Isles Keeping Even Keeled in Back and Forth Series

On a 90-degree day on Long Island, the New York Islanders seemingly had ice in their veins.
After scoring a
dominant 4-1 win on Saturday afternoon
to tie their First Round series with the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Islanders were calm, collected and went right back to work on Sunday, skating in a short, but spirited practice at Northwell Health Ice Center.

The all-business attitude is nothing new for Barry Trotz's squad, now with five playoff series - and one Qualifying Round - worth of experience. Nassau Coliseum may have roaring with the emotions of 6,800 fans, but after the final horn, the Islanders were focusing on the most important game, the next one.

"We've been in a few playoff series now the past few years, so we have a feel on where our heads need to be at and where our focus is at," Mathew Barzal said. "We'll enjoy this one, but once we leave the rink tonight, it's a tied series, a three-game series here."
The Islanders regrouped after losing an
emotionally-charged Game 3 5-4
by coming out with their best game of the series. They were aggressive in the first period, pushing the pace against a quick-starting Penguins team that had scored four first-period goals to their one. Instead of chasing the game, which they'd done for a majority of the series, the Islanders established a lead and built on it, closing the game out with a pair of power-play goals in the third period.
"We wanted to bounce back after an emotional Game 3," Brock Nelson said. "We followed it up with a similar effort and got a different result and now it's a best-of-three moving forward."
"You can't sit and enjoy it for too long," Nelson continued. "We're going into a tough place to play all tied up. This is where we want to be heading into Game 4, we got the job done, now it's time to turn the page, refocus and we want to go there and put up another solid effort."

That even-keeled attitude has developed over the past few seasons, with the Islanders learning how to manage their emotions in-game and game-to-game. With a rowdy crowd expected in Pittsburgh for Game 5, the Islanders are looking to channel that us against the world mentality and keep that steely focus.
"Our game is getting better as we go along here," Head Coach Barry Trotz said. "I'm looking forward to the challenge. Both teams are going to be ramped up, tomorrow night after the game one team is going to have their back up against the wall. It's a best-of-three, that's it. Tomorrow you don't worry about getting two [wins], you just worry about the first shift, first period and we'll go from there."