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Tampa Bay Lightning at New York Islanders: ROUND 3, GAME 4
Time: 3:00 pm Eastern Time
Location: Rogers Place
Broadcast/Streaming: NBC, SN, TVA-S, FuboTV
Opponent SBNation Site: Lighthouse Hockey
Preview:
It may not have been the result Lightning fans wanted, but Game 3 featured a pretty reassuring performance from a team that many expected to struggle — and if you expected the Lightning to sweep the Islanders, well, that’s definitely not happening now. They also weren’t going to keep their undefeated stretch going forever.
Barry Trotz said his Islanders buried themselves with self-inflicted mistakes in Game 1. In Game 3, it was the Lightning’s turn to do the same, as failing to clear pucks from the zone cleanly led to a turnover on the eventual game-winning goal. It was unfortunate, because despite being down three vital forwards (Brayden Point, Steven Stamkos, and Alex Killorn), the Lightning played really well for the majority of the game.
Jon Cooper had no update on Point yesterday, but it wouldn’t be surprising if the Lightning have to play a second straight game without their leading scorer. Thankfully, they will get Killorn back today (and hopefully that’ll be the end of the team’s suspensions for the rest of the playoffs). Both Mitchell Stephens and Carter Verhaeghe looked really solid last game, and they’ve made it difficult for Cooper to take either one out of the lineup with Killorn’s return.
The Lightning remained the dominant team at 5-on-5 in Game 3 and there’s no reason to expect that to change heading into today’s game. Regardless of Point’s status, the team proved they can survive — and even thrive at times — without him.
The afternoon start will be another change (the NHL clearly didn’t want to fight the NFL for viewers on a Sunday night, which is fair), but if the last day game the Lightning played was any indication (a Game 4 win over the Boston Bruins), they should be fine. Though things got chippy last game, as long as the Lightning keep their heads on straight, they’ll set themselves up for another solid performance in Game 4.
Tampa Bay Lightning
Forwards
Ondrej Palat - Anthony Cirelli - Nikita Kucherov
Alex Killorn - ? - Tyler Johnson
Barclay Goodrow - Yanni Gourde - Blake Coleman
Cedric Paquette - Patrick Maroon
Alexander Volkov, Mathieu Joseph, Carter Verhaeghe, Mitchell Stephens
Injured: Steven Stamkos, Brayden Point
Defense Pairs
Victor Hedman - Zach Bogosian
Ryan McDonagh - Erik Cernak
Mikhail Sergachev - Kevin Shattenkirk
Luke Schenn, Braydon Coburn
Injured: Jan Rutta
Goaltenders
Andrei Vasilevskiy
Curtis McElhinney
New York Islanders
Forwards
Anders Lee - Mathew Barzal - Jordan Eberle
Anthony Beauvillier - Brock Nelson - Josh Bailey
Andrew Ladd - Jean-Gabriel Pageau - Leo Komarov
Matt Martin - Casey Cizikas - Cal Clutterbuck
Michael Dal Colle, Derick Brassard
Defense Pairs
Adam Pelech - Ryan Pulock
Devon Toews - Scott Mayfield
Nick Leddy - Andy Greene
Goaltenders
Semyon Varlamov
Thomas Greiss
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