"We had some momentum and they took it right away," Lee said.
Tkachuk then shot into an empty net with 1:15 remaining for the 3-1 final.
"The mindset is you've got to enjoy these kinds of games," Maurice said. "They're no fun in the regular season, especially if you're used to scoring five or six goals a night, but it looks exactly the way a playoff game is going to be. It's going to be a grinder. If you don't get the puck in deep, you're going to pay for it. All those hard things, that's the addition to our game. We think we can still be dynamic off the rush, but we've got learn how to handle this kind of game."
NOTES:Tkachuk finished with four shots, one hit and led all Panthers forwards with 22:58 of ice time. … Lane Lambert was also making his coaching debut for the Islanders.