In Toronto, the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Islanders were playing the back end of two games in two nights on Sunday evening.
Thomas Greiss got the start for the Isles and made 36 saves, in a 3-2 Game win.
“You don’t know what’s happening, you’ve always got to be ready,” Greiss said. “I think [the challenge] is more physical, just staying in shape, being ready.”
The victory extends the Isles lead to 3-1.
“[Greiss] made quite a few big stops to keep us in it,” the Isles Brock Nelson said. “When you have that, it gives the group confidence that you’re still in the game and have a chance to win it going into the third. I think that was the biggest thing, is that goaltending can win you games, especially this time of year. That was it for us.”
The teams were tied 1-1 heading into the third, but Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored off a breakaway for a 2-1 Isles lead.
“In my opinion, that was the worst game that we’ve played to this point in the playoffs,” Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said. “You talk about the ultimate goalie partner for anybody, Thomas Greiss is it. Whatever you want, he’s all-in. He’s practiced really well, he gives you everything he’s got every day at practice, and then when you throw him in, he can do a lot of different things. Tonight, he was outstanding. The second period, he was unbelievable and in the third period, he was the same. You talk about key stops at key times, he made them.”
Nelson scored in the second period for a 1-0 lead for New York and then pushed the lead to 3-1 with a third period strike.
“The payoff for getting him is obviously paying off right away,” Nelson said of Pageau. “He’s a big part of the team up the middle, provides a lot of depth, face-off guy, and then now he’s scoring big goals. It’s a guy you can lean on in any situation really. He plays in all three zones. He kinds of does it all, so it’s a guy you appreciate and love to have on your team.”
Sean Couturier tied the game at 1-1 in the middle frame.
“We busted a gut out there,” Flyers head coach Alain Vigneault said. “We worked our butts off from the start of the game to the end. We weren’t perfect. Brian gave us a great chance.
“We had some good zone time, we had some good looks. In the third period, we made a couple mistakes there that they made us pay for. We had some looks; like we had quite a few in that second period. Just couldn’t find a way to put more than we did tonight past their goaltender.”
Ivan Provorov struck for the Flyers with just 64 seconds left in regulation.
The Flyers strikers who continue to lack offense from the front liners.
[WATCH: All Flyers vs. Islanders highlights]
Brian Elliott made 30 saves in the loss.
“It’s tough,” Elliott said. “You want to get a win, especially in this pivotal game here. But we’re down, but we’re not out and I think the guys realize that. We’ve just got to play our game.
“I thought everything they got that we kind of gave them. It was a little bit of unforced errors and I think that they’re good at that, so we’ve just got to keep that out of their hands. I think if we play our consistent game, we’ll give ourselves a good chance.”
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