Panthers stay alive with one-goal win

TORONTO (AP) — Mike Hoffman and Brian Boyle scored 2:07 apart in the opening minutes of the third period, and the Florida Panthers avoided elimination with a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders in Game 3 of their preliminary round playoff series on Wednesday.

Erik Haula also scored and Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 20 shots. The 10th-seeded Panthers trail the best-of-five series 2-1 with Game 4 at the NHL’s Eastern Conference hub city of Toronto on Friday.

Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Brock Nelson, with 1:27 remaining, scored for the Islanders, the East’s seventh seed. Semyon Varlamov stopped 19 shots and made a costly error leading to Hoffman’s go-ahead goal 41 seconds into the third period.

With Varlamov penalized for playing the puck inside the trapezoid 7 seconds into the frame, Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle faked a shot in the high slot, before feeding Hoffman, who blasted the puck in from the right circle.

Boyle made it 3-1 when he corralled a loose puck inside the Islanders zone and snapped a 40-footer inside the left post.

The Panthers turned the tables on the Islanders by being the more disciplined team a day following a 4-2 loss, in which New York converted two of seven

Florida converted two of five power-play opportunities, and its penalty-killers finished 3 for 3, and snapped an 0-4-2 skid — including regular season — against the Islanders, which dated to a 4-2 win on Nov. 10, 2018.

power-play

opportunities.

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — The Arizona Coyotes knew they had a big opportunity once their challenge erased Nashville’s go-ahead goal early in the third period.

The Coyotes took advantage by scoring the next three goals.

Conor Garland and Taylor Hall each scored in the third period and the Coyotes beat the Predators 4-1 Wednesday.

Now the Coyotes, seeded 11th in the West in the NHL’s restart, can eliminate the sixth-seeded Predators in Game 4 on Friday in this bestof-five qualifying series.

“We all understood the importance of it,” Hall said of the overturned goal. “To go up 2-1 in the series is the same as going up 3-2 in a best-of-seven. We wanted the last game just as much as today. Obviously, the next game is going to be huge.”

Christian Dvorak scored on Arizona’s first shot of the game, and Coyotes scored three in the third for the victory.