Game 3 Notebook: Isles Miss Opportunity to Sweep With Loss to Panthers

Barry Trotz called it a missed opportunity, as the New York Islanders could not finish off the Florida Panthers on Wednesday.
The Isles fell to the Panthers 3-2 in Game 3 of their best-of-five series, and while they still lead two games to one overall, they were unable to advance to advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Game 4 is set for Friday, August 7, at noon (MSG+, NBCSN, SN, TVAS).

"It was a little bit of a missed opportunity for us to knock them out," Trotz said. "They're a good hockey team. They're a very talented team, well coached and have some star power. We got away a little bit from our game, but we'll have to get back to our game."
JG Pageau and Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders, while Erik Haula, Mike Hoffman and Brian Boyle (GWG) scored for the Panthers.

PANTHERS STRIKE TWICE EARLY IN THIRD:

The Isles and Panthers were tied 1-1 after a tight-checking 40 minutes, but Florida broke the game open with a pair of goals in the opening 2:48 of the third.
The sequence unraveled quickly for the Islanders. Semyon Varlamov took a delay of game penalty - for playing the puck in the restricted zone - seven seconds into the period, which put the Panthers on the power play. Thirty-four seconds later, Hoffman ripped a one-timer past Varlamov for the second Panthers power-play goal of the game, capping off some pretty passing on the play.
The goal seemingly changed the momentum in Florida's favor and the Panthers rode the wave, with Boyle scoring on his team's next shot, beating Varlamov high blocker side from the slot to make it 3-1 at 2:48.
"They got two quick goals to start the period so obviously it was a turning point and they were able to capitalize on some momentum there," Trotz said. "You knew that in a 1-1 game they were going to come with their absolute best effort."
ISLES-PANTHERS GAME 3
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Event Summary
Isles-Panthers Playoff Hub
ISLES-PANTHERS VIDEO
Full Game Recap
Beauvillier-Pageau Connection
Nelson Scores Late
Postgame: Barry Trotz
Postgame: Varlamov and Bailey
Postgame: Pageau and Beauvillier
The Isles outshot the Panthers 10-3 the rest of the way and made a game of it when Nelson banked a puck off Aaron Ekblad's skate with 1:27 to play. That was as close as the Isles came, as Florida handed them their first loss of the series. Despite the defeat, the Isles were already focusing on making adjustments for Friday's rematch.
"That's hockey, sometimes weird things happen and it's how you respond to it," Bailey said. "They found a way to jump on us there, but we kept fighting, we kept trying to find a way, but it just didn't go our way tonight. We'll try to change that narrative next game."

PANTHERS POWER PLAY MAKES ISLES PAY:

The Isles won the special teams battle in Games 1 and 2, but the Panthers had the edge in Game 3.
Florida went 2-for-5 with the man advantage, while the Isles went 0-for-3.
The Panthers' power play opened the scoring in the second period, as Haula slammed in a Evgenii Dadonov rebound at 4:02. The power play struck again in the beginning of the third period, effectively swinging the momentum of the game.
"A lot of the times you earn what you get and probably need to be a little better on the kill," Bailey said. "At the same time it's in the past now, there's nothing we can do about it but get ready for Friday and make sure we bring our best."
Given that Florida had a top-10 power play during the season, an effective game seemed inevitable, but what irked the Isles after Game 3 was the number of penalties they took. After taking four total penalties in Games 1 and 2, the Isles took five on Wednesday, including a pair of self-inflicted wounds, as Haula's goal came off a Too Many Men bench minor, while Hoffman's came via a Varlamov misplay.
"Obviously we didn't execute our game plan and discipline was in our game plan and we didn't do it," Pageau said. "It's unfortunate, but we're in a good position. Now we just have to focus again. Now we'll have to play with urgency in the next game."

Video: NYI@FLA, Gm3: Beauvillier, Pageau link up for beauty

PAGEAU NETS SECOND OF PLAYOFFS:

JG Pageau netted his second goal of the postseason, burying a feed from Anthony Beauvillier at 16:26 of the middle frame. Beauvillier led the rush up the ice, chipped the puck into the corner before retrieving it and dishing to Pageau.
With the assist, Beauvillier extended his point streak to three games. Beauvillier also narrowly missed scoring in the second period, as his backhand was denied by Sergei Bobrovsky's shoulder.

VARLAMOV STARTS SECOND GAME IN BACK-TO-BACK:

Semyon Varlamov started in goal on Wednesday, playing in both legs of the back-to-back set. The Isles goalie stopped 19 shots in the loss.

NEXT GAME:

Game 4 between the Isles and Panthers goes on Friday. Puck drop is at noon (MSG+, NBCSN, SN, TVAS).