The New York Islanders are ready to keep fighting the fight, as they know it will be a battle to force a Game 6.
RALEIGH -- The New York Islanders first three games of their playoff series with the Carolina Hurricanes were difficult.
Blown leads, lack of bounces, untimely goaltending: anything that could've gone wrong did for New York as Carolina won each game.
However, the Islanders got a reprieve from the pain on Saturday, taking Game 4 to keep their season alive when Mathew Barzal scored bookend goals, capped off by a double-overtime winner, to force the teams back to PNC Arena for a Game 5.
“You have no idea how proud I am of this group,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said after Saturday's game. “They came out and played hard.
"Even when [the Hurricanes] took the lead, we stayed calm, and we stayed focused. Our mindset was really good, and I think the guys were determined to find a way to fight to win this hockey game.”
The win was a step in the right direction towards completing a historic comeback. Only four teams in 208 tries have ever come from three games down to win a playoff series, the last instance occurring in 2014.
The Islanders have one 3-0 rally in their history, but that came back in 1975.
With step one down, the Islanders return to Raleigh, where they took a Game 5 elimination contest in last year's matchup with Carolina.
The Islanders got timely goals from Pierre Engvall, Brock Nelson, and Barzal, along with some timely saves from Ilya Sorokin to bring things back to UBS Arena.
"I think knowing that we we did it last year, it gives us confidence going into tonight," Islanders forward Bo Horvat said. "But that's in the past. We got to be ready to go today.
"We obviously know that they're going to be coming out flying, wanting to end the series tonight, and we're going to do whatever we can to stop that."
Forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau echoed Horvat's sentiments but also spoke on the importance of winning in Raleigh during the regular season, which they did twice.
They beat them 5-4 in overtime on Nov. 30, with Noah Dobson finding Mathew Barzal for a one-time finish before holding on to beat them by the same score in regulation on Dec. 23:
"It helps," Pageau said on winning Game 5 in this building last season. "But we've won in this building during the season, too. So, it's definitely good that we know we can win here.
"It's not secret. They're a really good hockey team. They play well at him. But we've been able to win a couple of games here and playoffs, so it's good for our confidence."
The Islanders will need to find a way to build on their Game 4 win and keep the momentum going, which isn't easy given the two-and-a-half-day break.
"The breaks are always nice in the playoffs, just recovery-wise, but everyone's ready to roll," Pageau said. "There's a smile on everyone's face. We're ready to face that challenge. We have to take it as an opportunity. We have a chance to play a game here in Carolina. That'll be fun. It will be buzzing in the building, and those games are fun to play as a player.
"And we're ready to go out there, compete and the result will take care of itself if we do that."
It's all about the mindset.
"It's good. It's a nice, sunny, and beautiful out, a perfect day to play hockey," Pageau said. "Coming off a win, it's definitely good for our confidence. We know it will be a big challenge. But we know we can play with these guys, and we know we can beat them, and we've got to be confident in ourselves, and we keep believing that we have a chance."
Being back in Carolina means the Islanders will have to deal with the PNC Arena crowd. But Islanders defenseman Noah poke on how the atmosphere, regardless if it's cheers or boos, can boost a team.
"It's a great atmosphere," Dobson said. "I think as a player it's it's fun to play there. They are loud. We've played some good games there in the past and got some big wins there on the road, so hopefully, we can use that. I think we just focus on trying to get off to a good start. They come out hard in their building from there, but we definitely have to be ready though. They'll come out hard to start."
"I think whether you're on home or the road in the playoffs as a player, it's the best time of year to play. It's what you want as a player, just that energy and atmosphere from the fans. Obviously, they're cheering against you, but still, just the energy and the atmosphere make it fun to go and play. that's the best part of the playoffs, is just the atmosphere in the rink, the energy you get from the crowd, and each game."
Defenseman Alexander Romanov gave us a perfect quote.
"We're just ready to go. It's war for us right now."
The puck drops for Game 5 on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.