Not much went Tampa Bay’s way Friday night in Brooklyn… Except the score. Missed passes and playing on their heels most of the night the Lightning come together with a late goal in the third period, and head home with back to back wins in New York.
The first period was underway at the Barclay’s Center and it was all Islanders. The pushing and shoving started early and cost the Lightning 2 minutes as Mike Blunden was off for roughing after the whistle. During the scrum Ben Bishop was shaken up and holding his head but shook it off. While on the penalty kill Kyle Okposo kicked off the scoring beating Bishop’s glove and took the lead 1-0 in favor of the Islanders. Everything was going New York’s way in the first, they were firing on all cylinders and were getting some juicy rebounds off of Bishop. Late in the period Ryan Callahan was called for roughing and even a double minor, which Tampa Bay was able to kill off. All in all this was not a very good period for the Bolts; passing was off, and Tampa Bay were playing on their heels the whole period. The Lightning were down in the score and in shots 6-16 ending the first period.
The Bolts came out in the second period skating with the Islanders, but missed passes were the Achilles Heel for Tampa Bay. There were plenty of intercepted passes in the offensive, and neutral zones. Casey Cizikas kicked the penalties off early as he was called for tripping giving the Lightning their first power play of the night, unfortunately one they were unable to convert on. Before the power play Thomas Greiss lost a skate blade and the Islanders were unable to make a timely fix on the bench. Greiss left for the locker room and Jean-Francois Berube took the ice without a warm up. New York was able to kill the penalty and Greiss returned to the crease. Johnny Boychuk slashed Ondrej Palat and sat for 2 minutes. The Tampa Bay power play team was unimpressive again unable to convert. The best scoring opportunity came when Jonathan Drouin was looking at a point blank shot on Greiss, but was tripped by Brock Nelson. The second period ended with the score still 1-0 New York, With the Islanders leading in shots 22-17.
A totally different Tampa Bay Lightning took the ice in the third period. The Bolts played a more strategic, albeit slower, game that saw Nikita Kucherov tying up the game. Once the game was tied both teams were trying to spend more time in there offensive zones moving the puck around attempting to set up that game winning goal. Jason Garrison ugh sticked Kyle Okposo but there was no call on the penalty. The game was tied, but the Islanders lead another period in shots this time 27-21.
It did not take long at all for the Tampa Bay Lighting to finish this game in overtime. Jason Garrison was set up at the blue line and blasted one past Greiss. The Bolts win 2-1 and take a big 3-1 lead in the series.
3 Stars – In my opinion
3rd Star: Ben Bishop – Bishop only made one mistake during this game, and he was clutch for the rest of the night.
2nd Star: Nikita Kucherov – He tied the game and that goal forced overtime. In such a rough game this was a monster goal for the Bolts.
1st Star: Jason Garrison – Not much to say here Garrison won the game giving Tampa Bay a 3-1 lead in the series.
The Lightning return to Amalie Arena Sunday for Game 5 against the Islanders at 3 PM. Follow Stephen on Twitter
