Takeaways: Islanders Comeback Falls Short in 5-3 Loss to Lightning

The New York Islanders had a valiant comeback effort against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but ultimately fell short as their winless streak reached four games (0-2-2) on Saturday afternoon.

Ryan Pulock (PPG), Marc Gatcomb, Tony DeAngelo scored in the third period after the Islanders found themselves down 4-0, but 4-3 was as close as they came. Brayden Point (2G), Nikita Kucherov (1G, 3A) and Nick Perbix built the 4-0 lead, while Jake Guentzel (1G, 1A) scored an empty-netter to seal the deal for the Lightning with 14 seconds left.

Ilya Sorokin turned aside 19 of 23 shots in defeat, while Jonas Johansson made 35 saves on 38 shots in his first start since Mar. 13.

“Sometimes the bounces just don’t go your way, but I liked the push we had in the third,” Gatcomb said. “It’s tough.”

The loss felt like a missed opportunity, as the Islanders could have moved into the second wild card spot in the Eastern Conference with two points. Instead, the Islanders (74 points) find themselves still one point back of the Columbus Blue Jackets (75 points) for the coveted wild card spot. The Blue Jackets, New York Rangers (75 points) and Detroit Red Wings (72 points) are all in action on Saturday night.

“We played a pretty solid 60 minutes, but we needed those two points,” Adam Boqvist said.

ISLES FALL IN EARLY HOLE

The Lightning were buzzing early as they jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before the game was eight minutes old.

Kucherov recorded his 106^th point of the season the opening goal, ripping a shot past Sorokin from the left dot 2:02 into the game. In a scramble in front of the net, Sorokin made an initial save on Kucherov, but the Isles failed to clear the puck out of the crease and Perbix was in the right spot to bury Tampa’s second goal of the game, taking a 2-0 lead at the 7:31 mark of the first period.

“That first goal hurt us,” Roy said. “They put us on our heels after that.”

Late in the opening period, the Lighting built on their lead. With time and space in the high slot, McDonagh opted to slide a pass over to Point, who shelfed a shot past to take a 3-0 advantage.

The Islanders stabilized in the second period and were less than a minute away from a scoreless middle frame, but Point collected his second goal of the night on a delayed penalty, finishing off a tic-tac-toe sequence on the left side of the crease with 17 seconds left in the middle frame.

ISLES BREAK THROUGH IN THE THIRD, FALL SHORT OF A COMEBACK

Instead of backing down or giving up, the Islanders broke through with three goals in the third period, but it wasn’t enough to come out of a 4-0 deficit.

Pulock’s 90+ mph blast on the power play got the Islanders on the board to make it 4-0 at the 5:58 mark of the third period, which got the Isles going.

“That was a rocket shot, there’s no doubt about it,” Roy said. “That was a big blast from the blue and it was an important goal, giving us energy and putting us back in the game.”

The Isles began to chip away. Gatcomb ripped a shot from the right circle to get within two at the 7:47 mark of the third period. After coming alive with two straight goals, DeAngelo added a third, collecting a bouncing puck in the high slot and firing off a shot past Johansson to make it 4-3 with three goals in the span of 2:49.

The Islanders fought until the end and came close to tying it. Kyle MacLean’s shot with under five minutes left hit the post, and Horvat’s backhand attempt was saved by Johansson.

Though the Islanders weren’t able to tie it, Roy said a three-goal third period was a valiant effort and showed a lot of grit.

“This is a good group,” said Head Coach Patrick Roy. “The guys are working hard, they were resilient.”

BOQVIST MAKES A DIFFERENCE

When Roy decided to have Adam Boqvist draw in for Mike Reilly, he cited the power play as the main reason behind the decision and how Boqvist can help the man advantage.

Boqvist did add a spark to the power play, creating good puck movement and using his vision to quarterback his unit. The Islanders had two power play opportunities against the Lightning, recording five shots on goal on the first one and breaking through with Pulock’s blast in their second chance.

“He was moving so well, he was skating so well and I think he helped the power play,” Roy said of Boqvist.

The defenseman recorded four shot attempts (two on goal, two attempts blocked), two blocked shots and one assist in 19:48 TOI – including 2:15 on the man advantage - on a pair with Pulock.

“It’s always nice to play on the power play, we had our chances and created momentum,” Boqvist said.

LINEUP NOTES

Aside from Boqvist drawing in for Reilly, the other defense pairs were shuffled as well. Alexander Romanov played with Noah Dobson and Adam Pelech played with Tony DeAngelo.

ODDS AND ENDS

• Tony DeAngelo scored in two straight games and extended his point streak to five games (2G, 4A).
• The Lighting have outscored opponents 19-4 (over their last three games.

NOTABLE QUOTE

Ryan Pulock on turning the page quickly on Sunday:

“We have to come out with that same intensity as we had in the third. Some things don’t always go your way, there are bounces here and there and you can’t dwell on that. Tonight we fought but those mistakes we made in the first period that were the difference in the game.”

NEXT GAME

The Islanders are headed to Raleigh to take on the Carolina Hurricanes in the second half of a back-to-back set on Sunday. Puck drop is set for 5 p.m.