Highlights from Wednesday’s NHL games

Brock Nelson broke a tie with 3:25 left, Semyon Varlamov made 34 saves and the New York Islanders beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 in Game 3 of the NHL's Eastern Conference final on Friday night. The Islanders rebounded from a stunning finish to Game 2 to trim their deficit to 2-1 in the best-of-seven matchup, but it wasn't easy. Tampa Bay wiped out a two-goal deficit in the first 13 minutes of the final period before Nelson, who also had an assist, beat goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy off a pass from Anthony Beauvillier.

The Boston Bruins had a relatively successful season, getting back to the playoffs after narrowly missing them the past two years. Sweeney listed the “middle of the [forward] lineup, transition-minded defensemen and the backup goaltender position” as places he had in mind for offseason upgrades. More specifically on Sweeney’s to-do list: a left wing to be paired with David Krejci, a revamping of a third line that underachieved far too often and another top-four defenseman capable of moving the puck to go along with a more dependable backup goaltender situation than the Jekyll and Hyde performance from Anton Khudobin last season.