The Upshot: NY Islanders erupt late in the third period; defeat Hurricanes 5-1 in GM3

HOW IT HAPPENED

Kyle Palmieri scored on the power play with 3:51 remaining to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead as the Islanders went on to a 5-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals on Friday night at UBS Arena. Following the Palmieri goal, the Islanders went on to score three more as Matt Martin scored 44 seconds later at 16:53. That was followed by a Scott Mayfield empty-net goal and Anders Lee scoring to end the cap off the win. Ilya Sorokin made 15 saves in the first period and 30 for the game in the win. Jesper Fast scored for Carolina, and Antti Raanta made 32 saves in the loss.

WHAT WENT RIGHT

Two minutes and 18 seconds. That's what went right. The Islanders scored four goals in that span to win Game 3 and hopefully carry momentum into Game 4 on Sunday afternoon. After countless missed opportunities, the Islanders finally broke through on the power play when Kyle Palmieri deflected Sebastian Aho's shot from the point past Antti Raanta at 16:56 of the third for a 2-1 lead.

Goals by Matt Martin, Scott Mayfield (EN) and Anders Lee followed. "It was one of those games we just had to stick with it," Lee said. "I thought our guys did a phenomenal job of that, especially responding after the second there, but we played our game the whole way through or solid all night.

WHAT WENT WRONG

The power play made up for it in the end, but for most of this game, it felt like it was going once again to be the reason for the Islanders' downfall. In the second period, already with a 1-0 lead, Jesper Fast scored a short-handed goal at 16:56 of the second period as he converted a 2-on-1 with Jordan Staal after a turnover by Mathew Barzal.

STATS OF THE GAME

Per NHL PR, The Islanders scored four goals in a span of 2:18 – thefastest four goals by one team in Stanley Cup Playoffs history. The Canadiens previously held the mark when they scored four times in 2:35 during Game 5 of the 1944 Semifinals.

SOCIAL MEDIA MOMENT OF THE GAME

After being the games No. 1 star, Casey Cizikas had a message for Islanders fans.

WHAT'S NEXT

The Islanders aim to even the series against Carolina when they host the Hurricanes at UBS Arena for Game 4 on Sunday afternoon. Face off is set for 1:00 PM ET