The Tampa Bay Lightning picked up two more points with a workman-like 4-1 over the New York Islanders. Anthony Cirelli scored twice and Steven Stamkos hit the 30-goal mark for the ninth time in his career while Andrei Vasilevskiy recorded the win with 28 saves on 29 shots. The Lightning had one power play on the night and they made the most of it as Darren Raddysh scored his 6th goal of the season.
Erik Cernak was a healthy scratch due to missing a team meeting earlier in the week. The rest of the line-up was pretty much the same as it was against Boston.
[NHL Game Center] [Natural Stat Trick] [Event Summary]
It was an interesting first period as the Islanders took the lead on what would be one of their few entries into the Lightning zone. Kyle Palmieri took a shot and it hit off of Matt Dumba in the crease to deflect past Vasilevskiy. That was literally it for New York’s offense the rest of the period as the Bolts would dominate in shot attempts (38-9), scoring chances (18-3), high-danger chances (7-2), and, most importantly, goals (2-1).
Following the goal by Palmieri, the Lightning kept piling on the chances and Semyon Varlamov (who finished with 37 saves) kept bailing them out. Until, that is, the Lightning went on the power play. After some masterful passing, it looked like the Lightning would have an easy goal. but Nikita Kucherov hit the crossbar with the net wide open. Would it be one of those games where the Lightning did everything but score goals?
No.
On the same power play, the second unit would find pay dirt as they worked the puck around with confidence and it eventually went to Darren Raddysh. The Bald Eagle unleashed a one-timer that beat Varlamov and tied the score.
Just 35 seconds later they took the lead as Brandon Hagel and Nick Perbix hooked up for a nifty passing play to Anthony Cirelli who wristed it past Varly to give the Bolts the 2-1 lead. With the pressure that the Lightning were putting on the Islanders, they probably should have been up by two or three goals, but Varlamov kept them in the game.
As dominating as the Lightning were in the first period, the Islanders returned the favor in the middle frame as they were the ones dictating the action. Unfortunately for them, Vasilevskiy was on his game as he turned aside all 15 shots he faced.
Despite some turnovers they, as their captain said after the game, held the fort. Then, as they have done so often over their 8-0-1 month of March, they won the third period. It started with a goal from said captain as Steven Stamkos deflected a shot from Emil Lilleberg past Varlamov. At first blush it appeared that he might have hit it with a high stick, but the referees conferred, discussed, pondered, and decided that he scored legally.
Up by two goals, the Lightning played a solid team defense. They were aggressive in the neutral zone and pushed everything to the edges when the Islanders did make it into the zone. Despite New York being a desparate team on the edge of the playoffs, the Lightning held them at bay and limited them to just two high-danger chances.
With Varlamov out of the net, it seemed like just a matter of time until the Lightning would cash in, and they did as Kucherov set up Cirelli for the empty net. Tony Two Goals indeed. For Kucherov, it was his second point of the night and 126th of the season. With Nate MacKinnon having a big night, Kucherov finishes the night second in the scoring race, one point ahead of Connor McDavid.
Speaking of milestones, Stamkos scored his 545th career goal to break his tie with Maurice Richard. Stamkos now ranks 32nd all-time in regular season goals which is just phenomenal. Next up is Michel Goulet with 548.
Goals
Kyle Palmieri (24) [Ryan Pulock, Mike Reilly], 1-0 Islanders
Darren Raddysh (6) [Nikita Kucherov, Anthony Cirelli] Power Play, 1-1
Anthony Cirelli (17) [Nick Perbix, Brandon Hagel] 2-1 Tampa Bay
Steven Stamkos (30) [Emil Lilleberg, Brandon Hagel] 3-1 Lightning
Anthony Cirelli (18) [Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman] Empty Net, 4-1 Tampa Bay
