3 Keys: Lightning vs. Islanders, Game 4 of Eastern Conference Final

No. 2 Lightning vs. No. 6 Islanders
3 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS
Tampa Bay leads best-of-7 series, 2-1

The New York Islanders will try to even the Eastern Conference Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4 at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Sunday.
The Islanders lost the first two games but recovered late in the third period for a 5-3 win in Game 3 on Friday in Edmonton, the hub city for the conference final and the Stanley Cup Final.
Forward Brayden Point, who missed Game 3, will play. Tied with forward Nikita Kucherov for the Lightning postseason lead with 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists) in 15 games, the center appeared to be injured during the first period of a 2-1 win in Game 2 on Wednesday and missed Game 3.
Since the conference final format was adopted for the 1981-82 season, teams with a 3-1 lead are 34-1 (97.1 percent) winning the series. They are 288-29 (90.9 percent) winning any best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series, including 10-0 in the first two rounds this season.
Here are 3 keys for Game 4:

1. Slow it down

The Islanders came away with the win Friday but were unable to play to their identity for long stretches and traded more chances with the Lightning than they would have liked.
"They like their rush play and obviously they're highly skilled, so it's important that we do a good job in the neutral zone and try to take that rush game out of it because that could really hurt you," New York defenseman Ryan Pulock said Saturday. "We've got to find a way to do a little better job, but obviously that was a big win for us."

2. Ability to bounce back

The Lightning have not lost consecutive games this postseason, including the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. They won four straight against the Boston Bruins in the second round after a 3-2 loss in Game 1 on Aug. 23.
"I think we just go to the mindset of just playing every game like it's a clinching game," Tampa Bay forward Pat Maroon said. "We've got to find ways to just keep playing the way we're playing. We have a good group in there. We have a good team that knows how to bounce back when a loss happens. ... We've just got to find ways to turn the page; I think we already did that, but find ways to come prepared tomorrow."

3. Make it 'best-of-3'

Islanders coach Barry Trotz said he knows they have to raise their level to even the series, especially with the expected return of Tampa Bay forward Alex Killorn, who was suspended for Game 3 for boarding New York center Brock Nelson in Game 2.
"We're going to get their best game tomorrow, and we've got to have our best game," Trotz said. "You're in a position to get it to a best-of-3. The opposition doesn't want that and they're going to do everything to prevent us from doing that. We've got to make sure we do everything in our power to make sure it gets to that best-of-3."

Lightning projected lineup

Ondrej Palat -- Brayden Point -- Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn -- Yanni Gourde -- Blake Coleman
Barclay Goodrow -- Anthony Cirelli -- 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,Mitchell Stephens
Unfit to play: Jan Rutta, Steven Stamkos

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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
Nick 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

Status report

Trotz said he had no update on Cizikas, who missed his first game of the postseason Friday. The forward will be a game-time decision.