Islanders bring playoff drama to UBS Arena in Game 3 of East 1st Round
New home shows capability to be nearly as loud as Nassau Coliseum in win against Hurricanes
Kyle Palmieri threw both his arms up after his deflection floated into the net over goalie Antti Raanta's glove, and the already raucous crowd erupted in celebration. Palmieri's power-play goal broke a late tie and sent the Islanders onto a 5-1 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round.
"Big goal," Palmieri said. "It's at home, playoffs. There was a lot of emotion. All night our fans were into it. We were into it. It was a tight game, and it feels good to come out on top."
The Islanders still have work to do trailing 2-1 in the best-of-7 series heading into Game 4 at UBS Arena on Sunday (1 p.m. ET; TNT, SN360, TVAS, MSGSN, BSSO). But they needed this one after one-goal losses in the first two games at Carolina.
With the score tied 1-1 into the waning minutes of the third period Friday, Palmieri's goal provided both relief and a boost of energy to the Islanders after nearly three full games of struggling to score on Raanta. Palmieri set up Matt Martin for another goal from the left circle to make it 3-1 with 3:07 left, and the sellout crowd of 17,255 erupted again.
Scott Mayfield scored an empty-net goal with 1:49 left, and Anders Lee added a deflection with 1:33 remaining to complete a run of four goals in 2:18 that broke the NHL record for the fastest four goals by one team in a playoff game, bettering the previous mark (2:35) set by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1944 Stanley Cup Semifinals.
"Even if the (final) score didn't maybe reflect it, that was a battle," Palmieri said. "We knew every game was going to be a battle, whether it's here or in Carolina. But it felt good to take care of business at home."
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The Islanders and their fans were fond of their old home, Nassau Coliseum, which hosted their run of four straight Stanley Cup championships (1980-1983) and countless other unforgettable playoff games, including during their run to the 2021 Eastern Conference Final in their final season playing there.
After missing the playoffs in their first season in UBS Arena last season, they were eager to see whether the electric atmosphere from Nassau Coliseum would follow them here.
The answer, for at least this night, was a resounding, 'Yes! Yes! Yes!'
"I didn't think that anything would be like the Coliseum was, but it was [darn] close," Martin said. "Obviously, our fans bring so much energy for us and really help us tilt the ice, especially in the third period when we really needed a push."
There were also some tense moments, particularly after Jesper Fast's short-handed goal at 16:56 of the second period knotted the score at 1-1. New York's power play had a chance to redeem itself with three more opportunities in the third, but failed to covert on the first two, running their series futility with man-advantage to 0-for-8 and leaving them a bounce away from a 3-0 series hole.
But the crowd, loud from the start, including singing along with the national anthem, kept pushing and the Islanders finally broke through when Palmieri tipped in defenseman Sebastian Aho's shot from the right point.
"That was a great feeling," Aho said. "It's always special to get in a moment like that in a game and to hear the crowd, it was unreal tonight."
The Islanders know they have a long way to go to match even a small part of their history at Nassau Coliseum, but they had to start somewhere. Clinching a playoff berth with a 4-2 victory against the Montreal Canadiens in their final regular season game April 12 at UBS Arena was the first step in that direction.
Palmieri's goal and the outburst that followed can be another, especially if the Islanders can come back and win this series.
"It's moments like tonight and the game against Montreal and clinching, those kinds of things are memories that our fans have, we have," Palmieri said. "Some of them don't compare to some of them at the Coliseum, but for us in the last two years, it's become home."
