Written by Nathaniel Reeves at Fanside.com
The Tampa Bay Lightning overcame a late third period deficit to beat the New York Islanders 5-4 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Tuesday night and take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
After a chippy end to Saturday’s Game 2, the teams got into it prior to Tuesday’s contest with a minor pregame altercation between Travis Hamonic and Brian Boyle. The Islanders took advantage of the early energy at a rocking Barclays Center, as Josh Bailey, who missed the first two games of the series with an upper-body injury, scored at the 7:55 mark of the first on a nice find from Nikolay Kulemin.
New York dominated the first period action when the game was at even strength thanks to a very active forecheck, forcing Ben Bishop to make 16 saves. However, the Lightning were able to even the game in the final seconds of the first on a Ryan Callahan goal on the Power Play.
The start of the second period brought more intensity, with huge hits from both teams all over the ice. Lightning winger Jonathan Drouin was forced to head to the locker room after a nasty hit from Thomas Hickey, although he was able to return midway through the third, and later added a critical assist.
After Tampa Bay looked dead for the first 20 minutes, Victor Hedman rocketed a shot past Thomas Greiss at the 8:10 mark to put the Lightning up 2-1. The Islanders couldn’t get much pressure going until the 14:50 mark in the period, when New York’s fourth line set up a Nick Leddy goal with an excellent effort on the forecheck.
The open-ended play continued in the early third, as Bailey scored again at the 2:27 mark on a Lightning defensive mistake. Less than a minute later, it was Tampa Bay’s turn to set up a goal with a strong forecheck, as Vladislav Namestnikov scored for the first time this postseason.
To continue reading this article, click here.
