Jack Capuano hinted at a change among his forwards for Sunday night’s Game 3 but went back with the same lineup for the third straight game. He even reunited the struggling trio of Nikolay Kulemin, Brock Nelson and Josh Bailey to start the game.
Capuano decided to stick with wingers Kulemin and Bailey, who had poor showings the first two games. Kulemin is one of the Islanders’ top penalty-killing forwards, so it was unlikely he’d come out. Bailey’s status as a long-term member of the team’s core helped keep him in the lineup despite no points and a minus-4 rating.