter anymore?

Everything about these playoffs is new. Everything is different. Everything is more urgent, more volatile. One injury or one loss can make it seem like the sky is falling — or rather, that the bubble is bursting.

Fans were writing off the Oilers after they lost in Game 1, only to jump back on the bandwagon after Connor Mcdavid scored a hat trick in Game 2. After Toronto’s stars didn’t score in Game 1, there was talk of whether they would ever score again in these playoffs. They did. But with Jake Muzzin now out for the rest of the qualification round, the fear is that the Leafs now won’t be able to defend.

Maybe that is why Barkov seemed so unworried about being down 2- 0. This isn’t a seven-game series. As easy as it is to go down 2- 0 … and then get eliminated, as the Rangers did on Tuesday, it’s just as easy to win two straight and make it a series.

The last time there was a best- of- five series was in 1986. The Panthers and Islanders played Games 2 and 3 on consecutive days, with both games scheduled at noon. When was the last time that happened?

For that matter, when was the last time a coach scratched five players from the lineup who had played the game before?

Part of the reason for the roster overhaul, said Panthers coach Joel Quenneville, was to give the team a fresh look, if not some fresh legs. The latter was certainly noticeable in the third period, when Florida seemed to have an extra jump and took a 3-1 lead on goals from Mike Hoffman and Brian Boyle.

“Sometimes, you’ve got to make some tough decisions in this game,” Quenneville said of his decision not to play defenceman Michael Matheson or forward Frank Vatrano. “It was not an easy decision for us to make. Sometimes you make some real tough decisions and you get a good response.”

The one area where Quenneville didn’t tinker was in net. Based on how Sergei Bobrovsky had played in Games 1 and 2 — and for most of the season, really — no one would have blamed him if he had.

But the two- time Vezina Trophy winner, who signed a seven- year, US$ 70- million contract last summer, finally showed why he’s the second-highest paid goalie in the league. He finally got hot. And he finally won a game for the Panthers.

“Today was one of those games where they didn’t shoot much but the shots were dangerous,” said Bobrovsky, who made 22 saves, 10 of which came in the third period. “You feel that energy in the locker- room and in the big moment you just want to step up and make the play that needs to be done.”

We’ve seen this before from Bobrovsky (“He’s built a career on it,” said Ekblad). A year ago while playing for Columbus, he got hot at the right moment and helped the eighth-place Blue Jackets sweep the first- place Lightning.

Maybe this is the start of another hot streak. If so, it doesn’t have to be long, just another two games.

If he can do it, history will be rewritten again.