In Saturday’s game against the Islanders, the Lightning allowed numerous high-danger scoring chances and gave up three third-period goals. They wanted a better defensive outing in this game — and they got it. The Islanders only generated a few Grade-A looks and managed to score just one goal.
The Lightning had a number of extended offensive-zone shifts throughout the night. One of those led to the opening goal of the game. A unit of Yanni Gourde, Gage Goncalves, and Oliver Bjorkstrand worked hard to maintain possession in the Islanders end and keep the New York defenders stuck on the ice. Eventually, Gourde changed for Brayden Point, who fed Darren Raddysh at the right point. Bjorkstrand deflected Raddysh’s shot past Ilya Sorokin at 8:46.
On the shift after the goal, the Lightning received a power play. They applied pressure throughout the man advantage but couldn’t score. As time wound down on the penalty, a Raddysh point shot was blocked. The Lightning had the other four players caught low in the zone, and Bo Horvat countered on an odd-man rush. Horvat finished a right-circle shot at 10:57, evening the score.
There was one other odd-man rush for the Islanders in the game. That came during the second period, and again Horvat was the New York player taking the shot. In that instance, however, Andrei Vasilevskiy made the save. Those two shots from Horvat were the best opportunities the Islanders generated in the entire game. There weren’t many others.
The Lightning did excellent work on the penalty kill. They killed four infractions, including a 13-second five-on-three in the second period. For much of the four kills, the Lightning possessed the puck and played keep-away from the Islanders.
Soon after killing the overlapping penalties in the second, the Lightning grabbed the lead back. Off an offensive-zone entry, Point slid the puck to the left corner. Nikita Kucherov tracked it and swept a pass in front to Jake Guentzel, who swatted it in at 8:09. Just over two and a half minutes later, they added another. Guentzel fed Kucherov at the offensive blue line, creating an odd-man rush. Kucherov slipped the puck to Victor Hedman in the shot, and Hedman wired a wrist shot over Sorokin’s stick at 10:41.
Up by two goals with just under 30 minutes left, the Lightning played textbook defensive hockey for the rest of the game. They ended plays in the defensive zone. They avoided costly turnovers. They protected the front of their net. They worked the puck around the offensive zone, forcing the Islanders to defend.
The Islanders pulled Sorokin with about four minutes remaining. Soon after, the Lightning exited the defensive zone cleanly. Nick Paul tallied an empty-netter at 16:29, sealing the win.
It was an excellent start to the road trip for the Lightning, who reduced their magic number to two points with the victory. Next up is a Thursday matchup in Ottawa against the Senators.
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Brian Engblom):
- Victor Hedman — Lightning. Goal.
- Brayden Point — Lightning. Two assists.
- Simon Holmstrom — Islanders.
