UNIONDALE, N.Y. _ It came down to the goalies. Andrei Vasilevskiy and Thomas Greiss put on a show on Friday night as the Lightning beat the Islanders 1-0 in a shootout.
Both teams had chances, both put up big shots. Both goalies remained perfect through 65 minutes.
It took a shootout before a goal was scored. Victor Hedman notched the first and only one, going five-hole on Greiss in the first round.
In the end, Greiss made 41 saves and Vasilevskiy 36. The Islanders tested Vasilevskiy with six shots in overtime, most of which came on a late power-play.
Early in the game, Brayden Point picked up a turnover at the blue line and advanced on the net. He almost came to a full stop to open a shooting lane. Greiss made a nice pad save to keep the puck out.
Later in the period, Vasilevskiy made three point-blank pad saves in quick succession, a span of a few seconds.
One of his best plays, however, wasn't even a save. Vasilevskiy forced Ryan Pulock to waste a breakaway. He positioned himself such to pull Pulock to his stick-side, over, and over, until his shot hit the boards, wide of the net.
Vasilevskiy's best save came late in the second period. Leo Komarov carried the puck on the rush, but passed over to Valtteri Filppula late at the backdoor. Vasilevskiy sprawled to the get his pad in front of the shot to preserve the then-scoreless game.
Greiss returned the favor early in the third period. Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson and Point came in hot on the rush. In a couple of tic-tac-toe passes, Kucherov sent the puck to Johnson, which he sent to Point in front of the net. Greiss made the pad save on Point's close-range redirection.
