UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Maybe it’s because the building is so small or because the roof is so low, but when you walk into the Nassau Coliseum, your eyes are immediately drawn up to the rafters, where brightly-colored orange, blue and white banners tell the story of the Islanders’ glory days.
Chasing another banner of their own, the Lightning have played well on the road during these Stanley Cup playoffs. They quieted loud crowds in Florida and Carolina, but the Coliseum is different. The fans are raucous and relentless, chanting and cheering throughout the game, and the size of the building makes it feel like they’re right on top of you on the ice.
And with the Islanders playing their last games in the Coliseum before moving into a new building at Belmont Park, sentiment was on the Islanders’ side.
But the Lightning are trying to make their own history by winning back-to-back Stanley Cup titles. And they took control of their semifinal series against the Islanders with a 2-1 Game 3 win.
Tampa Bay won its fourth straight playoff game on the road, and improved their record away from Amalie Arena this postseason to 6-1.
Brayden Point’s go-ahead goal with 17.4 seconds left in the second period quieted the Nassau Coliseum crowd.
Point has goals in six straight games, but his second-period score was unlike the others. The Lightning were just coming off their first power play, when Victor Hedman put a shot on goal from the high slot. The puck kicked out to Point, who swung it back toward the net while he was getting pushed from behind by Islanders forward Casey Cizikas through traffic and into the back of the net.
The timing of that goal shifted momentum after the Islanders evened the score at 1 on a goal credited to Cal Clutterbuck with 2:59 left in the second.
The Islanders’ fourth line created chaos in front of the Lightning net. Matt Martin put a puck on goal that goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy couldn’t cover up, creating a crowd in front of the net. Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak seemed to try to give the puck back to Vasilevskiy, but it went through the goaltender and slid slowly into the net.
Yanni Gourde scored the game’s first goal with 9:55 left in the opening period, rewarded by his constant movement toward the net.
Forward Blake Coleman brought the puck into the Islanders’ zone along the left side and took a shot from the left circle, then followed up his shot, corralling a puck that flipped into the air and put it across the crease. Gourde found it on the backdoor side and flipped it high past Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov.
Vasilevskiy was remarkable down the stretch on Thursday night, making 22 of his 29 saves in the final two periods.
Vasilevskiy made a huge save early in the first period, preventing a goal that would have made the Coliseum erupt. Positioned in front of the net, Islanders forward Kyle Palmieri received a feed from behind the goal and unloaded a wrister from just outside the crease that Vasilevskiy stopped with his glove.
Despite allowing a goal, Vasilevskiy withstood an onslaught in the second period. The Islanders had 15 scoring chances in that period alone. In one sequence, Mathew Barzal had three opportunities in front of the net, sailing his last wide of the far post.
