There are no mysteries between hard-working Islanders and Bruins on eve of Game 3

Either the Islanders or the Bruins will have a 2-1 series lead after Thursday night’s Game 3 as Nassau Coliseum hosts a season-high 12,000 fans.

Attendance figure aside, that’s not necessarily earth-shaking news. But it is indicative this second-round series, predicted to be a close one with teams that play similarly hard-edged, defensively-structured games supported by superior goaltending, is going as expected.

No surprises remain after meeting eight times in the regular season.

"I think it’s gone pretty well the way we thought it would," Matt Martin said after Wednesday’s practice at Northwell Health Ice Center in East Meadow. "Us and them are built pretty similar overall. Even the crowds and the fan bases are similar in the type of atmosphere they bring. They’re blue-collar crowds for blue-collar teams in the way both teams work and get in on the forecheck. They’re a good team and we believe we’re a good team as well. Just got to keep finding ways to win."

So, it’s become a best-of-five for the right to advance to the NHL semifinals against either the Lightning or Hurricanes after the Islanders’ 4-3 overtime win in Monday night’s Game 2 at TD Garden, with three of those potential games at the Coliseum. The Islanders reached the Eastern Conference finals last season. The Bruins reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2019.

"We did what we needed to do in terms of stealing one of their home games," Martin said. "Now, we have an opportunity to play well in front of our fans and get wins. If we take care of business in our building, we’ll be able to move on to the conference finals. It’s a long road ahead. They’re a good team and not going to go away easily. It’s going to be a hard-fought battle to the end."

While Islanders coach Barry Trotz does not believe home-ice advantage will turn out to be a deciding factor in the series, he does have the last change for the next two games.

That will help him slightly in getting the matchups he wants on the ice.

Regardless of the personnel Trotz deploys, the Islanders’ priority remains keeping the Bruins’ top line of Patrice Bergeron between Brad Marchand and David Pastrnak in check as much as possible. Pastrnak had a hat trick in the Bruins’ 5-2 win in Game 1 as that line combined for six points.

Bergeron and Marchand — who scored the third-period, power-play equalizer — both had goals as the Bruins erased the Islanders’ 3-1 lead after two periods in Game 2. But keeping the top trio to four points constituted an improved effort.

"That line is very dynamic and you’ve got to be aware when they’re on the ice and you’ve got to do a good job against them," said defenseman Ryan Pulock, who, along with top-pair partner Adam Pelech has drawn the bulk of the assignments against the Bruins’ top line.

"I thought we did a little better job against them in Game 2 than Game 1," Pulock said. "For us, we’ve got to keep getting better against those guys because that gives us more of a chance to be successful. It’s a big challenge. Having that role to try and shut them down is fun for me."

Game 3 will likely be determined on which team is most successful in its adjustments.

"It’s razor thin," Trotz said. "It’s important that we continue to build our game and just tweak our game in terms of some of our systematic things. You start playing Boston day after day here, line tendencies, individual tendencies come more to the forefront."

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.