Kucherov has 4 points again, Lightning hold off Islanders

TAMPA -- Nikita Kucherov had a goal and three assists to extend his point streak to eight games for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who defeated the New York Islanders 5-3 at Amalie Arena on Saturday.

Kucherov, who also had a goal and three assists in an 8-0 win against the Utah Hockey Club on Thursday, has 17 points (five goals, 12 assists) during the streak.

Brayden Point scored twice, and Jake Guentzel had a goal and an assist for the Lightning (43-25-5), who swept a three-game homestand. Jonas Johansson made 35 saves.

Tampa Bay is tied with the Florida Panthers for second in the Atlantic Division, one point behind the Toronto Maple Leafs, who also won on Saturday.

"We've been playing well this homestand and I think we just got a little bit careless with our decisions with the puck and got away from why we were having success during that third period," Point said. "Luckily 'Jo' shut the door and made some big saves, especially on the 6-on-5 (at the end of the game)."

Ryan Pulock, Marc Gatcomb and Tony DeAngelo scored for the Islanders (32-30-10), who have lost four straight (0-2-2) and are three points behind the New York Rangers for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Ilya Sorokin made 19 saves.

"This is a good group," Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. "I mean, the guys are working hard. They are resilient. I thought we played a really good game. I know I don't have much to support what I'm saying in the way that we lost the game results wise, but I mean, we did a lot of good things out there."

The Lightning scored three goals on seven shots in the first period.

"For the most part I've liked our starts this year," Point said. "Pucks seem to be going in early for us, which is great."

Kucherov gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 2:02 of the first period with a wrist shot from the right circle.

Nick Perbix made it 2-0 at 7:31, scoring from the right circle off a loose puck in front.

Point extended the lead to 3-0 at 17:57 with a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Ryan McDonagh.

"I think we were kind of teetering pretty much from the start of the game," McDonagh said. "They came out pretty strong. JoJo was tested early and played phenomenal all the way through for us. Really this win is because of him."

Andrei Vasilevskiy led the Lightning out for warmups and was scheduled to start but was a late scratch. Johanson, who last played against the Philadelphia Flyers on March 13, made 27 saves in the first two periods.

"I don't know if he was the player of the game for us or not, but he should have been," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said of Johansson. "It's a tough spot to be in when you're not the goalie that's playing every second night and being in a rhythm. And for him to come in and keep doing the job he's doing, it's a tribute to him."

Point's second goal made it 4-0 at 19:43 of the second period, a one-timer from the left circle off a cross-ice pass from Kucherov.

"We've had a lot of things go our way on this homestand, but we earned them," Cooper said. "The only difference tonight was that we had a 4-0 lead, but if I've got to be honest, we didn't deserve that 4-0 lead. Learning experiences come in so many different ways, shapes, forms … maybe the best ones come when you can sneak away with a win and you get to learn from that as well."

The Islanders then scored three goals in 2:49 in the third period.

Pulock cut the lead to 4-1 with a power-play goal at 5:58 of the third period with a slap shot from the point before Gatcomb made it 4-2 at 7:47 with a wrist shot from the right circle.

"We have to come out with that same intensity that we had in the third," Pulock said. "Tonight we fought, but it's just those little mistakes that we made in the first couple of periods that obviously was the difference in the game."

DeAngelo then got New York within 4-3 at 8:47 with a put-back off an initial shot by Maxim Tsyplakov.

Guentzel scored an empty-net goal at 19:47 for the 5-3 final.

"I think the first goal ... it was a goal that hurt us a little bit and put us on his heels," Roy said. "But I thought after that, especially in the second and the third, we played really well. We had a lot of chances, even in the first we had some good chances, we just couldn't bear down on those chances that could have made a difference in the game."

NOTES: Kucherov had four points in consecutive games for the sixth time in his NHL career. The only players in NHL history to have as many separate instances are Wayne Gretzky (32 times), Mario Lemieux (19), and Paul Coffey, Mike Bossy and Marcel Dionne (six each). ... Kucherov had the 33rd four-point game of his career, passing Alex Ovechkin and moving into a tie with Kent Nilsson for the fifth-most by a player born and trained outside North America (Jaromir Jagr, 56; Peter Stastny, 54; Jari Kurri, 47; Teemu Selanne, 38). ...DeAngelo has six points (two goals, four assists) during a five-game point streak. ...Point has six goals in his past five games. ... Guentzel has eight points (four goals, four assists) over his past five games.