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New York Islanders Three Keys to Win Game Three

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 28: Anders Lee #27 of the New York Islanders leaves the ice following a 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Barclays Center on April 28, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 28: Anders Lee #27 of the New York Islanders leaves the ice following a 2-1 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game Two of the Eastern Conference Second Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Barclays Center on April 28, 2019 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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UNIONDALE, NY – JANUARY 20: Brock Nelson #29 and Josh Bailey #12 of the New York Islanders celebrate Nelson’s goal against the Philadelphia Flyers at the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum on January 20, 2014 in Uniondale, New York. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

Game three between the New York Islanders and the Carolina Hurricanes takes place tonight. If the Islanders want to get back in the series, what three keys will they need to exploit?

With a 2-0 series deficit, the New York Islanders have a must-win game in Raliegh tonight. The series isn’t over if they lose, but only a few teams have ever come back from a 3-0 deficit in an NHL playoff series.

(The Islanders were one of those teams. Doing so in 1975 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.)

The Isles shouldn’t be down 2-0 to the Hurricanes in this series. The New York Islanders have played well enough to win both games. They just haven’t been able to convert in front of goal.

If you rewatch both games you’ll notice the number of times the Islanders missed sure goals, hit crossbars, or just whiffed on shots they normally wouldn’t miss. It was incredible how the Islanders were creating chances but didn’t bury a single one of them.

It was absolutely uncharacteristic of the Islanders to create as much as they did and not bury a single one.

Getting a win in game three won’t be about making sweeping changes to the way they play or to their system. So how do they avoid a loss in game three? How can the New York Islanders go into Raleigh tonight and come away with a win and get themselves back into the series?

Here are the three keys to game three.

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