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Tampa Bay Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said that expected a ‘barn burner’ between the Lightning and visiting New York Islanders on Friday. He was not wrong, either, as the Lightning continued their hot scoring ways, this time with seven goals pumped into the N.Y. cage on the way to a 7-4 victory, their third straight and enough to move into first in the Atlantic Division, at Amalie Arena.
The Islanders struck first behind Brock Nelson’s 25th goal of the season, scored at 8:54 of the first period, as Ryan Strome and Josh Bailey picked up the helpers.
But the Lightning stormed back, first off a Nikita Kucherov deflection (Kucherov’s 29th of the season), and then just nine seconds after that behind Vladdy Namestnikov’s 14th goal.
Steven Stamkos extended the Tampa Bay lead out to two with his 35th goal of the season, scored 5:02 into the second period, but the resilient Islanders came back less than 30 seconds later behind Shane Prince’s fifth goal of the season (and second in an Islander uniform).
At 16:18, New York defenseman Johnny Boychuk came through with his first goal since Mar. 6 (and first point in seven games) to bring the Bolts and Isles even at 3-3 through 40 minutes of play.
It would be the Lightning that prevailed, however, behind a four-goal third period with tallies from Andrej Sustr, Tyler Johnson, Jason Garrison, and an empty-netter courtesy of Victor Hedman.
Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop finished the night with 27 saves on 31 shots against.
Their power play went back to its cold ways and finished the night 0-for-3.
Random thoughts and notes
- This game was money. It had everything you want out of a late-season contest, and really showed just how ready I think the Bolts are to up their game back to the level it was at a year ago when they made it to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2004. But what you really loved what the response -- by both the Lightning and Islanders for that matter, I think -- when the other team came through with a goal. A Tampa Bay fan doesn’t like the quick responses by the Islanders, of course, but I think that there’s something to be gained by dealing with that if you’re the Bolts, ‘cause that’ll happen at least a few times over the course of a deep postseason run. That’s just how it goes.
- This game did not come without an absolute bummer for the Bolts though, and that comes with the loss of defenseman Anton Stralman on a straight-up terrifying looking fall in his own zone.
After the game, it was announced that Stralman, a top-pairing d-man opposite Hedman since coming to Tampa Bay last year, will be out indefinitely with a non-displaced fracture in his left fibula. A huge loss.
- The Bolts did ditch the seven-man defensive unit for this one, as Mike Blunden got in some game action for the first time since last Thursday’s game against Dallas. Blunden logged two hits and finished with a plus-1 rating in 7:06 of time on ice, and his night ended with a matching 10-minute misconduct for both himself and Islander fourth-line Matt Martin.
Up next
Saturday is a big one for this Tampa Bay group. Their biggest one yet, actually. It’s their season-series finale with the Florida Panthers, and with these teams tied at 91 points apiece, winner gets first in the Atlantic Division (for now). The Bolts have dropped three of their four prior head-to-heads with the Cats, and have been outscored 12-to-9 by their Sunshine State counterpart.
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.