Written by Nathaniel Reeves at Fanside.com
The Tampa Bay Lightning closed out the New York Islanders with a 4-0 win in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Sunday.
Following two thrilling games at the Barclays Center, the Tampa Bay Lightning didn’t want any drama in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, cruising to a comfortable 4-0 victory over the New York Islanders to close out the series.
Much like the first four games of the series, Saturday’s contest started off with a frenetic pace between the two teams. The Islanders received a Power Play in the opening seconds, but could not beat Ben Bishop in the first period yet again.
Tampa Bay began to dominate after the first five minutes, and took advantage midway through the period shortly after a Power Play of their own. Victor Hedman tallied his third goal of the postseason at the 13:49 mark to open the scoring.
Meanwhile, the Islanders looked sluggish, particularly for an elimination game. Brian Boyle doubled the lead shortly before the intermission with his second goal of the postseason to put New York in a massive hole.
An unnecessary penalty by Travis Hamonic gave Tampa Bay another Power Play early in the second, and Hedman made it 3-0 at the 4:22 mark. New York started to get a little more energy over the rest of the period, but only forced 15 saves from Bishop through two.
More chances came for the Islanders at the start of the third, as Bishop made a fantastic save against Johnny Boychuk four minutes into the third. Fifteen seconds later, Nikita Kucherov scored his NHL-high ninth goal of the postseason on a breakaway to effectively seal the Lightning’s 4-0 win.
The Lightning bounced back from a 5-3 Game 1 loss with four straight victories due to excellent all-around team play. In particular, Tampa Bay’s penalty kill has been fantastic in both playoff series, and the Lightning did well to shut down Islanders star John Tavares after Game 1.
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