Lightning Win Their 4th Straight and First Road Win against the Islanders
After losing the season opener against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, the Tampa Bay Lightning have been unbeatable. Three straight games, three straight wins. Tonight, the Lightning put their win streak on the line on the road against the New York Islanders.
The story of the game could be found at the hardware store. In between the pipes, last season's Vezina Trophy winner (Andrei Vasilevskiy) and runner-up (Ilya Sorokin) are ready to perform. The reigning Rookie of the Year (Matthew Schaefer) and if that's not enough last year's Hart Trophy recipient Nikita Kucheov are expected to play.
First One To Blink
With two premier goalies, scoring goals could be a premium. Teams cannot take scoring chances for granted. If you have the chance to put the biscuit in the basket, you must. Early in the first, new Islanders captain Bo Horvat had half an empty net but clanged the puck off the crossbar. Sometimes, even Vezina winners need a little help.
A minute later, the Lightning dumped the puck in the Islanders zone. Brandon Hagel and Anthony Cirelli went to chase it. Putting pressure on the Isles defense, which led to a misplay on the puck and Jake Guentzel who was trailing the chase, found the puck and snapped the puck past Sorokin to give the Bolts the early lead.
For the next 10 minutes, neither team lit the lamp though Bo Horvat had a breakaway but sometimes the Vezina winner shows why he won. Vasilevskiy didn't blink as Horvat tried a couple of shoulder dekes but ended up with nothing as Vasilevskiy made the save.
As the period was winding down, Hagel found another gear past two Islander defenders and skated to he front of the net before wristing the puck past Sorokin to give the Lightning a 2 - 0 lead.
Seconds Anyone?
After outshooting the home team 10-4 in the first period, the Lightning were going to start with 1:51 of a power play to see if they could pad their two goal lead. Have to give the Islanders credit as they allowed only two shots killing off their penalty.
Sparked by their penalty killers, the Islanders started getting more offensive zone time. Struggling to get the puck out of their zone, the Lightning gave one up to the Islanders.. Former Lightning draft pick Tony DeAngelo scored through a maze of players to cut the Tampa lead in half, 2-1.
Thirty seconds after DeAngelo's goal, the Isles were called for a penalty, giving the Bolts their third power play. As some say, the third time is the charm, and the visitors took advantage of the extra man as Guentzel walked in on Sorokin after taking a pass from Kucherov. Back to a two goal lead at 3-1 Lightning.
The Islanders weren't going away quietly. scratching and clawing especially in the offensive zone led to another goal by one of their defensemen. Schaefer threaded the needle through several players past Vasilevskiy making the score 3-2 Lightning with eight minutes left in the period. There was a fight right before Schaefer's goal between Scott Sabourin for Tampa and Logan Stanley. Sabourin clearly won the battle despite giving up four inches to Stanley.
In the final two minutes of the period, Charle-Edouard D'astous was whistled for a cross checking penalty putting the Lightning on the penalty kill. With seven seconds left in the period, Brayden Schenn, brother of former Lightning player Luke Schenn toed the game at three heading into the final period.
Threes Are Wild
As the third period begins, it's a 3-3 game. The Lightning 3 game winning streak is on the line. As expected, neither team was giving an inch. Both teams had early scoring chances but both netminders held firm.
After giving up four goals in the second period and six in the game, both goalies got real stingy in the third period. Through the first 15 minutes of the final frame, both goalies stopped every shot they saw.
As the period wound down to the final three minutes, it was looking like we were heading to overtime. Not so fast as Hagel snapped a shot past Sorokin with 1:38 left in the period. This made it 4-3 Lightning. Th crowd at UBS Arena started to exit.
Sorokin was pulled immediately to give the Islanders the extra man. No sooner has he reached the bench when Hagel potted an empty netter. Apropos that as the three were wild entering the third period, Hsgel gets the hat trick to ice the game and give his team a four game win streak.
Three Stars Of The Game
Brandon Hagel - Hst trick incluing the game winner and an assist
Jake Guentzel - Two goals including a power play goal
Nikita Kucherov - Two assists and now stands six points away from being the all time leader in ponts for the franchise
What's Next
Second gane of the New York Two Step comes Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. Puck drops at 7:15 pm.
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