All questions about the top-ranked Boston Bruins’ preparations for the postseason were apparently answered Friday night in Sunrise, Florida.
After their upset loss to the Panthers in Game 2, Taylor Hall had a goal and an assist, Linus Ullmark stopped 28 shots as the Bruins defeated the Panthers 4-2 in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first round series on Friday night.
Charlie Coyle, David Pastrnak and Nick Foligno also had goals for Boston, who regained home-ice ice advantage to take a 2–1 series lead. Dmitry Orlov had some long exhaust passes that became assists for the Bruins.
Alex Lyon stopped 23 of 26 shots for Florida, the Pastrnak target with 11:28 left to chase him down and let Florida dispatch Sergei Bobrovsky. And that suggests the Panthers have a big decision to make on a starting netminder for Game 4 at Sunrise on Sunday afternoon.
The Bruins were again without captain Patrice Bergeron, out with an upper body injury. He also will not play in Game 4, as the Bruins believe he will be ready to play when the series returns to Boston for Game 5 next week.
Boston Bruins right winger David Pastrnak (88) celebrates with teammates after scoring
Gustav Forsling and Sam Reinhart had goals for Florida, which only got past Ullmark at 5:19. Boston improved to 50-3-0 this season when he allowed no more than two goals.
Florida was built for shots to fly. There have been three teams in NHL history that have shot more than 3,000 shots in a season – the 1970-71 Bruins being one of them, and the other two being the 2021-22 Panthers and the 2022-23 Panthers.
That makes what Boston did even more impressive than it looked on the statistics sheet.
The Bruins held Florida to four shots in the second period—tying the Panthers’ fourth-lowest total for all of their 254 bouts this season to that point. And while fully holding the defensive end, Boston turned a 1-0 lead into a 2-0 lead.
Marchand sent a wobbly puck towards the net from the right point, and Coyle – standing in front of the net – slashed at it as he sailed towards goal. The puck bounced off the ice and passed Lyon at exactly 6:00 of the second.
Pastrnak got the second of Orlov’s long assists after getting behind the defense to beat Lyon for a 3–0 lead, and Foligno made it 4–0 by tipping a pass from Bobrovsky with 8: 15 left.
The Bruins – as would be expected from a No. 1 seed coming off a big home loss – came out flying and controlled long stretches of the opening period.
But it was a rather innocent-looking play that put Boston ahead 1-0 after the first 20 minutes. Hall was on the right boards as he took a long pass from Dmitry Orlov, controlled the puck and fired a shot from just inside the blue line.
It came down Lyon’s glove and just 2:26 into the game Boston had the lead.
Official separates Panthers center Aleksander Barkov and Bruins defender Charlie McAvoy
ISLANDERS 5, HURRICANES 1
The Islanders were in another close game with the Carolina Hurricanes until a big goal late opened a record-breaking scoring blowout and helped New York to a big home win after a pair of one-goal losses on the road.
Kyle Palmieri and Matt Martin scored 44 seconds apart late in the third period and the Islanders defeated the Hurricanes 5-1 on Friday night to cut their first-round deficit to 2-1.
Casey Cizikas, Scott Mayfield and Anders Lee also scored as New York conceded four goals in the space of 2:18 – the fastest four goals in Stanley Cup playoff history – to retire. Ilya Sorokin stopped 30 shots for the Islanders.
“We knew every game would be a battle,” said Palmieri. “We stuck with it and found a way to get through it at the end.”
It could have been worse for the Hurricanes if Seth Jarvis hadn’t played heads-up
Jesper Fast scored for the Hurricanes and Antti Raanta finished with 32 saves.
“It’s a tough ending,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “It was an exciting game and we got away at the end. We’ll regroup and come back next.’
Game 4 is back at the UBS Arena on Sunday.
The Islanders had two power plays in the top of the third period, but didn’t get many scoring opportunities. Raanta then denied a close range attempt from Bo Horvat with 6 1/2 minutes remaining to keep the score at 1–1. The Hurricanes goalkeeper then made a sliding, extended save on a Noah Dobson effort about 40 seconds later.
With 1 second left on another power play by the Islanders, defenseman Sebastian Aho fired a shot from the right point that deflected Palmieri out of the air past Raanta with 3:51 left.
“The puck goes wide, but he tagged it,” said Raanta. Those are the goals that come in the playoffs. Hard to save if the puck goes wide. It’s a good tip. … In the end it is a loss and you have to learn from it.’
Martin then made it 3-1 44 seconds later when he got a pass from Palmieri and quickly beat Raanta from the left circle.
Nyles entertains fans during the third period against the Carolina Hurricanes during Game 3
The Hurricanes pulled Raanta for an extra skater with about 2 1/2 minutes left and Mayfield scored a long empty netter with 1:49 left. With the goalie back in, Lee added to the lead 16 seconds later and the Islanders made playoff history with the four-goal burst.
“I thought we played very well,” Cizikas said of the islanders’ play in the run-up to the goal storm. “We did what we wanted to do from the start. We have not shied away from it. We kept rolling four lines, we kept chasing them.”
A game that was physical from the start saw a lot of pushing and shoving in the final minute, with Lee and Carolina’s Jalen Chatfield receiving misconduct penalties.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau #44 of the New York Islanders slides into the Antti Raanta of the Canes
Carolina had three power plays over an 11 1/2 minute span that carried over from the last minute of the first period into the middle of the second period, but scored only three shots on target during the advantages.
“(The penalty kill) was big in the second period,” said Islanders coach Lane Lambert. “The game could have changed momentum, but we certainly did well.”
Cizikas then gave the Islanders the 1-0 lead when he got a pass from Ryan Pulock after the defender kept the puck in the attacking zone and beat Raanta from the right with 7:11 left in the second.
The Hurricanes tied it with a short-handed goal with 3:04 left on a 2-on-1 rush as Jordan Staal fed Fast on the right side and he diverted it to Sorokin. The puck rolled into the crease towards the goal line as the Islanders forward Brock Nelson appeared to tap the puck in. It was Fast’s second of the series after getting the overtime winner in Game 2.
The boisterous home crowd was boisterous from the puck drop in the first postseason game at the sophomore UBS Arena. The crowd erupted in a roar as Carolina’s Shayne Gostisbehere was called out for hooking 7:50 into the game to put the Islanders on their first power play since late in the third period of Game 1. New York had no power plays in Game 2, while the hurricanes went 1 for 6.
Sorokin smothered a Jesperi Kotkaniemi effort on the left door in the 4th minute and had a kick save on a Martin Necas shot from the left with 8:12 left in the first. Sorokin also made some big saves off Brent Burns early in a Carolina power play with about 30 seconds left in the first period.
Jesper Fast #71 of the Hurricanes is controlled by Ryan Pulock #6 of the Islanders