Mishkin's Extra Shift: Game 7 - Lightning 1, Islanders 0

In a do-or-die Game Seven with a berth in the Stanley Cup Final on the line, the Lightning delivered a performance that met the moment. Their team defense was outstanding throughout the night. They tilted the ice in their favor for much of the first two periods. And while they ceded some possession in the third, they continued to defend well without the puck and, as a result, limited shots on goal and scoring chances.

During the opening 40 minutes, the Lightning were the ones in possession of the puck. Solid puck management in all three zones helped them avoid turnovers. Their back pressure through center ice took away New York's time and space off the rush. And they were hungry to win loose pucks, so they strung together several long, offensive zone shifts. They weren't shy about putting pucks to the net, posting 31 SOG in the game. Fifteen of those came in the first period and twelve more came in the second. Semyon Varlamov had a strong series in net for New York and Game Seven was no exception. Once again, he was solid in net, stopping every Lightning shot but one.
Andrei Vasilevskiy was less busy than Varlamov in Game Seven, but he still provided his team with several key, timely saves. In fact, the first shot he faced was a rush chance for Anthony Beauvillier, but Vasilevskiy stopped the attempt with his right pad.
That lone goal came during the only penalty called in the game, an infraction on Barclay Goodrow early in the second period. The Islanders won the face-off to begin the power play and worked the puck around the offensive zone. During the first half of the power play, the Islanders attempted three shots - Vasilevskiy stopped one while Ryan McDonagh and Erik Cernak blocked the other two. When McDonagh eventually gained possession of the puck, he held onto it for a moment, allowing Alex Killorn and Anthony Cirelli to move out to the neutral zone. McDonagh put a pass on Killorn's stick and he fed Cirelli in the offensive zone. Yanni Gourde changed for Killorn and skated into the slot. Cirelli drew three New York players to him and, from the right corner, slid the puck to Gourde. Gourde one-timed his shot past Varlamov's glove at 1:49.
The Islanders still had just over a minute left on their power play and they applied heavy pressure on the ensuing shift. Beauvillier deflected a puck off the crossbar and Vasilevskiy made two other saves on Ryan Pulock before the penalty ended.
Back at five-on-five - and now up by a goal - the Lightning displayed the same solid structure that allowed them to own so much puck possession in the first. After the power play ended, the Islanders managed to record just three shots on net for the rest of the period. They had only one SOG in the final 14 minutes of the frame. Much of that was due to the Lightning's ability to maintain possession and apply offensive zone pressure. Varlamov made 11 saves in the period, all of which came after Gourde's goal. His good work kept New York's deficit at one.
In the final few minutes of the period, the Islanders made a push. The Lightning committed a couple of icing infractions and spent some time stuck in their own end. But they limited New York to just one SOG during that time as they battled hard defensively without the puck.
The Lightning enjoyed less possession in the third than they had in either of the first two periods. Some of that had to do with the Islanders pressing the attack. Some of it was tied to the Lightning not working the puck as cleanly out of their own end and through the neutral zone. But they continued to defend well without the puck. Vasilevskiy made seven saves in the third, including a stop on Brock Nelson's shot from the slot in the opening minutes. The Lightning helped him by blocking shots, too. For the game, they blocked 21 shots - 10 of those came in the third period.
The Islanders pulled Varlamov with just over two minutes left. The Lightning blocked three shots during the sixth-attacker situation and received a final save from Vasilevskiy on Beauvillier in closing seconds. Prior to that Beauvillier shot, Goodrow and Killorn did great work to keep the puck tied up behind the New York net. Between them, they effectively killed about 30 seconds. Then shortly after the Beauvillier attempt, Mikhail Sergachev (who celebrated his 23rd birthday on Friday) blocked a shot from Ryan Pulock. Moments later, Ondrej Palat cleared the zone and this dramatic, tense, Game Seven was over.
The Lightning and Montreal Canadiens play Game One of the Stanley Cup Final on Monday. I'll have a recap of this classic Semifinals series over the weekend!
Lightning Radio Three Stars of the Game (as selected by Phil Esposito):
1. Yanni Gourde - Lightning. SHG. GWG.
2. Barclay Goodrow - Lightning.
3. Ryan McDonagh - Lightning.