The Florida Panthers defenseman Brandon Montour (62) celebrates his goal with teammate defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson (91) scoring against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the second period of game 3 of the firs round of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Amalie Arena in Tampa FL on Thu Apr 25, 2024 (AP News photo)

On NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 Game three of the Stanley Cup Playoffs puts the Tampa Bay Lightning on the brink as they are down 0-3 against the Florida Panthers. The Panthers took game three 5-3 on Thursday night in Tampa Bay. The Panthers left winger Matthew Tkachuk scored twice and the goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 shots and allowed three goals in the win.

#2 Panthers head coach Paul Maurice said that he doesn’t feel the 3-0 lead and that he feels all these games are tight. Game 2 was an overtime that the Panthers on in Miami 3-2 on Tuesday just for an example. Maurice said it’s tight and that’s what he’s expecting for the next game on Saturday afternoon for game four.

#3 The Carolina Hurricanes against the New York Islanders got scoring help from Brent Burns in the first period who scored his first goal of the playoffs at 4:46 and the Hurricanes edged out the Isles 3-2 at UBS Arena in Elmont. We mentioned Burns as you saw him for years when he was in San Jose and now he’s on this successful Hurricanes team who leads New York 3-0 in this first round.

#4 Mary Lisa, the Hurricanes also got some good goaltending from Frederik Andersen who stopped 29 out of 31 shots in this close game.

#5 Islanders on are on the brink in game four against the Hurricanes need to win big or go home. The Islanders have lost each of he first three games 3-1, 5-3 and 3-2. The Islanders once again have home ice today and if they ever had to use it to their advantage this game would be it.

Join Mary Lisa for the Stanley Cup Playoffs podcasts Saturdays at http://www.sportsradioservice.com