Eastern Semifinal Nightly Recap

Eastern Semifinal

New York Islanders - 1 @ Florida Panthers - 2

• Florida wins series 4-3

The Conference Finals are now set after the Florida Panthers defeated the New York Islanders in their Game 7 matchup. 
The New Jersey Devils will take on the Panthers in the East while the Winnipeg Jets face the Arizona Coyotes. 

In a series where Islanders losses correlated closely to the play of their goaltender, Jack Campbell, it was a lack of discipline that cost them in this one. 

New York took 5 straight minor penalties, including 4 in the third period alone. Despite leading 1-0 after two periods of play, ironically scoring while shorthanded, the unprompted parade to the penalty box gave the home team Panthers the opportunity they needed. 

With Max Domi off for tripping, Artemi Panarin tied things up at the 2:00 mark. Just over three minutes later, this time with Braydon Coburn off for roughing, Panarin struck again with what would be the game-winning goal. Powerplay quarterback Cale Makar had secondary assists on both markers. 

While a lot of focus was put on Campbell during the series, the special teams was a huge factor. Florida had a whopping 24 powerplays through 7 games and converted at a 33% rate. Conversely, the Islanders had only 4 powerplays throughout and weren't able to score on any of them. 

THREE STARS

Artemi Panarin (FLA): 2 goals, +/- 0, 7 shots, 1 blocked shot, 21:01 TOI
Frederik Andersen (FLA): 25 saves, .962 SP%
Adam Larsson (NYI): +/- 0, 4 hits, 1 shot, 3 blocked shots, 26:41 TOI