There was no questioning the pushback of the Tampa Bay Lightning in Saturday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the New York Islanders at AMALIE Arena.
Despite that effort, multiple members of the Lightning acknowledged that Saturday was not among the team’s best showings this season.
To earn at least one standings point was a positive as the Lightning keep pace in a crowded Eastern Conference playoff race.
"That's huge,” Lightning forward Jake Guentzel said of pushing the game to overtime. “I mean, a lot of times you don't find that way. So for us to just get a point, I think now is the time when each point matters. So we’ll take some positives out of that.”
That standings point came with some late dramatics—Nikita Kucherov tied the game with 45.3 seconds remaining in regulation, the Lightning pushing on a 6-on-5 chance with their net empty before Tampa Bay’s leading scorer bounced his shot off an Islanders defender and in for the 2-2 tie.
The Islanders won the game 33 seconds into overtime. New York defenseman Tony Deangelo took advantage of a Tampa Bay line change, scoring on a breakaway in the extra period for the 3-2 win.
Tampa Bay was the first team to score on Saturday. Forward Jake Guentzel scored his 26th goal of the season 5:39 into period two, redirecting an Erik Cernak point shot into the top corner of the New York net.
Defenseman Adam Boqvist tied the game with 1:45 left in the middle period, finding a rebound following a breakaway by Mathew Barzal. The Islanders’ tying goal came at the end of a second period in which the visitors outshot the Lightning 17 to nine.
"I don't think we played our best. We gave them a lot of chances, a lot of odd-man rushes, and we know we can play better,” Cernak said. “So the next four games before the break, we have to just bring the urgency back, be the best as much as we can and get the points from the last four games.”
A Kyle Palmieri one-timer with 13:19 left in the game gave the visitors their first lead of the night, 2-1.
The Lightning earned multiple chances on opposing goalie Ilya Sorokin in the third period, but Sorokin maintained the one-goal lead until the final minute.
An extended shift of offensive zone time with the Lightning attacking 6-on-5 ended with a fortunate bounce and a 2-2 game—Kucherov’s shot from the right faceoff circle glanced off a New York defenseman and behind Sorokin to knot the score with 45.3 seconds left in regulation.
"At that time I just think you're trying to get traffic in front of the net,” Guentzel said. “He's (Sorokin) an elite goaltender, so put pucks on net and see what happens from there.”
Boqvist’s overtime winner ended a game in which Lightning goalie Andrei Vailevskiy had to be sharp—Vasilevskiy ended with a game-high 33 saves for Tampa Bay, which is now 27-20-4 on the season and sat in a wild card position in the playoff race after Saturday.
The Lightning host Atlantic Division opponent Ottawa twice in three days next week, beginning on Tuesday. Tampa Bay trails the Senators by two standings points after Saturday.
Despite goals being harder to find in the last month, the Lightning like their effort, according to coach Jon Cooper.
“When you’re giving up two (goals) or less, you’re giving yourself a chance to win. Some of these we've let slip out because we haven't been able to score, but you can't just keep getting chances, chances, chances, and the tide will change. It's just testing your will and your patience. We put ourselves in a decent position in the first third of the year, and that's why you do that. Because when times get tough, we had a little bulge in the standings, now we don’t anymore,” Cooper said.
"So now it's a race for the last 30 games here, and our urgency level is going to have to be higher than ever. For the most part I can't sit here and criticize their effort or anything like that. … It tests you, and we’ll see if we can play through this.”
Benjamin’s Three Stars:
1. Ilya Sorokin, NYI (30 saves)
2. Andrei Vasilevskiy, TBL (33 saves)
3. Tony DeAngelo, NYI (Overtime winner)