NHL Playoffs: Lightning strikes four times as Tampa tie up the series with the Islanders
Tampa, Florida – The Tampa Bay Lightning have tied up the Stanley Cup semifinals, beating the New York Islanders at home on Tuesday night.
The Lightning won game two 4-2 over the Islanders to split the first two games in their series, as the matchup now heads to New York for Games 3 and 4. The defending cup champions were back to their usual ways after playing a sloppy Game 1, with fast and physically dominating play.
Nikita Kucherov (27) continued his great play by adding to his league lead in points with three assists, while Andrei Vasilevskiy was strong between the pipes, stopping 24 of 26 shots on goal. Brayden Point was on-point with his tenth goal of the postseason, and Ondrej Palat, Victor Hedman, as well as Jan Rutta also collected scores.
Tampa was in control throughout the contest with an advantage in takeaways (10-3), and shots (33-26), as nearly every push made by the Isles was met with resistance that the Lightning quickly turned into offensive opportunities. Things also got a little testy during the game, as both teams combined for nearly as many hits as they did shots on goal. Both Tampa and New York got into it often, totaling up 20 total penalties for 54 penalty minutes.
The Islanders did hang tough as much as they could, with goals by Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal, but the Lightning were just too much at home as the action now shifts to the Big Apple.
New York’s home ice could make the difference this time around
The Islanders now must regroup and adjust to the Lightning, who seems to have found a rhythm in this series. And New York is definitely going to have to get tougher after getting dominated by Tampa in Game 2. The Isles though have their home crowd to play in front of, which they didn’t have last year as the entire postseason was played in a bubble north of the border.
The Lightning are the defending champs, so any advantage for the Islanders is fair game at this point, otherwise, they’ll find themselves closer and closer to a repeat of last year.
Game 3 is on Thursday night, from New York, as both teams try to take the series lead.
Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire