Fan Fest starts at 5 p.m.

THE MORNING SKATE — The New and Improved Kyle Okposo

Kevin Schultz, Islanders Point Blank:

Easily the biggest surprise in this series has been the play of winger Kyle Okposo. He had a good stretch run to close the season — 10 points in 13 April games — but has seemed to turn it up another notch in this series. He’s already got three points in three playoff games and his possession numbers are through the roof, at an average corsi of +13 per game during the series so far. That’s 13 more shots directed toward the Pens net per game when Okposo is on the ice.

After Sunday’s Game, John Tavares had some thoughts on the turn around for Okposo, who only had 5 points in his first 20 games this season: “I remember my first year, Kyle was really playing well and obviously the shoulder injury was tough for him at that point. He was really a dominant player then and it probably took him a little longer than he wanted to to get a lot of things back but he did some good things toward the end of last season and same with this year towards the end of the season. You can see he’s taken it to another level, is one of our leaders and has a great skill set. We need him going like that.”

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Despite Game Three Loss, Islanders Still Have a Strong Belief in Themselves

Kevin Schultz, Islanders Point Blank:

UNIONDALE, NY — Sunday afternoon the Islanders lost a heart breaker at the Nassau Coliseum. The team would rally from a two-goal deficit in the third period to tie and send it to overtime, where they would lose on a tough penalty call against an even tougher power play unit.

After the game, the locker room was quiet and the players were clearly not happy with the result of their work. However, they thought they played well enough to win in an environment where the littlest mistake can drastically shift the outcome.

“I think we’re fine and I think the difference has been our penalty kill or their power play. I don’t know which one is too good or which one is too bad, but I think that’s where the difference is,” goaltender Evgeni Nabokov said following the game. Nabokov stopped 20 of 25 shots and allowed five goals, three of which came from the Penguins’ power play.

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The Coliseum’s 7th Man Was Out in Full Force on Sunday

Kevin Schultz, Islanders Point Blank:

UNIONDALE, NY — When you find a group of people beating a stuffed penguin like a pinata in a parking lot on Sunday morning, you know it’s going to be an exceptional day.

As the Islanders returned home to the Coliseum on Sunday for the first time in nearly three weeks, there were 16,170 fans there to greet them. Having last played at the Coliseum to chants of ‘we want playoffs’ on April 16th, the Islanders returned to Nassau and were met with sights some of the players had never seen before.

“Obviously we were at practice yesterday, we knew the towels were [on every seat],” defender Travis Hamonic said after Sunday’s Game Three. “Even driving here this morning you could see the parking lot it was 9:30, 10 o’clock and it was completely packed.”

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Game Three: Penguins 5, Islanders 4 (OT) — Isles Lose a Tough One at Coliseum

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Preview — Box Score — TOI — Highlightsislesbar

Kevin Schultz, Islanders Point Blank:

UNIONDALE, NY — In front of a raucous crowd at the Nassau Coliseum, the Islanders took the Pittsburgh Penguins to overtime in Game Three of their first round series. In the extra session, the Penguins would win it as defender Brian Strait was called for holding Sidney Crosby. On the ensuing power play, Chris Kunitz roofed a shot past Evgeni Nabokov for the 5-4 win, in front of a stunned crowd.

After the game, Strait blamed “[himself] more than anything,” for the penalty. “I just got a little too over aggressive on him there. Lost body position… Doesn’t matter what the call was.”

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