Nuts & Bolts: Lightning look to bounce back from first loss of ECF

SUNDAY'S MATCHUP
The Lightning and the Islanders are playing Game 4 of a best-of-seven, Eastern Conference Final series... Tampa Bay has won six of its last seven playoff games against the Islanders dating back to a 2016 Eastern Conference Semifinal matchup in which the Bolts won in five games after dropping the opening contest...The Lightning are 10-3 all-time versus the Islanders in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and are 2-0 in series matchups against the Isles...The Bolts have lost exactly one game in each of their three all-time playoff series against New York...Nikita Kucherov (2-5--7 pts.) paces the Lightning for scoring in the Eastern Conference Final...Brayden Point, Yanni Gourde, Nikita Kucherov, Victor Hedman and Ondrej Palat each have two goals to lead the Bolts for goals in the Eastern Conference Final.

SUNDAY'S STORYLINES
The Lightning are playing in the Eastern Conference Final for the fourth time in the last six seasons and the fifth time in the last 10 seasons...Since entering the NHL in 1992-93, Tampa Bay has made six Conference Final appearances, tied for third most in the league over that span behind only DET (8) and PIT (8)...The Lightning are 15-11 all-time in Game 4s and 3-2 in Eastern Conference Final Game 4s... Tampa Bay has yet to lose back-to-back games this postseason...The Lightning have won six of their last seven games and nine of their last 11 playoff contests...The Bolts' six-game win streak, which ended in Game 3, is tied for the longest in the 2020 Playoffs (also: VGK 6-straight wins) and the third longest in Lightning postseason history (longest: 8-straight wins in 2004 and 2011)...Tampa Bay has scored a power-play goal in four of its last six contests and has eight power-play goals over that stretch.
IN THE NIK OF TIME
Tampa Bay right wing Nikita Kucherov tallied an assist in Game 3 at NYI, giving him a point in all three games of the Eastern Conference Final so far (2-5--7 pts.)...Kucherov's assist came on the power play for his 29th career power-play assist in the postseason, passing Steven Stamkos and taking over as Tampa Bay's all-time leader for playoff power-play scoring.
TBL ALL-TIME PLAYOFF POWER-PLAY SCORING LEADERS
1. Nikita Kucherov - 8-21--29 PP pts. (81 GP)
2. Steven Stamkos - 11-17--28 PP pts. (70 GP)
3. Martin St. Louis - 10-14--24 PP pts. (63 GP)
Kucherov's 23 points so far this postseason are tied for the second most in the NHL in the 2020 Playoffs and are a new career high for scoring in a playoff season (previous best: 10-12--22 pts. in 2015 Playoffs)...Kucherov's 17 assists are also a career postseason high (previous best: 12 assists in 2015 Playoffs)...Kucherov's 23 points are tied for the third most in a playoff season in Lightning history and just three points shy of tying Brad Richards' all-time record.
MOST POINTS IN A PLAYOFF SEASON IN TBL HISTORY
1. Brad Richards (2004) - 12-14--26 pts. in 23 GP
2. Martin St. Louis (2004) - 9-15--24 pts. in 23 GP
T-3. Tyler Johnson (2015) - 13-10--23 pts. in 26 GP
T-3. Brayden Point (2020) - 8-15--23 pts. in 15 GP
T-3. Nikita Kucherov (2020) - 6-17--23 pts. in 16 GP
6. Nikita Kucherov (2015) - 10-12--22 pts. in 26 GP
HED OF THE CLASS
Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman played in his 100th career playoff game in Game 3 vs. NYI... Hedman is the all-time leader for playoff games played with Tampa Bay...Hedman saw his four-game goal streak come to an end Friday, one game shy of matching the NHL record for longest goal streak by a defenseman in the postseason set by EDM's Paul Coffey in the 1983 Playoffs...Hedman has scored four goals in his last five games...Hedman ranks tied for fifth among NHL defensemen for scoring this postseason and is tied for the league lead for goals among blueliners.
NHL 2020 PLAYOFF D-MAN GOAL LEADERS
T-1. Victor Hedman (TBL) - 7 goals (16 GP)
T-1. Shea Theodore (VGK) - 7 goals (18 GP)
3. Miro Heiskanen (DAL) - 5 goals (19 GP)
Hedman established a Lightning franchise record for postseason goals by a defenseman in a single season (7) and is one point shy of matching his own mark set twice previously for most points all-time in a playoff season by a Lightning defenseman.
MOST POINTS ALL-TIME IN A PLAYOFF SEASON BY A D-MAN
T-1. Victor Hedman (2016) - 4-10--14 pts. in 17 GP
T-1. Victor Hedman (2015) - 1-13--14 pts. in 26 GP
3. Victor Hedman (2020) - 7-6--13 pts. in 16 GP
PUTTING UP PALAT OF POINTS (AND GOALS)
Bolts left wing Ondrej Palat scored a power-play goal Game 3 at NYI for his second power-play goal of the 2020 Playoffs and ninth career postseason power-play goal...Palat moved into a tie with Brad Richards for third-most power-play goals in Lightning playoff history.
TBL ALL-TIME PLAYOFF PPG LEADERS
1. Steven Stamkos - 11 PPGs (70 GP)
2. Martin St. Louis - 10 PPGs (63 GP)
T-3. Brad Richards - 9 PPGs (45 GP)
T-3. Ondrej Palat - 9 PPGs (83 GP)
T-5. Vincent Lecavalier - 8 PPGs (63 GP)
T-5. Nikita Kucherov - 8 PPGs (81 GP)
Palat has scored at least one goal in six of the last seven games...Palat has scored all seven of his goals in the 2020 Playoffs in the last seven games...Palat's seven goals are one shy of his career mark for most goals in a playoff season (8 goals in 2015 Playoffs)...Palat notched his 53rd career playoff point in Game 3 and moved past Vincent Lecavalier and pulled into a tie with Steven Stamkos for fifth place among Tampa Bay's all-time scoring leaders.
TBL ALL-TIME SCORING LEADERS
4. Tyler Johnson - 28-30--58 pts. (84 GP)
T-5. Ondrej Palat - 28-25--53 pts. (83 GP)
T-5. Steven Stamkos - 23-30--53 pts. (70 GP)
7. Vincent Lecavalier - 24-28--52 pts. (63 GP)
VASY FOR VEZINA
Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31-of-35 shots in a loss Game 3 at NYI to end his six-game win streak, two wins shy of matching the Lightning's longest goalie playoff win streak in team history established by Nikolai Khabibulin (2004 Playoffs) and matched by Dwayne Roloson (2011 Playoffs)...Vasilevskiy has won nine of his last 11 starts and 12 of 16 starts total this postseason... Vasilevskiy's 12 wins this postseason are a career playoff high for the Lightning netminder and the third most in a single playoffs in Bolts history.
TBL ALL-TIME GOALIE WINS LEADERS IN A SINGLE PLAYOFFS
1. Nikolai Khabibulin (2004) - 16 wins (23 GS)
2. Ben Bishop (2015) - 13 wins (25 GS)
3. Andrei Vasilevskiy (2020) - 12 wins (16 GS)
Vasilevskiy is a Vezina Trophy finalist for the third-consecutive season and is the only goalie to have played every minute of every game for his team in the 2020 Playoffs...Since 2018, Vasilevskiy ranks first in the NHL for playoff victories with 23 (2nd: 21 - Tuukka Rask and Braden Holtby)...Vasilevskiy has given up two or fewer goals in five of his last six starts and 10 of 16 starts this postseason.
OH MY GOURDE
Lightning center Yanni Gourde tallied an assist in Game 3 at NYI for his fifth helper and 10th point of the 2020 Playoffs...Gourde matched his career high for assists in a playoff season (also: 5 assists in 2018 Playoffs) and has set a career high for scoring in a playoff season (previous best: 2-5--7 pts. in 2018 Playoffs)...Gourde has posted points in two of three games so far in the Eastern Conference Final (2-1--3 pts.).
SERG-ING AHEAD
Bolts defenseman Mikhail Sergachev scored a goal and added an assist Game 3 at NYI for his second multi-point game of the 2020 Playoffs (also: 1-2-3 pts. in Game 3 of 2nd Rd. at BOS) and second career playoff multi-point game...Sergachev has posted points in two of three games so far in the Eastern Conference Final (1-2--3 pts.)...Sergachev has established career highs playoff highs for assists (5) and scoring (7 pts.) this postseason (previous best: 3 assists and 5 pts. in 2018 Playoffs).
POINTING THE WAY
Tampa Bay center Brayden Point did not finish Game 2 and did not play in Game 3 vs. NYI...Point has recorded points in 13 of 15 games this postseason and owns a six-game and seven-game point streak (tied for 2nd-longest point streak in Lightning playoff history)...Point is tied for the Lightning lead for scoring this postseason and ranks tied for second in the NHL.
THE ROAD AHEAD
Game 5 - Tuesday, September 15 - 8 p.m.
Game 6* - Thursday, September 17 - 8 p.m.
Game 7* - Friday, September 19 - 7:30 p.m.
\If necessary
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