TAMPA, Fla. — The Lightning haven’t lost back-to-back playoff games in two seasons. They have a proud group that hates the feeling of a loss. They know the toll that consecutive losses take in the playoffs. They also know how to make game-to-game adjustments.
And after dropping their Stanley Cup semifinal opener to the Islanders on Sunday, the Lightning faced another challenge. They spent the day between games immersed in film study. Tuesday night, they were a much hungrier team.
They evened the series thanks to a 4-2 win over the Islanders, improving their record to 10-0 coming off a loss over the past two postseasons.
Ondrej Palat broke a nine-game goal-less streak with a go-ahead goal with 6:45 remaining in the second period.
While linemates Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point have been the Lightning’s playoff scoring stars, Palat often does some of the dirty work to get them goals. And he has a knack for putting himself in the right place at the right time, which he did on his go-ahead score.
Kucherov received a stretch pass from Victor Hedman through two Islanders players. But instead of taking it to the net, he circled back to the top of the left circle, cut back toward the dot and pinpointed a pass between two Islanders sticks to the trailing Palat, who beat Semyon Varlamov stickside for the go-ahead goal.
Replays showed that the Lightning had too many men on the ice, but it went uncalled. That wasn’t the only miscall of the game.
Point got behind the Islanders defense, but was pushed from behind by defenseman Adam Pelech, sending the postseason’s leading scorer into a collision with Varlamov in the net during the first period.
When the dust cleared, Varlamov had to leave the game and Point was assessed a goalie interference penalty, much to the chagrin of the nearly 14,500 fans at Amalie Arena.
Just 20 seconds later, Islanders forward Brock Nelson scored the tying goal on the power play, and the boos from the home crowd grew louder.
The Lightning did a much better job of driving the puck deep into the Islanders’ zone, and their resilience on the forecheck resulted in their first goal of the night and their first lead of the series.
Lightning defenseman David Savard, taking the puck along the near wall, rimmed it behind the Islanders’ net, and Kucherov made a no-look touch pass feed from the back wall to Point, who shot past Varlamov’s gloved left arm 8:58 into the first period for his league-best 10th goal of the postseason.
Shortly after Point’s goal, Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy made a pair of remarkable saves to protect the lead, turning away Travis Zajac’s shot with a well-timed kick save and then stopping Kyle Palmieri’s rebound with a sweeping glove save that closed off the far post.
Vasilevskiy (24 saves) also made another lead-saving kick save on Anthony Beauvillier with seven seconds left in the second.
The Lightning got their first goal from a defenseman this postseason on Jan Rutta’s score 2:16 into the third.
Rutta, who hadn’t scored a goal in 47 regular-season and playoff games, rifled a slap shot from just inside the blue line on the right side that went through two Islanders players and beat Varlamov in the top far corner of the net.
Hedman scored a power-play goal on a wrister from the left circle 9:17 into the third period. It was the Lightning’s 13th power-play goal this postseason in 21 man-advantage opportunities.
Mathew Barzal scored his second goal of the series with 3:16 left in the game to cut the Lightning lead to 4-2.
