The comedown from an intense game in any sport weighs on the mind, but settling down after an emotional and strenuous postseason hockey matchup like the one the Islanders endured Thursday night poses a different kind of mental challenge.

The Islanders clawed their way back from a 3-1 deficit heading into the third period, scoring three goals during the final frame and pulling even with the Penguins twice. But Pittsburgh had an answer for each of the Islanders’ game-tying tallies and ultimately took a 2-1 series lead with a 5-4 win at the Coliseum.

It was chippy. It was draining. It was quintessential playoff hockey.

“It’s a roller-coaster of emotions,” Jordan Eberle said Friday, ahead of Game 4 on Saturday. “I mean, you tie it, they score, you tie it again, they score. It hurts a bit. But it’s playoff hockey, there’s going to be highs and lows and the key is to just stay in the moment.

“We had a good day on the ice, regroup and our mindset switched to tomorrow. Now, even up this series.”

Head coach Barry Trotz noted after the loss that the Islanders are used to being in uncomfortable situations, but the game got away from them as a result of chasing for 60 minutes, combined with a bit of puck luck for the Penguins.

Asked after practice Friday if he felt the nature of the Game 3 loss would be more difficult to overcome, Trotz said he believes the Islanders will embrace the challenge. He added that players yearn to be a part of high-stake games with emotion.

“I think the players, they don’t look back,” he said. “We try not to look back, we try to look forward. There’s a lot of stuff that we’re extremely happy with, there’s other stuff that we have to clean up. There’s two good teams, there’s not much difference. There’s basically one goal in three games that was the difference.”

In this series, the Islanders have only led for a combined 3:42. They haven’t been able to generate momentum from goals, as the Penguins often have waltzed right back to the other end to tie it up or retake the lead.

Trotz acknowledged the Islanders’ inability to play with the lead has been deflating, but pointed out that the playoffs are all about momentum swings and the Islanders will have to learn how to ride the ones they get.

“We’ve been chasing this series the whole time and when you do that, you leave yourself exposed because you’re pushing a little harder in some areas,” Trotz said. “We had lots of opportunities, we missed the net a few times, we didn’t execute some of our plays and we didn’t score. But we got four goals, usually for Islander hockey, four goals you want to win a hockey game.

“We can tighten up a couple things but we’re not having problems scoring, other than Game 2. We’ve been able to get three and four goals each game and that should be enough for us to get a victory in playoff hockey.”