Playoffs in Isles’ sight after Game 2 victory
The Panthers made adjustments to their lineup that made a difference, but none that were enough to shake the Islanders off their game.
It may have taken the first period to settle in and adapt, but an explosive three-goal second and a high-octane third propelled the Islanders to a 4-2 win over the Panthers at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Tuesday afternoon. Florida is now facing elimination as the Isles secured a 2-0 lead in the best-offive qualifying round play-in series heading into Game 3 on Wednesday.
Tweaking their lineup after dropping Game 1, the Panthers inserted a new face in Brady Keeper into their defensive pairings and switched up their lines a bit. It led to a much more threatening start than in Game 1.
But the Islanders didn’t let the Panthers’ adjustments jolt their game. Islanders coach Barry Trotz deployed nearly the exact same lineup as Saturday, aside from plugging in defenseman Andy Greene for Johnny Boychuk due to injury, and forced Florida into the same habits that cost them Game 1.
“In a short series, you’re trying to find the right balance and for us, we’re not really worried about [the other team’s lineup], we’re worried about playing our game,” Ryan Pulock said on a Zoom call following the win. “I think that’s what gives us success and it doesn’t really matter who they have out there, we’re going to try and play our game.”
Whether it was the Panthers’ modified lineup or just how the Islanders came out of the twoday layover, Trotz wasn’t thrilled with his team’s first-period performance.
“The first period I wasn’t really happy, I thought they got most of their push, most of their chances in the first period and then we sort of settled down after the first 10-12 minutes,” he said. “But we were a little bit too loose, they had a really good push.”
It was ultimately the Islanders’ ability to raise their compete level, as well as winning the special teams battle, that proved to be the difference. The Islanders went 2-for-7 on the man-advantage, which worked in their favor even when they didn’t score as most of Florida’s momentum was expunged by careless penalties.
After protecting a one-goal lead for the majority of the third period in Game 1, the Islanders did the same Tuesday, but Jordan Eberle’s second goal of the day on the power play gave his team some room to breathe. Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov also turned aside 24 of the 26 shots he faced.
The Panthers fought for the momentum early despite going on the penalty kill at 6:18, with winger Colton Sceviour intercepting a pass at the blue line for a short-handed opportunity that Varlamov saved. But in defending the play, Anthony Beauvillier was called for slashing, which negated the Islanders’ power play and gave the Panthers a short man-advantage.
As Florida’s power play expired, Mike Hoffman buried a slap shot through traffic to give the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 11:16 of the first.
The Islanders tightened their game to start the second. Tom Kuhnhackl got things going with a no-look, drop-pass between the legs to Martin for the put-in to knot the game 1-1 at 6:12.
“Obviously this was an important game for them, we knew that,” Martin said. “We didn’t get off to the start that we wanted to, but re-gathered ourselves and started making headway in the later part of the first period.
“In the second, we were able to pop a few and it was a good hockey game, well played, well fought.”
Aleksander Barkov capitalized on the Panthers’ second man-advantage opportunity and retook the lead at 7:54. But Hoffman’s hooking penalty shortly after allowed Pulock to send the puck five hole on Bobrovsky to tie the game again at 13:48.
Just over three minutes later, Eberle was rewarded for his patience at 16:27 with a quick wrist shot to give the Islanders their first lead of the day. To cap the scoring off at 9:10 of the third, Beauvillier’s shot from the right circle deflected in off Eberle’s leg for the 4-2 score.
“I liked our resiliency, we’ll have to do it again,” Trotz said. “Plain and simple.”