3 Keys: Lightning vs. Islanders, Game 4 of Eastern Conference Closing
No. 2 Lightning vs. No. 6 Islanders
3 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS
Tampa Bay leads handiest-of-7 series, 2-1
The New York Islanders will strive and even the Eastern Conference Closing against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 at Rogers Tell in Edmonton on Sunday.
The Islanders lost the necessary two games but recovered unhurried in the third length for a 5-3 draw close in Game 3 on Friday in Edmonton, the hub city for the conference final and the Stanley Cup Closing.
Lightning center Brayden Point would possibly perchance perchance well presumably omit his 2d straight recreation. Tied with forward Nikita Kucherov for the Tampa Bay postseason lead with 23 points (eight desires, 15 assists) in 15 games, Point looked as if it might be injured for the length of the necessary length of a 2-1 draw close in Game 2 on Wednesday.
Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper, talking earlier than educate Saturday, did now not present an change on Point’s situation. Video later equipped by the NHL showed him taking part at educate.
As phase of the NHL Return to Play Thought, a team is now not licensed to reveal participant injury or illness recordsdata.
Groups that acquire a 3-1 lead are 288-29 (90.9 percent), alongside side 10-0 in the necessary two rounds, a hit a handiest-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series.
Listed here are 3 keys for Game 4:
1. Gradual it down
The Islanders came away with the draw close Friday but had been unable to play to their identification for lengthy stretches and traded extra chances with the Lightning than they would have cherished.
“They cherish their trip play and clearly they’re highly expert, so or now not it’s main that we enact a correct job in the unbiased zone and investigate cross-test to acquire that trip recreation out of it because that would possibly perchance perchance well presumably if truth be told harm you,” New York defenseman Ryan Pulock said Saturday. “We now have bought to search out a style to enact a chunk of higher job, but clearly that became a expansive draw close for us.”
2. Skill to leap again
The Lightning have now not lost consecutive games this postseason, alongside side the spherical-robin part of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. They won four straight against the Boston Bruins in the 2d spherical after a 3-2 loss in Game 1 on Aug. 23.
“I judge we correct glide to the mindset of correct playing every recreation cherish or now not it’s a clinching recreation,” Tampa Bay forward Pat Maroon said. “We now have bought to search out systems to correct protect playing the formulation we’re playing. We have a correct personnel in there. We have a correct team that is conscious of fetch out how to leap again when a loss occurs. … We now have correct bought to search out systems to flip the page; I judge we already did that, but fetch systems to approach again bright tomorrow.”
3. Assemble it ‘handiest-of-3’
Islanders coach Barry Trotz said he is conscious of they must capture their stage to even the series, especially with the expected return of Tampa Bay forward Alex Killorn, who became suspended for Game 3 for boarding New York center Brock Nelson in Game 2.
“We’re going to salvage their handiest recreation tomorrow, and now we have bought to have our handiest recreation,” Trotz said. “You are prepared to salvage it to a handiest-of-3. The opposition would not want that and they would possibly be able to enact all the pieces to cease us from doing that. We now have bought to assemble positive we enact all the pieces in our energy to assemble positive it gets to that handiest-of-3.”
Lightning projected lineup
Ondrej Palat — Anthony Cirelli — Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn — Yanni Gourde — Blake Coleman
Barclay Goodrow — Mitchell Stephens — Tyler Johnson
Pat Maroon — Cedric Paquette
Victor Hedman — Kevin Shattenkirk
Ryan McDonagh — Zach Bogosian
Mikhail Sergachev — Erik Cernak
Luke Schenn
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched: Mathieu Joseph, Carter Verhaeghe, Alexander Volkov, Braydon Coburn, Scott Wedgewood
Unfit to play: Brayden Point, Jan Rutta, Steven Stamkos
Islanders projected lineup
Anders Lee — Mathew Barzal — Jordan Eberle
Anthony Beauvillier — Brock Nelson — Josh Bailey
Matt Martin — Jean-Gabriel Pageau — Cal Clutterbuck
Derick Brassard — Leo Komarov — Michael Dal Colle
Adam Pelech — Ryan Pulock
Devon Toews — Scott Mayfield
Slash Leddy — Andy Greene
Semyon Varlamov
Thomas Greiss
Scratched: Ross Johnston, Otto Koivula, Tom Kuhnhackl, Andrew Ladd, Sebastian Aho, Johnny Boychuk, Noah Dobson, Thomas Hickey, Christopher Gibson
Unfit to play: Casey Cizikas
Space legend
Trotz said Cizikas, who disregarded his first recreation of the postseason Friday, is known as a recreation-time resolution.