NEW YORK _ The Islanders are predictably unpredictable.
Or are they just consistently inconsistent?
Either way, they played what could best be described as a doozy on Thursday night
The Islanders, nearing playoff elimination, lost to the Eastern Conference-leading Lightning, 7-6, on Thursday night at Barclays Center in the third game of a five-game homestand.
Ex-Rangers Ryan McDonagh and J.T. Miller, dealt to Tampa Bay at the trade deadline, made their first return to New York and Miller scored two goals.
The Islanders (31-33-10), despite leaky goaltending from Christopher Gibson and a shaky defensive effort overall, made the third period one of the most exciting of the season. They scored three goals in the opening 4:36, the last two by Anthony Beauvillier, to pull within 7-6.
Anders Lee also scored twice for the Islanders, who went 3 for 5 on the power play, and Lee's power-play goal opened the third-period scoring at 1:35. Rookie defenseman Ryan Pulock had two power-play goals on two one-timers from the left circle, the second cutting the Lightning's lead to 4-2 at 3:20 of the second period.
He became the first Islanders rookie defenseman to ever score two power-play goals in a game and the first Islanders rookie to do so since John Tavares.
The Lightning (51-19-4) opened a 2-0 lead at 2:35 of the first period on goals 26 seconds apart by rookie Anthony Cirelli and Tyler Johnson.
The Lightning, who went 2 for 4 on the power play and got 35 saves from Andrei Vasilevskiy, also led 4-1 on Brayden Point's short-handed goal at 2:43 of the second period and then 7-3 on Miller's power-play goal at 18:20 of the second period.
Gibson, who made 36 saves in Tuesday's impressive 4-1 win over the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Penguins, was pulled after Mikhail Sergachev blasted a power-play shot from the blue line just under the crossbar at 11:22 for a 6-3 lead on the 24th shot Gibson faced. Jaroslav Halak made 11 saves in relief.
The Islanders became the first team to allow six or more goals in at least 12 games during a season since the Maple Leafs in 2008-09.
