Tampa Bay Lightning’s Victor Hedman (77), of Sweden, waves at his team after scoring a goal during the second period of Game 5 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Eastern Conference semifinals against the New York Islanders, Sunday, … The Lightning won two straight overtime games in Brooklyn to move them one win away from reaching the conference finals for the second straight year.
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Greiss eventually allowed two goals after the problem, one in the third period and another in overtime, as the Lightning came back to win Game 4 and take a commanding 3-1 series lead. The Penguins lead the series 3-2 with game six set for Tuesday night. Tampa Bay trailed for more than 47 minutes before right winger Nikita Kucherov tied the game 7:49 into the third.
“He’s such a dynamic player and you’ve got to treat him like that”, Lightning defenceman Jason Garrison said.
In semi-Lightning related news, former Tampa Bay head coach Guy Boucher has found himself back in the National Hockey League, and as a head coach, too, as the new bench boss of the Ottawa Senators.
The Lightning is heavily favoured in Vegas to wrap the series up in five games, but that won’t faze the Isles, who were underdogs through their opening-round win over the Florida Panthers. “We have to just get a win [Sunday]”, John Tavares said. Download the new Sports Illustrated app (iOS or Android) and personalize your experience by following your favorite teams and SI writers. It carried in the regular season, gets another 30 goals and now you are playing on the biggest stage. It culminated in a 4-0 shutout that ended the Islanders’ longest playoff run in 23 years and lifted the Lightning to their second consecutive appearance in the conference finals.
Kucherov’s breakaway early in the third period was his NHL-leading ninth goal of the playoffs.
Indeed, after the game, Cooper asked if there was anything his young-but-tested team hasn’t seen. “Getting the morning off, it’s a bit of an odd schedule that we’re not as accustomed to, so it was just, ‘Let’s get here and skate if you want, if not do what you need to do to be ready”. “I thought we played extremely well…We hopefully can get a break one way or the other and score some goals in the next game”.
Greiss made 21 saves for the Islanders.
The full practice for the Islanders will hopefully benefit the team and Tavares as their captain has struggled in the last three games. 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.
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“We had chances to get the puck out on the wall, we didn’t get it out”, Capuano said.
