It was a rough night for the Tampa Bay Lightning as they barely avoided being blanked by the New York Islanders on Tuesday. The Islanders took a 2-0 lead into the third period, but a late goal by Dominic James put the Lightning on the scoreboard. Unfortunately it was not enough, though, as New York went on to defeat the Lightning 2-1 to snap Tampa’s seven-game win streak they had going since November 18th.
Bo Horvat got the Islanders on the scoreboard first quickly in the first period. :55 seconds in he scored on a wrist shot that put New York up 1-0 over the Lightning. He was assisted by Max Shabanov.
Anthony Duclair extended New York’s lead over Tampa Bay with a snap shot 5:30 into the match. He was assisted by Calum Ritchie and Tony DeAngelo.
New York took their 2-0 lead into the third period and held it for the majority. The Lightning’s sticks were quiet until James finally found the net and broke the shutout. He scored his second goal of the season on a wrist shot that put the Lightning on the board and made it a 2-1 match. He was assisted by Emil Lilleberg and Nick Paul.
The Lightning got off a couple more shots on goal, but they just couldn’t find the net on Tuesday as the Islanders went on to defeat them 2-1 in New York.
In total, the Lightning had more shots on goal with 29 to the Islanders’ 23 shots on goal. The Lightning won 52.4 percent of face-offs and the Islanders had 47.6 percent. But New York was able to find the net more.
The Lightning (16-7-2) will have Wednesday off and then they face the Pittsburgh Penguins (13-7-5) at Benchmark International Arena on Thursday before welcoming the Islanders to Tampa Saturday where they will look for redemption from Tuesday night.