For long stretches of their first-round series, tallies have been hard to come by for both the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders. In Game 3, it was a feast-or-famine situation for the Isles, and they certainly feasted — winning by a score of 5-1 on the strength of the fastest four goals in NHL playoff history.
Knotted 1-1 late in the third period with the game looking destined to head to overtime, the Islanders scored four quick-strike goals in a span of just 2:18, besting the previous mark of 2:35 held by the 1943-44 Montreal Canadiens.
With the Islanders in danger of falling into a gigantic 3-0 hole in this series, Kyle Palmieri made it 2-1 with less than four minutes remaining on a deft tip, sending the Islanders faithful into a frenzy.
Just 44 seconds later, Palmieri nicely timed his pass to Matt Martin, who beat Antti Raanta for a dagger of a 3-1 tally.
Then, 2:02 after that Palmieri go-ahead goal, Scott Mayfield generated an empty-netter before the history-making four-goal frenzy was completed with Anders Lee scoring six seconds after that.
You could say things got pretty loud during the first playoff game at UBS Arena.
The Isles have a chance to tie the series in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon.