Isles Insights: Mental Mistakes Prove Costly for Islanders in Game 3| NYHN+

There will be at least one more game in the Islanders Qualifying Round series with the Florida Panthers. The Islanders couldn’t’ complete the sweep on Wednesday in a 3-2 loss in Game 3.

It was a more uncharacteristic performance from the Islanders, who made several mental mistakes that cost them in the end. They did hold Florida to 22 shots, but gave them five chances on the man-advantage and went 0-for-3 on the power play themselves.

Isles Insights

1. Special teams really did make the difference on Wednesday afternoon.

The Islanders played well at even strength against the Panthers in Game 3. In fact, looking at the numbers Game 3 wasn’t one that the Islanders should be losing. The Islanders finished the game creating high danger chances 65.96% of the time five on five, with an expected goals rating of 69.26%, according to Natural Stat Trick.

However, it was during the power play and penalty kill where the Islanders found themselves at a disadvantage. The Islanders struggled to get their power play going, which has been an ongoing issue for most of the season. They struggled to gain the zone or get many quality chances. In their second power play of the game, it wasn’t until the last 30 seconds that the Islanders were able to set themselves up in the offensive zone.

And the penalty kill couldn’t contain the Panthers offense this time around. Florida was able to move the puck around and create chances, showing why they were one of the top power plays during the regular season.

“You can’t expect it to go your way all the time as far as the penalties go,” Josh Bailey said afterward. “A lot of times you earn what you get and probably need to be a little better at the kill. At the same time, this game is in the past and there’s nothing you can do about it. You get ready for Friday and make sure we bring our best.”

2. It wasn’t just the special teams that hurt the Islanders, it was also the mental mistakes that they made during the course of the game that threw them off of their game. The Islanders took more penalties in Game 3 than they did in Game 1 and Game 2 combined.

The sloppy play and mental errors allowed one of the league’s top power-play units to get plenty of chances to work. It was a too many men penalty early in the second period that set the Islanders back a man for two minutes. The Panthers quickly capitalized.

In the third, it was another mental mistake that led to a bad penalty. This time it was Semyon Varlamov playing the puck outside the trapezoid leading to a delay of game penalty. The Panther would take advantage again, which was the first of two goals Florida would score during the first three minutes of the game.

“We were playing east to west. We weren’t playing very north tonight,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “In playoff hockey, you have to play north. We started playing slow east-west hockey and when you do that you turn pucks over, and get on the wrong side of people. You end up taking penalties. … A lot of that usually comes from not managing the puck correctly. Not getting into areas you can be effective with it and they made a few adjustments.

“A lot of it was us not executing what we wanted to do today.”

The Islanders bench boss rightfully called the too many men penalty “inexcusable” and added, “that’s not being sharp right there.”

A big part of the Islanders gameplan is to stay out of the penalty box and play smart. They just didn’t do that on Wednesday and it cost them in the end.

3. Semyon Varlamov owned his third-period mistake that led to the Panthers’ fifth power play of the game. “I should have handled the puck better, I cost us a goal,” Varlamov said glumly.

The mistake was costly, but Varlamov had another good game for the Islanders in net. He made 19 saves on 22 shots and made some timely saves when the Islanders needed him to. Through the first 40 minutes, he had only given up one goal on 17 shots, which included fending off three of the Panthers first four man-advantages.

“I always said your best (penalty killer) is your goalie,” Jean-Gabriel Pageau said. ” I thought he did a great job tonight.”

4. Speaking of great goaltending performances, Sergei Bobrovsky was strong in net for Florida. He stopped 20 of the 22 shots he faced on Wednesday afternoon and came up big especially early on. The Islanders had several chances throughout the game, including a breakaway chance by Jordan Eberle that was turned away and an Anthony Beauvillier opportunity that was turned away by the blocker of Bobrovsky midway through the first period.

This is the Bobrovsky that the Panthers had been expecting to see this season. He’s shown up for them here in the postseason, which may be bad news for the Islanders.

5. Anthony Beauvillier and Jean-Gabriel Pageau have been two major factors for the Islander during this series and they were so again in Game 3. Beauvillier had several scoring chances in the loss, but made a beautiful play to set up Pageau for the tying goal in the second period.

Beauvillier dumped the puck into the zone as the Islanders were preparing to change. Instead of heading off the ice, he made the hustle play to track the puck down in the offensive zone. He beat out the Panthers defenders for and then waited to feed a streaking Pageau for the goal.

It was just the latest example of how smart a player Beauvillier is. He struggled during the earlier part of the regular season and started to get things going when the pandemic hit. Beauvillier has hit a new stride during the postseason and turned into an X-factor for the Islanders.

6. Anyone expecting an update on Johnny Boychuk will be disappointed. Barry Trotz was asked about Boychuk’s status after the game, but he did not have an update.