Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 5: Islanders ride late surge to halve Hurricanes’ series lead

Mike Gould
Mike Gould
Stanley Cup Playoffs Day 5: Islanders ride late surge to halve Hurricanes’ series lead
Credit: Dennis Schneidler-USA TODAY Sports

There’s nothing quite like the excitement of the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Eight series. Four games per night. Half the National Hockey League still has a legit shot at capturing the sport’s greatest title — and four teams took another step closer to the ultimate goal with Game 3 victories on Friday night.

It’s time for our fifth daily recap of this year’s playoffs, and we’ll start by taking you back to Long Island.

Islanders score four goals in 2:18 to get past Hurricanes

It was 1–1 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal playoff series between the New York Islanders and Carolina Hurricanes … until it wasn’t.

After Kyle Palmieri made it a 2–1 game with 3:51 left in the third period of Friday’s game, the Islanders scored three more goals (only one into an empty net) to win by a rather lopsided 5–1 margin and cut the Hurricanes’ series lead in half.

The Hurricanes won Games 1 and 2 of the series by one goal each on home ice. The Islanders looked to be on track to win Game 3 in similar fashion before their unexpected offensive explosion in the dying minutes.

It’s hard to say whether UBS Arena has ever been louder than when Matt Martin scored off a Palmieri feed to make it 3–1 with 3:07 left. Game 4 between these two teams is set for Sunday on the Island, and it should be a rockin’ good time.

Shorthanded Bruins convincingly restore series lead in Florida

No Bergeron or Krejci? Somehow, no problem!

Instead, it was Taylor Hall who drove the bus for the Boston Bruins en route to a 4–2 victory over the Florida Panthers in Game 3 of their series at FLA Live Arena.

The longtime Edmonton Oiler-turned-New Jersey Devil-turned-Arizona Coyote-turned-Buffalo Sabre is finally getting his chance to shine on the big stage with the heavy Stanley Cup favorite, and he lived up to his pedigree as a No. 1 pick with a goal and an assist in hostile territory on Friday.

The Bruins never surrendered the lead after Hall opened the scoring just 2:26 into the first period of Game 3. After Charlie Coyle and David Pastrnak made it 3–0, Hall helped set up Nick Foligno to make it a four-goal game with 8:15 to play in regulation time.

Although Gustav Forsling and Sam Reinhart scored late to make it somewhat interesting, the Bruins ultimately cruised past the finish line to take a 2–1 series lead over the Panthers. It’s worth noting that Florida finally turned away from Game 1 starter Alex Lyon in favor of Sergei Bobrovsky after Pastrnak’s goal midway through the third period.

Also: Aaron Ekblad missed the entire third period of Friday’s game after awkwardly colliding with Charlie McAvoy midway through the second. We’ll find out by Sunday whether Ekblad is a go for Game 4.

Gustavsson, Wild overpower Stars on home ice

After questionably switching to Marc-Andre Fleury for Game 2, the Minnesota Wild returned to original starting goaltender Filip Gustavsson for Game 3 against the Dallas Stars on Friday and were rewarded with a convincing 5–1 victory.

Gustavsson stopped all but one of the 24 shots he faced for a sparkling .958 save percentage in the win. Former Stars forward Mats Zuccarello tallied a pair of goals for the Wild to give them a 2–1 series lead.

Here’s something, ahem, Wild: Minnesota is ahead in this series despite star forward Kirill Kaprizov still sitting on zero 5-on-5 points through three games. The 25-year-old winger tallied on a power play in Game 1 before being shut out entirely in both Games 2 and 3.

But who needs Kirill the Thrill when you have Mats the Lizard? Zuccarello now leads the Wild with four points in three games during the series. He put his speed on full display to score his second goal of Friday’s contest.

Here’s something to keep an eye on in Game 4: Matt Boldy has yet to score in this series despite leading the Wild with 17 shots on goal in three games. Seventeen! The only player with more shots than Boldy in these playoffs is Connor McDavid.

… which leads us perfectly into the nightcap game!

Kings beat Oilers in OT after lengthy review

Connor McDavid scored twice on Friday but couldn’t quite prevent the Los Angeles Kings from scoring in overtime to take a 2–1 series lead heading into Game 4 on Sunday.

Trevor Moore netted the decisive goal off a feed from Gabe Vilardi just 3:24 into the extra period to give the Kings a dramatic 3–2 win.

But the Oilers weren’t content with the ruling on the ice. Both McDavid and head coach Jay Woodcroft appeared adamant that Vilardi had touched the puck with a high stick before passing it to Moore in the slot.

The officiating crew reviewed the play for more than five minutes before determining that the video footage was inconclusive and the call on the ice would stand. What say you?

Either way, it’s a little concerning that McDavid still doesn’t have a single point at 5-on-5 through three games in this series. We’ll see if he can change that when the Oilers and Kings do battle again at 9:00 p.m. ET on Sunday.

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