Tampa Bay Lightning Completely Dismantled By New York Islanders
The Tampa Bay Lightning suffered an inexplicable breakdown in just about every way possible as they are dismantled by the New York Islanders.
The Tampa Bay Lightning had an incredibly challenging task in front of them tonight as they charged into the Barclays Center to take on the New York Islanders tonight. Not only were the Lightning kicking off a back-to-back series but they are also entering into the final four games of the season.
On the bright side, if the Lightning were able to accomplish this feat and bring home a win over the Islanders tonight, the Lightning could reach out and grab their spot in the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Unfortunately, the Boys In Blue would have to accomplish this feat without the aid of Lightning defenseman Anton Stralman, who is suffering a fractured fibula and Lightning captain Steven Stamkos, who is out with a blood clot.
Tonight’s Eastern Conference Showdown between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the New York Islanders was a pretty heated game from the word go. Just 1:38 into the first period, the Tampa Bay Lightning found themselves with an opportunity with the man advantage. Unfortunately, as per usual as of late, the Lightning was not able to capitalize on this opportunity.
From there, the heat only seemed to intensify. There were not one, but two scraps between the Lightning and the Islanders in the first period. The first fight started with some pushing and shoving along the boards and ended with Lightning defenseman Nikita Nesterov and Islanders winger Kyle Okposo dropping the gloves (and each other) on the ice.
The second scrap of the night would be between Lightning center Cedric Paquette and Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock. While this was certainly not the reason for the fisticuffs between these two feisty players, it may have added to Paquette’s frustration that it was Pulock who opened up the scoring for the Islanders just a matter of minutes before the two dropped the gloves.
While the Tampa Bay Lightning may have outshot the New York Islanders 10-9 when the buzzer sounded to end the first period of play, it seemed as if the Islanders had more quality scoring chances. If it weren’t for Ben Bishop, who made some critical saves in the first twenty minutes of play, we would be looking at a whole different kind of game.
When the Tampa Bay Lightning hit the ice for the second period of play, it seemed as if they had finally got their heads in the game. The key word here is ‘seemed’. The Lightning would have just over a minute to kill off of the Tyler Johnson penalty from the first period. Just a few minutes after the Lightning killed the Johnson penalty, the Lightning would finally come back with a goal of their own.
Tampa Bay Lightning center Alex Killorn was finally able to pierce the defense of the Islanders and get the puck past Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss to even things up for the Lightning. Coming in with the assists on the goal was Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov and defenseman Matt Carle.
Unfortunately, this is where the Tampa Bay Lightning seemed to take the wrong turn down the long, dark street to the abandoned cabin in the woods. Before the Tampa Bay Lightning even knew what hit them, a cluster of offensive and defensive miscues along with what can only be described as a complete and utter breakdown led to the Tampa Bay Lightning being down 4-1 to the New York Islanders.
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So…how does this happen, you may ask? Well, the second Islanders goal of the evening came just after the halfway point in the period when Islanders left wing Matt Martin fired off a snap shot that pierced Ben Bishop’s defenses and gave the Islanders a one-goal lead.
Just over four minutes later, the Islanders would strike once again with a backhander from Brock Nelson. The lone assist on the Nelson goal came from Islanders left wing Nikolay Kulemin. Now, the Tampa Bay Lightning would be faced with a two-goal deficit with less than five minutes to get back on track.
As Tampa Bay Lightning fans all over the Bolts Nation sat back in their seats with the faces buried in their hands wondering where things went so terribly wrong in tonight’s encounter with so much on the line, the New York Islanders decided to add insult to injury. As Lightning right wing J.T. Brown sat in the penalty box for high sticking Cal Clutterbuck, Islanders captain John Tavares would score his 30th goal of the season to give the Islanders a 4-1 lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
It wouldn’t be too difficult to imagine what was going through the mind of the Tampa Bay Lightning at that particular point and time. There is no way they could allow a team like the Islanders to run all over them when their chance to reach out and grab their destiny was on the line. If they were going to get back on track, they’d have to make their move…and quickly.
The Lightning had just seven second left on the clock when they would finally make their move and get one back on the Islanders. It would be Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman, who would score his 10th goal of the season, would lessen the Islanders lead by one and bring this back to a two-goal game.
Surprisingly enough, the Lightning’s current situation was not entirely for a lack of trying to make things happen offensively. Through 40 minutes of play, the Tampa Bay Lightning had outshot the New York Islanders 22-19; however, the Islanders were having much better luck at converting on their opportunities.
When the third period kicked off, it seemed as if things couldn’t possibly get any worse for the Lightning at this point. Of course, every time that thought crosses our mind, fate seems to enjoy coming along and smacking us all in the face. Just over four minutes into the third period, Islanders defenseman Johnny Boychuk would put the puck in the back of the net and essentially end the evening of Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop.
After allowing five goals and 23 shots for a horrific .783 Save Percentage, Tampa Bay Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper would elect to pull Bishop. Taking his place in net would be Lightning goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy. This is definitely going to make tomorrow night interesting as the Tampa Bay Lightning are set to take on the New York Rangers. There is no telling who will be in net for that contest.
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Unfortunately, by this point in the game the damage had already been done. Despite having two opportunities with the man advantage in the third period, the Tampa Bay Lightning simply couldn’t get their game together in enough time to mount a comeback and ended up being defeated 5-2 by their Eastern Conference rivals, the New York Islanders.
Tonight’s loss helped the New York Islanders protect their place in the race for the postseason. At the same time, the Tampa Bay Lightning’s magic number remains the same. The Tampa Bay Lightning need just one more point to cement their place in the postseason and allow the team to drop some of the weight that has been bearing down on their shoulders and concentrate on the matter at hand.
The Tampa Bay Lightning has not time to sit back and dwell on what went wrong in tonight’s encounter. Tomorrow, the Lightning have to make the jump over the bridge and head to Madison Square Garden where they are going to take on goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and the New York Rangers.
One glaring difference between these two teams is the Rangers clinched their playoff spot tonight with a win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. With the pressure of making the playoff off the shoulders of the New York Rangers, it has become all that much more important the Tampa Bay Lightning spend the rest of the night getting their heads together and preparing to bring their “A” game to the Garden tomorrow night.
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While it can be said that even the most elite players in the National Hockey League have their bad nights, the time for excuses has come and gone. There are just three games left in the regular season and the Tampa Bay Lightning needs just one more point to continue on into the postseason. If there was ever a time for the team to get their heads in the game, it’s right now.