The Tampa Bay Lightning are on the doorstep of a second consecutive Stanley Cup Finals appearance following a five-game Second Round series victory over the New York Islanders.
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With 47:49 gone in the game, a second goal was finally found. Tampa Bay’s two key skaters teamed up to give the Lightning the equaliser.
When all is said and done, and the seemingly-inevitable happens and Tampa Bay Lightning move on to the Eastern Conference Finals, the story of how the Islanders’ season ended will lay squarely on the shoulders of how they couldn’t step on their opponent’s throats early.
Kyle Okposo scored early in the first for the Islanders, and Greiss stopped 20 shots.
Tampa Bay defenseman Anton Stralman had a goal in each game and four in the three games. It also eliminated Detroit in five games in the opening round, making it 2-0 in close-out situations this postseason. “Just from the way they felt the last 3 o’clock game we had, the guys feel it’s necessary to do, I’m going to jump on the bandwagon with them”, Capuano said. “It would have put us on the power play there, maybe given us a chance to win the game”.
Now, the team will wait and see who it will face in the Eastern Conference Final as the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals head to a Game 6 in Pittsburgh. The Islanders had knocked off the No. 2 seed Florida Panthers in a riveting first-round series, and after a 5-3 victory here at Amalie Arena in Game 1, a run to the next round appeared possible.
“We obviously played some good hockey at times, but we just let those two games at home slip away”.
“At this time of year it’s not about playing well and losing”, he said, “you got to win”.
The 6-foot-7 Bishop earned his fifth career playoff shutout, fourth in the deciding game of a series.
The full practice for the Islanders will hopefully benefit the team and Tavares as their captain has struggled in the last three games. He now has four goals this postseason and a total of nine points in the last 10 games.
The Islanders jumped onto the front foot, with Nick Leddy’s shot being blocked by Victor Hedman, but then the Bolts reclaimed the puck.
But if their season ends in this series, the Islanders will likely lament their inability to generate more offense Friday. Kucherov had tying goals in both games before Boyle and Jason Garrison provided winning goals in overtime to thrust the Lightning into a 3-1 series lead.
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First things first: The Lightning need to take care of the Islanders and that might not come easily. Jonathan Drouin made a backhand pass that banked off the boards and Hedman scored on a blast from the right faceoff circle to give Tampa a commanding 3-0 lead.
