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A win at the Barclays Center tonight and the Tampa Bay Lightning have a 3-1 stranglehold on their second-round series with the New York Islanders. A loss tonight and it’s an entirely new series.
If that sounds familiar, it’s the exact scenario the Bolts found themselves in prior to their Game 4 road matchup with the Detroit Red Wings in the first round. Tampa Bay ultimately won that game, and then took Game 5 at Amalie Arena, though close as hell, to propel themselves to
this series.
The Lightning lineup may get some additional bodies tonight, too, with the word that both forward
Erik Condra (upper-body) and defenseman
Matt Carle (undisclosed), were full participants in practice and could be ready to go in a potential return to game action.
Condra, out since he was leveled by
Casey Cizikas with a brutal looking check in Game 1, was said to be ready for Game 3, but was ultimately held out of action by T.B. coach
Jon Cooper.
Carle’s return would be a big one for a Lightning defense corps that at times has trouble trusting Slater Koekkoek and Nikita Nesterov (and does not want to play Matt Taormina), so long as Carle can up his game. While Carle has been entrusted with a complementary role next to Victor Hedman on the Tampa Bay top pairing, he had an undeniably terrible Game 1 of the series, on the ice for three Isles goals.
And if the Lightning return to a 12-forward, 6-defensemen system,
Jonathan Marchessault would be in the mix along with Condra, while Taormina and Nesterov could sit as scratches.
Ben Bishop remains in net, of course, while New York continues to counter with Thomas Greiss.
As this series has gone on, you’ve begin to seen what these teams are trying to do to throw each goaltender off. I think much of what New York has done has been predicated on getting the 6-foot-7 Bishop to move side-to-side and cover all of your typical ‘no-angles’ -- I’ve lost count of how many times you’ve seen the Islanders come in, go around the net, and then attempt to dish it back in front or to the side for a quick shot -- and open up holes on the other side. Meanwhile, so much of what the Lightning want to do appears to be the same, but with a simpler ‘just get any shot between the circles on net’ approach. Greiss has been so great for so long, but as the series has gone on, you’ve seen the cracks in his armor, and each game has come with a goal he’d certainly like to have back. Those add up.
In a minuscule three-game sample, the Lightning have yet to lose a playoff game in New York’s barn in these franchises’ all-time playoff meetings (2-0 at Nassau Coliseum and now 1-0 at Barclays Center).
Ty Anderson has been covering the National Hockey League for HockeyBuzz.com since 2010, has been a member of the Pro Hockey Writers Association's Boston Chapter since 2013, and can be contacted on Twitter, or emailed at Ty.AndersonHB[at]gmail.com.
Tampa Bay Lightning Blogger • 
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