Matt Moulson Reflects on Electric Atmosphere of NY Islanders’ Game 3 in 2013 Playoffs

Former New York Islanders forward Matt Moulson joined The Daily Faceoff's Morning Cuppa Hockey earlier this week for a wide-ranging interview about his career, including the bombastic Game 3 in 2013 against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Nassau Coliseum.

The game was brought up by Long Island's Jonny Lazarus, who played Division I Hockey at UMass-Amherst, and is known on social media for his New York Rangers coverage, but was in the building on that Saturday afternoon as the Islanders hosted their first playoff game since 2007.

"I have never been in a louder building in my life," said known-Rangers fan Lazarus about Moulson's goal scored 1:43 into the game. "I think just coming out for warmup of that game, we had Drake playing 'We Started From The Bottom' we changed our song when we made the playoffs and played that," said Moulson about the pre-game atmosphere. "The place was ELECTRIC, the loudest ...the Coliseum, the way the noise was trapped in the Building, and then scoring a classic Matt Mouslon jam it in goal ..my ears were ringing coming back to the bench."

The Isles raced out to a 2-0 lead, only to allow four straight unanswered goals to the Pens to trail 4-2 heading into the third period. Kyle Okposo (SHG) and John Tavares each scored in the third to tie the game, but Chris Kunitz scored on the power-play 8:44 into overtime to send the Coliseum crowd home on a down note after an all-afternoon high.

"It was an unbelievable moment, and playing those games in the Coliseum for the playoffs, the tailgating beforehand, it was just ridiculous," added Moulson. The Islanders won Game 4 in the series, lost Game 5 in Pittsburgh, and then lost Game 6 on Coliseum ice, again in heartbreaking fashion in overtime. However, for those that were there, the sights and sounds of Game 3, the return of playoff hockey to Long Island, will be forever etched in their minds and their ears.