ELMONT, N.Y. — The New York Islanders’ slide continued on Saturday afternoon at UBS Arena as they dropped their fifth game out of their last six in a 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The two points for Tampa Bay (31-23-5, 67 points)) allowed it to open up a seven-point gap over the Islanders (23-20-14, 60 points) for the second and final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
“There was some urgency, it was a big game,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. “They were five points ahead… it was an important game. I wanted to win that game.”
NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov recorded a goal and two assists — he’s now up to 98 points on the season — while Victor Hedman potted two assists of his own for the Lightning, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
The Islanders, who were dominated for most of the night, sprang to life in the final moments to mount a late comeback. Anders Lee provided the hosts with an opener with 6:16 left in regulation before Brock Nelson made it a one-goal game with 2:35 left — both goals coming with goalie Ilya Sorokin pulled for an extra attacker.
Sorokin made 19 saves on the night while Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 of 34.
“I cannot say we had a bad game,” Roy said. “It was tight out there. There was no room. It was like a playoff hockey game where there were barely chances on both sides… We pulled the goalie and that created some energy for our team and we scored one, we scored two, and unfortunately we came up short.”
Considering how dire every point left on the table is, the Islanders started sluggishly, allowing Nicholas Paul’s opener just 4:12 into the game. Just seconds after Adam Pelech’s tripping penalty expired, Paul was able to stuff a puck past Sorokin at the netminder’s right post.
The Islanders appeared to come up with a quick reply when Mathew Barzal’s centering feed deflected off Bo Horvat’s chin and into the back of the net just 30 seconds later, but it was waved off after it was deemed Anders Lee was offside on the zone entry.
Tampa dramatized the momentum swing even further when they scored 52 seconds after the no-goal — a Nikita Kucherov shot hit twine for the Lightning’s second goal in a span of 1:22.
“It always hurts [when something like that happens], doesn’t it?” Roy began. “But I didn’t see anyone talking about it, we didn’t change our game. We just kept playing the same way. This is a good hockey team and I feel like we didn’t give them much.”
New York was held to just two shots for the first 15-plus minutes of the afternoon, ending the first with just six, while the Lightning out-attempted the hosts 25-9.
Brayden Point picked up his 29th goal of the season on the power play 4:57 into the period to give the Lightning a three-goal lead. Kucherov found him wide-open in the slot and his wrist shot squeaked through the blocker-side arm of Sorokin.
The tally came just moments after Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock hit the post on a slapper during a New York power play.
“They came out hard,” defenseman Noah Dobson, who recorded two assists on the night, said. “It was one of those games where there wasn’t a lot out there. They forechecked well… we were a little slow to start. We just have to try and put it together for a full 60.”
In need of a spark late in the game, Roy pulled Sorokin with approximately seven-and-a-half minutes to go and with his side on the power play to create a 6-on-4 advantage. Lee finished from close range just four seconds after the man advantage ended off a feed from Barzal to make it a two-goal game with 6:16 to go. It was Barzal’s 300th career assist.
“Sometimes, you have to — sorry for the expression — put your balls on the table,” Roy said of the decision to pull Sorokin early. “That’s what we did.”
A Lightning delay-of-game penalty by Hedman with 3:57 to go allowed the Islanders to go on another 6-on-4 advantage with Sorokin pulled. They cashed in again when Nelson sniped a wrist shot past Vasilevskiy with 2:35 to go.
Tampa put the game away with 30 seconds remaining, though, as Luke Glendening put the visitors’ fourth away in an empty net.
