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Lightning 4, Islanders 1
Lightning Use Fast Start to Even Series Against the Islanders
TAMPA, Fla. — The Islanders found themselves reliving recent history on Saturday afternoon, losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 4-1, and preparing to return home with the series tied at a game apiece — just as, in their first-round series against the Florida Panthers, they had taken the opening game before falling in Game 2.
“It’s always disappointing when you get the first one that you can’t go out and do it again, but coming here, we would have taken it coming home 1-1,” Islanders center Frans Nielsen said. “Going home to our building will be a different story.”
If the Lightning were a bit rusty at the outset of Game 1 on Wednesday after a five-day layoff, there was no evidence of a repeat early in Game 2. Instead, it was the Islanders who had a sluggish start, and the Lightning took advantage to grab a 2-0 lead in the opening 12 minutes.
A turnover by Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy in the Lightning zone, compounded by an open-ice collision with his teammate Cal Clutterbuck, led to a two-on-one opportunity that Tyler Johnson converted off a pass from Ondrej Palat at 6 minutes 3 seconds. Less than six minutes later, the speedy forward Jonathan Drouin slid a soft backhand past Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss after a defensive-zone turnover to ignite the raucous Amalie Arena crowd.
“He is a good player, plays with energy and speed — they’ve got a lot of guys like that,” Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey said of Drouin. “They’re a different team than Florida. They’re fast, but we’ve got some speed too. We’ve just got to play to our strengths.”
The Islanders were able to slowly assert some control. Nikolay Kulemin cut the deficit in half during a power play with a deflection off a drive from the point by Thomas Hickey with just under five minutes left in the first period. The Islanders outshot the Lightning, 12-5, keeping the pressure on goaltender Ben Bishop, who had been pulled early in Game 1 after allowing four goals. But Bishop, a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, was steady and confident in the net.
“At the end of the day, he’s a great goaltender,” Islanders Coach Jack Capuano said of Bishop. “We had a lot of chances in the first period, and he made some big saves when he had to, but you’re not going to win many games when you score one goal.”
The Lightning’s speed was a factor throughout the game. Tampa Bay Coach Jon Cooper dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen but largely relied on his top three lines.
The top line of Johnson, Palat and Nikita Kucherov, which had been broken up for stretches of the season, caused the Islanders problems in the neutral zone, with Johnson contributing two goals and an assist.
The mercurial Drouin, a supremely talented forward who had spent much of the season in the minors, was a forceful presence, contributing a goal and an assist.
Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman supplied a crucial power-play goal 12 minutes into the second period on a blast from the point that caromed off defenseman Calvin de Haan and past Greiss. The goal inspired the Lightning, who peppered Greiss with 14 shots in the period.
It was much of the same in the third period as the Lightning kept the Islanders bottled up in their own zone for long stretches, limiting them to just three shots and few second-chance opportunities. In the final two periods, the Lightning outshot the Islanders by 26-8.
“This was one we absolutely needed,” Cooper said. “I would think they came down here probably saying, ‘If we could split, it’s all good for us.’ Now there’s pressure on us to go up there and win one.”
The series heads to Brooklyn for Game 3 on Tuesday night, when the Islanders hope an enthusiastic Barclays Center crowd will provide a lift.
“As the games go on, the intensity picks up, the more you battle each other, the blood starts to boil,” Islanders center John Tavares said. “Our crowd has always been a big boost for us, so we’re looking to feed off them, play with some controlled emotion and come out hard with energy.”
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