The 29-year-old Bishop came through with his best game of the series in Game 4, and finished the night with 27 stops on 28 shots against.
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The Tampa Bay Lightning led for less than seven minutes combined in Games 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Islanders.
Nikita Kucherov and Brian Boyle also scored for the Lightning, who will face either the Pittsburgh Penguins or Washington Capitals in the East final. In Game 3, the Islanders blew leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 4-3, losing 5-4 in overtime.
For the second straight game, the Lightning fell behind early and needed a third period comeback to win another road game at Barclays Center. “That put us behind the 8-ball for (Sunday)”, Tavares said.
Early in the second period, there was a brief break while Greiss and NY trainers tried to figure out how to replace the blade of his skate, which had fallen out. Their reward: five days off. If they can do the same to the Islanders, they will make the Eastern Conference Final in only 10 games, saving wear and tear, and reducing the risk of injury.
“One thing we have learned is you get the other team’s “A” game on those opportunities that you have to close the team out”, coach Jon Cooper said.
“We obviously played some good hockey at times, but we just let those two games at home slip away”. Johnson picked up the puck behind the Islanders’ net and found Kucherov in front for his NHL-leading eighth goal of the postseason.
Win this, and you get to fight for survival on home ice.
The Tampa Bay Lightning are attempting to eliminate the New York Islanders in Game 5 at Amalie Arena.
“We always believed in ourselves”, said Kucherov, who scored the tying goal in the third period of both Game 3 and Game 4. This is the team that played in the Stanley Cup Final a year ago.
The Lightning took with win on a deep shot by Jason Garrison only 1:34 into overtime.
Hedman had his second of the night and his fourth of the play-offs this season on the powerplay to make it 3-0 just over four minutes into the second. “Those guys are seeing the top guys [on the opposition], so you’re going to have some tough shifts because they’re such good players”. We just continue to go out there and work. “As a group, we have to learn from this experience, but right now, it just sucks”.
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A significant part of that shutdown was keyed by a dominant two-way performance throughout the series by Tampa defenseman Victor Hedman, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2009 National Hockey League draft behind Tavares.
