Islanders remain confident going into Game 3 of East Final vs. Lightning

The New York Islanders have a blueprint to keep the Tampa Bay Lightning at bay in the Eastern Conference Final. Now they must find one that will generate offense as well in Game 3 at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Friday (8 p.m. ET; USA, CBC, SN, TVAS).

After an 8-2 loss in Game 1 on Monday, the Islanders responded with a much better effort in Game 2 on Wednesday, but Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov broke a tie with nine seconds remaining in the third period for a 2-1 loss.
The Islanders certainly had their chances, particularly on the power play. But they failed to score on a five-minute man-advantage in the first period, then didn't have a shot on goal during a 5-on-3 for 38 seconds in the third.
"I think we can shoot it a little more, honestly," Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck said Thursday. "I think rebounds are a lot harder to break up than direct passes, and direct passes can be anticipated. At this point in the season where we're at, teams are going to be pretty stingy in front of their net, regardless of who they are. I think we can probably do a better job of throwing pucks on and dealing with rebounds rather than trying to pass it into the net. I know it's really cliché, but we could probably do a better job of shooting the puck."
Teams trailing 2-0 are 51-329 (13.4 percent) winning a best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series, including 0-5 in the first two rounds this season. New York is 3-9 when it loses the first two games in a best-of-7 series. Tampa Bay is 5-0 when it holds a 2-0 lead.
But Islanders coach Barry Trotz said he has a good feeling heading into Game 3 in Edmonton, the hub city for the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final.
"I just feel like this series is real close to flipping here," Trotz said. "Our game is back to where it should be. There's a couple of areas that we know we can be a little bit better in, and if we are it could be the difference."

Trotz is no stranger to this kind of adversity. When he coached the Washington Capitals to their first Stanley Cup championship in 2018, the Capitals trailed in each of their four series, including losing the first two games of the first round against the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Trotz applauded the Islanders' commitment during a postseason that includes series wins against the Florida Panthers, Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers.
"We shared stories of the journey a couple of years ago," Trotz said. "That team that I had was down in every series. We came back and won a Cup. It's just focusing on be in the moment, and the guys are. This group is, you talk about character and resiliency and all that, we're into our fourth series; not our third series, our fourth. The mental grind and the amount of the effort they've had to put forward, it's tremendous. They're not scared of the work, they're not scared of the battle, they're not scared of the challenge.
"To me, we'll leave it all on the line, and if it's not good enough, so be it. But we're going to walk away from this series no matter what with our best effort."
The effort was there in Game 2. New York outshot Tampa Bay 13-4 in the first period, 28-21 for the game, and its penalty kill was 4-for-4 after it allowed three power-play goals in Game 1.
"We did a lot of really good things," Islanders forward Andrew Ladd said. "I think there were a lot of facets of the game where we did what we wanted to and played at the pace we wanted to. I don't know if much needed to be said; I think you turn the page. You look at some things you can improve on, maybe look at some things we did really well and go from there."
The Islanders have scored three goals in the two games, but captain Anders Lee said the confidence hasn't wavered.
"Oh yeah, that belief's there," Lee said. "We believe in ourselves, in this group. The first two games haven't gone the way that we wanted to, but I think we have a lot to build on from Game 2. We like the way that we played, and if we can build off that and continue to play better as a team, we believe in ourselves to do the right things. None of that's left our room, that's for sure."