Islanders rally but come up short against Lightning
Anthony Cirelli of the Tampa Bay Lightning looks for the puck against goalie Ilya Sorokin and Adam Boqvist of the Islanders at Amalie Arena on Saturday in Tampa, Fla. Credit: NHLI via Getty Images/Mark LoMoglio
TAMPA, Fla. — The games have dwindled to a precious few, the schedule is a bear and the points have stopped flowing for the Islanders, who still remain in the thick of what the Eastern Conference is jokingly putting forth as a playoff chase for its second wild-card spot.
Yet after Saturday’s 5-3 loss to the playoff-bound Lightning at Amalie Arena, a game in which the Islanders scored three third-period goals after falling behind by four, there was some optimism that they hope to take into Sunday’s difficult road assignment against the playoff-bound Hurricanes.
“We’ve got to come out with that same intensity we had in the third,” said defenseman Ryan Pulock, whose power-play blast at 5:58 started the Islanders’ near-rally. “Some things don’t always go your way. There’s bounces here and there and you can’t let that affect you. We fought. It’s just those little mistakes that we made in the first couple of periods that was the difference.”
The Islanders (32-30-10) played a solid final 40 minutes, but their slide grew to 0-2-2. Now they need 60 minutes of that effort against the Hurricanes.
“That’s what we said after 40 minutes of play,” coach Patrick Roy said after the Islanders launched 15 shots on Andrei Vasilevskiy’s understudy, Jonas Johansson (35 saves), in the second period and had Casey Cizikas hit the right post on a good look.
“I felt like we didn’t get what we deserved in that second period and we should have been back in that game. I was just hoping for us to keep playing the way we were playing in that second period. It might not pay off [Saturday] afternoon. But it might pay off [Sunday].”
Marcus Hogberg will start against the Hurricanes after Ilya Sorokin battled to make 19 saves against the Lightning. He was pulled from his previous start after allowing four goals on 19 shots in Thursday’s 5-2 loss to the visiting Canucks.
“I thought he was OK,” Roy said. “They were nice shots and nice goals, the goals they scored.”
The Islanders started Saturday one point behind the Blue Jackets, Canadiens and Rangers for the final wild-card spot and now have 10 games remaining.
Included in that span is a return match against the Lightning (43-25-5) on Tuesday night at UBS Arena, two home games against the conference-leading Capitals and one more rivalry game against the visiting Rangers.
The Lightning connected three times on their first six shots in the first period, and Brayden Point’s second goal on Pierre Engvall’s delayed hooking penalty at 19:43 of the second period made it 4-0.
But the Islanders avoided any natural frustration from being down despite liking how they were playing.
“It can be [frustrating],” Cizikas said. “That’s where teams can get away from their game. When things aren’t going your way and it seems like they’re scoring on every opportunity they have, you can get down on yourself. But we stayed with it.”
Nikita Kucherov, off the rush, opened the scoring at 2:02 of the first period on the Lightning’s first shot. Defenseman Nick Perbix made it 2-0 from a similar spot in the right circle at 7:31 after the Islanders could not clear their zone. Point, in the left circle, finished a sharp passing sequence that left the Islanders more than a step slow for a 3-0 lead at 17:57.
“If I’m being honest, we probably didn’t deserve that 4-0 lead,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “Skilled players who shot the puck into the net. New York deserved probably better in the first two periods.
“I just don’t think we matched their work ethic going down the stretch.”
After Pulock’s power-play goal, fourth-liner Marc Gatcomb connected from the right at 7:47 of the third period and defenseman Tony DeAngelo, from a similar spot, brought the Islanders within 4-3 at 8:47. But Jake Guentzel clinched it with an empty-netter with 13.1 seconds remaining.
Notes & quotes: Former Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh, in his second tenure with the Lightning, was honored in a pregame ceremony for playing in his 1,000th NHL game. The defenseman hit the milestone in Thursday’s 8-0 win over Utah . . . Defenseman Adam Boqvist re-entered the Islanders’ lineup for Mike Reilly and made a noticeable difference on the second power-play unit with an assist on Pulock’s goal and two shots in 19:48 of ice time . . . The Lightning outscored opponents 19-4 on their three-game homestand . . . Jean-Gabriel Pageau wore a full face shield after being bloodied when a puck hit him in the nose on Thursday.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
