The Islanders have no choice but to keep believing in themselves and hope they can make history.
So even though the fact they have lost three straight games — all of which they had a chance to win — is undoubtedly a bad thing, they have no choice but to try and feel positive about it.
“I thought we could have won Game 1 and this one,” Patrick Roy said after a 3-2 loss in Game 3 put the Islanders in a 3-0 hole against Carolina, one game from elimination. “Game 2 in the second half, they took it away from us. That’s the playoffs. And we’ve been resilient all year.
“I love this group. These guys, they care, and I know we’re gonna come back with a big effort on Saturday. Unfortunately, we cannot look back. We need to look forward and try to make a comeback.”
This series has been fairly evenly matched on a game-by-game basis — the Islanders had the better of the chances in Game 1, blew a 3-0 lead in Game 2 and goaltending was the difference in Game 3 — but Carolina has come out on top each time.
And Frederik Andersen, after a shaky Game 2, was at the absolute top of his game in Thursday night.
That makes the Islanders’ task even more daunting.
“It’s to get that big goal, isn’t it?” Roy said, asked what can get his team over the hump. “We brought the game to 3-2, we needed to get that third goal and bring this game [tied]. We had plenty of time in the third period to get that one goal and we just came up short.”
Only four teams in NHL history have ever overturned a 3-0 deficit to win a series, the last being the 2014 Kings in the first round against the Sharks.
The Islanders have done so once in their history, in the 1975 second round against the Penguins.
If these Islanders are going to make some more history, the path starts Saturday afternoon.
“Just get the first one,” Anders Lee said. “We gotta win a game before we can win four. Just take it one at a time.”
Matt Martin was in the Game 3 lineup after missing Wednesday’s practice with maintenance, denying Ruslan Iskhakov a potential chance at a playoff debut.
Martin finished with 8:16 time on ice, two hits and one shot on net.
Frederik Andersen stayed in the Carolina net for the third straight game.
Tony DeAngelo came into the Hurricanes’ lineup with Brett Pesce dealing with a lower-body injury.
Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said that Jesper Fast, who has missed all three games so far, would be out for the rest of the playoffs with an upper-body injury.