Nicholas Paul and Nikita Kucherov scored within an 82-second span in the first period Saturday afternoon for the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning, who snapped a three-game losing streak by beating the skidding New York Islanders 4-2 in Elmont, N.Y.
Brayden Point scored in the second and Luke Glendening added an empty-net insurance goal in the final minute of the third for the Lightning, who extended their lead over the Islanders to seven points in the race for the final Eastern Conference wild card spot.
Goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 32 saves.
Anders Lee and Brock Nelson scored late in the third period for the Islanders, who have lost five of six (1-3-2) to fall to 4-5-3 since Patrick Roy replaced Lane Lambert as head coach. Goalie Ilya Sorokin recorded 18 saves.
Adam Pelech was called for tripping 2:05 after faceoff for the Islanders, who have the worst penalty kill in the league. The Lightning didn’t officially score with the man advantage, but Paul poked home a rebound of a shot by Brandon Hagel seven seconds after Pelech leaped back on to the ice.
Bo Horvat appeared to tie the game just 16 seconds later, but the Lightning challenged the call and the goal was waved off because Lee was ruled offsides.
Tampa Bay doubled its lead at the 5:34 mark when Kucherov’s sizzling slap shot from just in front of the blue line sailed past Sorokin as he was screened by Pelech and Point.
Matt Martin was whistled for boarding 4:32 into the second to generate the power play that led to Point’s power play goal 28 seconds later, when his shot from the slot glanced off Sorokin’s stick arm and trickled into the net.
Sorokin was pulled on a power play with under eight minutes left and the Islanders began their comeback attempt when Lee scored from point-blank range off a feed from Mathew Barzal four minutes after the man advantage expired.
With Sorokin again pulled for an extra attacker, Nelson pulled the Islanders within a goal with 2:35 left, when his shot from the right faceoff circle sailed under Vasilevskiy’s arm as he was screened by Kyle Palmieri. But Glendening ended the comeback bid by scoring an empty-netter with 31 seconds left.
–Field Level Media