Uniondale, New York – The Tampa Bay Lightning got the better of the New York Islanders on Thursday night to take a 2-1 series lead in the Stanley Cup semifinals.

The Lightning made it two in a row in their series against the Islanders, winning the third game 2-1 as Tampa is now halfway to their second-straight Stanley Cup final appearance.

Andrei Vasilevskiy (26) was masterful between the pipes for the Lightning, stopping 27 out of 28 shots to help the lightning take away any home-ice advantage from the Isles. Tampa’s netminder was cool, calm, and mostly collected – the one goal he allowed being the exception – as the defense in front of him made his job a little easier on the way to victory.

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The Lightning got all the offense they needed starting with a goal by Yanni Gourde, midway through the first period to break the scoreless tie. Tampa was locked into a tight battle with New York during that time, but it ended up showing real championship prowess to manage the game on its terms. The Isles lucked out a little with a game-tying goal by Cal Clutterbuck in the second period, but Tampa seemed unfazed for the most part.

Brayden Point answered back with his league-leading 11th goal of the postseason to snatch back the momentum and put the Lightning up for good. New York spent the rest of the game trying desperately to make a push for at least a tie, but Tampa’s checking and overall defense kept the Islanders from getting quality shots against Vasilevskiy.

Even New York’s extra attacker with their goalie pulled late in the game couldn’t even muster a shot on goal.

On the stats sheet, both squads were practically equal in shots, face-offs won, and takeaways. The only real advantage that New York had was on the physical front, where they outhit Tampa 39-26. But hits don’t exactly score goals, and Tampa was the better team overall.

The Islanders must adjust before they end up even closer to falling short of the cup, once again to the Lightning.

They will try to even up the series at home in Game 4, on Saturday night.