`WE'VE BEEN HERE BEFORE': TROTZ

Comebacks against Penguins and Bruins help keep Islanders still full of confidence

The New York Islanders have been here before.

What, me worry?

Coming off a 2-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday at home, the Islanders now find themselves trailing 2-1 in the NHL semifinal with Game 3 set for Saturday night at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Isles can draw on their experience twice already during these playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Round 1 and the Boston Bruins in Round 2 if they need motivation.

In fact, if you listened to New York coach Barry Trotz speak to the media Friday, if you didn't know what was happening, you'd think the Islanders have the Bolts right where they want them.

Given their track record, and the fact the Isles went on to win those series, Trotz has every right to remain confident.

“We've had success being in this position in the previous two rounds,” said Trotz. “Absolutely, you look back and we've been here before. We just have to take care of business here. If you haven't done it before you always have that doubt, but we've done it twice already. We didn't lose the series (Thursday) night and, in some ways, the series might have just begun.

“As we've gone along, and every series I look back at, even the Boston series, I thought we should have had Game 3 and we lost. We were deflated and it was no different (Thursday), we were a little deflated because we thought we put out a strong effort and we thought we should be going into overtime. That didn't happen. So, you just park it and we look forward to the opportunity (Saturday).

“Absolutely, we can look back at the previous experiences and we've had good success.”

Trotz said it's about belief and having everybody on board.

“There's no reason for us to not think we can't do it again.

It's on us to do it. It's not hope or anything like that. We put in the work and it's not going to be easy,” said Trotz. “The longer you go in the playoffs the teams get better and better. It's strange how that works. You've got to dial in your effort and dial in your work.

“You can't have any passengers — and everybody's got to pull on the rope really hard and when everybody's pulling, you can have success.”

If the Islanders are going to get a win, they have to do a better job in front of Bolts goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. New York has been held to two goals or fewer in the first three games of this series, and if that doesn't change, this series won't turn around. The Isles feel they have to do a better job getting to the front of the net.

The Lightning have a 6-1 record on the road in these playoffs and the Coliseum hasn't been an easy place for road teams because of the raucous crowd that supports the Isles.

The key for the Bolts is they've improved their play defensively. They've learned from playoff failures in the past and they know what it takes to shut it down in the third period to keep a lead. It's a big part of the reason why they're defending Stanley Cup champions.

The Isles didn't register a shot in the final six minutes of the third as the Bolts closed the door.

“As we grew, I think we had some good offensive players, and we did have a bit of an attitude that it wasn't good enough to beat you 2-1, we wanted to beat you 8-1,” said Lightning coach Jon Cooper.

But the attitude has changed. A first-round exit in four straight against the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2020 served as the wakeup call the Lightning needed.

“We were in the conference finals and all that, and then you get slapped in the face by Columbus, and that was just a reality check,” added Cooper.

“Ever since that Game 4 loss, we've had a different mindset and it's worked well for us.”

The Lightning feel they have the right recipe for success now.

“It's everyone buying into the system,” captain Steven Stamkos said.

“We know what our job is. We talk about in between the second and third. We have a one-goal lead going into the third period of a playoff game, we know what we have to do and we've done it time and time again.”

Clearly, the Isles don't want to panic. Trotz is the kind of guy who stays on an even keel at all times and he wants to see his team react the same way whether it wins or loses.