New York Islanders made it home for Stanley Cup game three, after their pair of back to back games against the Florida Panthers, with the series tied at a game each.
Florida got the scoring off to an early start, Michael Matheson’s quick pass to Alex Petrovic, but his shot from out near the blue line was knocked away by Thomas Griess. Griess, however, from lay on the ice, stretching to his limit, could do nothing to stop Reilly Smith lifting the puck over him, and putting the visitors in to the lead.
Minutes later, Smith hit the crossbar, after beating Griess again, but no one could pick up the rebound and play continued.
Eight and a half minutes in, Cal Clutterbuck was sent to the penalty box for a high sticking call against Dmitry Kulikov, and Greg McKegg was sent to the Florida side for holding Thomas Hickey.
When Jiri Hudler was called for interference against John Tavares, it gave the Islanders a power play, but they couldn’t use this to get the Panthers earlier goal back, despite coming very close, but Tavares couldn’t quite scoop the puck in.
The Panthers soon got their own power play, when Matt Martin was caught getting physical with Alex Petrovic, meaning the Panthers got one minute before and one minute after the break with an extra man on the ice.
Martin re-joined the game, but the Panthers were already on the attack, Jonathan Huberdeau’s pass to Smith, in the slot, was fired at the goal but it went high. As it rebounded back off the boards, Ryan Pulock was there to double the visitors lead, and made it 2-0.
Aaron Ekblad managed to get another in to the Panthers net, but after a coach’s challenge, Haberdeau was found to have been offside and the goal was wiped out.
The Islanders found themselves with a huge advantage, when Petrovic was given a penalty, and then Jussi Jokinen joined him in the sin-bin. Islanders managed to use this, and finally made a mark on the scoreboard. Tavares passed the puck back to Kyle Okposo at the blue line, the puck was sent across to Ryan Pulock who was already wound up and fired a huge slap shot that went straight in to the top corner.
Less than two minutes later, however, the Panthers got the goal back. Smith took the puck down the wing, and across the ice to shoot at close range. His shot was knocked away by Greiss’ leg pad, but Nick Bjugstad was there for the rebound. The puck came off Bjugstad’s skate, hit the post, and then he pushed it in with his stick.
Still with half the game to play, the Islanders obviously wanted to put on a good show in front of their home fans, and Calvin de Haan’s shot was knocked away by Roberto Luongo. Pulock was there to pick up the rebound, crossed to Shane Prince in the middle, and Prince managed to knock it past Luongo.
Kulikov clipped Martin, earning Kulikov two minutes in the sin-bin, and once again the Islanders made use of this advantage. Tavares pin point pass to the centre, was given a big back hander by Frans Nielsen and the puck flew between Luongo’s outstretched glove and the post.
New York then were given a penalty of their own, when Casey Cizkas tripped smith. Islanders managed to hold the score at 3-3. Somehow, after the break, there was another New York penalty for an infraction against Smith, this time Travis Hamonic having his stick too high.
All through the third, neither team managed to get on top of the other, but there were a few opportunities, such as when Johnny Boychuk tried to clear the puck from in front of the Islanders goal, but snapped his stick allowing Jiri Hudler to pick it up, dance round Boychuk, and fire at Greiss, who managed to knock the puck wide.
This took the game to overtime, and despite the Panthers having a few good chances, Greiss had closed up shop, and no one got through.
At the other end of the ice, twelve minutes in to OT, Josh Bailey got the puck just in front of the crease. Under pressure, he knocked the puck away to Brock Nelson. Nelson headed out to the side, but was now under pressure himself, so a quick pass back to Bailey helped him lose some of this. The defenders went straight after Bailey, and Bailey managed to get the puck back to Nelson. Nelson looked up, and saw Hickey hurtling down the ice towards him, the puck was sent to Hickey, who used his momentum to add speed to his shot, which went flying past Luongo, giving the Islanders a win on home ice, and putting them a game ahead in the series.
The series continues Wednesday night, still in New York, before heading back to Florida for game five Friday evening.
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