PITTSBURGH — It wasn’t a taunt, but it might have felt like one.
The Islanders have pretty well dominated the Penguins while getting out to a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven, first-round playoff series, a chance to secure the sweep with a Game 4 win Tuesday night. But both sides understand the series is not over and that sometimes getting that fourth win can be the toughest part.
So there was Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, he of zero points and minus-4 rating through three games, mentioning the unmentionable Monday afternoon.
“It’s not the position you want to be in,” Crosby said of being down 3-0, “but that being said, I’d love to be part of a team that comes back from that. We believe that it starts with just winning one game.”
It would start with winning just one game, as it has on the four occasions in the history of the league that it has happened. One of those teams to do it were the 1975 Islanders, who came back from 3-0 against none other than the Penguins to win their quarterfinal matchup. The Penguins of current vintage have faced two 3-0 holes and lost both — the 2013 conference final against the Bruins in a sweep and a 2010 first-round series against the Flyers in six games.
A comeback like this would be quite the feather in the cap for Crosby & Co., who already have three Stanley Cups in the past decade, including back-to-back wins in 2016 and 2017. That pedigree and their sheer talent is part of what has kept the Islanders on their toes. That, and the fact that this Islanders group is all business. They’re calm as could be, but know that giving the Penguins any breath of life would be a mistake.
“Got to expect their best,” center Brock Nelson said. “Trying to close a team out, a lot of high-end talent, pride, and a team that’s won two of the last three [Stanley Cups]. They know the environment, and it’s going to be a tough one for us here. The crowd against us.“Like I said, trying to end their season is going to be tough.”
What the Islanders have done is suck the life out of the Penguins with tight defense, timely goaltending and opportunistic offense. At the end of Game 2 on Long Island, the Penguins were showing their frustration with after-the-whistle physicality that got them nowhere. In Game 3, the Pens scored the first goal and then showed very little signs of life as the Islanders got four unanswered.
It makes this Game 4 an interesting matchup because the Penguins looked as if they hardly want to get on a plane and head back to New York for Game 5, which would be Thursday night. But Crosby has motivated teams before out of some doldrums, just never to this extent. He said he “didn’t want to go there” when asked what it takes to get that fourth win in a series, as if he was going to give away some state secret. But he did continue to show confidence in his group that had more than its fair share of ups and downs all season.
“Things can change pretty quickly,” Crosby said, “so for that reason, we believe that if we come in with the right mindset [Tuesday], we can get it done.”
Maybe in private, the Islanders would scoff at that statement. There has been little shown from Pittsburgh that says anything is going to change in its favor. But the Islanders are certainly not taking anything for granted, knowing that one win could change the tenor of the series.
“We’ve been approaching every game as single games,” coach Barry Trotz said. “We have to win another game, be it [Tuesday] or the next day or the next day, whatever.”
That narrowed focus is exactly what has gotten the Islanders this far, and what they expect to get them a fourth win to avoid becoming a footnote to another historic achievement for Crosby.
“They have a great group in that room, there is a lot of talent. They’ve been in big games before, all that,” Trotz said. “We’ll have our hands full, as we have every game.”