Lightning defeat Islanders in Game 2 of Semifinals, even series

The Tampa Bay Lightning evened the Stanley Cup Semifinals with a 4-2 win against the New York Islanders in Game 2 at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Tuesday.

Brayden Point scored for a fifth straight game, and Nikita Kucherov had three assists for the Lightning, who have not lost consecutive games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs since the 2019 Eastern Conference First Round (12-0). Andrei Vasilevskiy made 24 saves.
"We've got good leadership in our room, and they keep our team from getting too high or too low," Point said. " … I don't know, it's tough to put a finger on it really. It's gone good so far, but we can't be happy with just this one. It's going to be a hard, long series. We've got to look at the next one."
Brock Nelson scored, and Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves for the Islanders, who won their previous four games. Ilya Sorokin made six saves in the first period after Varlamov missed the final 6:50 following a collision with Point.
Game 3 of the best-of-7 series is at New York on Thursday.
"We knew they were going to come with a good response after we got the first game," Nelson said. "I thought we did a pretty good job coming out of the gates 1-1, but it's hockey. Bounces, breaks, whatever it may be, they were able to get a couple and get the lead, and we weren't able to get it back."
Ondrej Palat gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead at 13:15 of the second period. Victor Hedman sent a stretch pass to Kucherov, who drew two defenders in the left face-off circle before sending a pass into the slot to Palat for his first goal in nine games.
"Obviously, you guys know there was too many men on the ice," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "They had seven guys, so disappointed at that. But we tried to battle through that."

Vasilevskiy kept the Lightning in front with a left-pad save on Anthony Beauvillier's shot from point-blank range with seven seconds remaining in the period.
"It's the timely saves that you need," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "To be able to go into the break up a goal instead of tied, those are tough ones to give up at the end. But you need your guy back there to bail you out when you break down, and he sure did that."
Jan Rutta scored the first goal by a Tampa Bay defenseman in the playoffs with a shot from the right point at 2:16 of the third period to make it 3-1, and Hedman followed with the second at 9:17 when he scored on the power play to give the Lightning a 4-1 lead.
"It was huge," Hedman said. "The first game, no one mentioned that the defense didn't score any goals, but you lose that game and all of a sudden it gets mentioned. We wanted to put an end to that tonight. What better way than top shelf by 'Roots.' We're super happy obviously with the win, and we're excited to go up to Long Island and keep it going."
Mathew Barzal scored his fifth goal in six games with 3:16 remaining for the 4-2 final.

The Lightning were 1-for-5 on the power play after going 1-for-2 in Game 1.
"Tonight, we kept them at 20 percent, which is half the rate that they usually hit at, [but] yeah, we just can't take that many (penalties)," Trotz said. "And they were taking some liberties tonight, [but] you know, it's a long series."
Point made it 1-0 when he roofed Kucherov's pass at 8:58 of the first period after a turnover by Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech. It was Point's 10th goal of the playoffs, which leads the NHL.
Varlamov went to the Islanders locker room at 13:10 of the first period after a collision in the crease with Point, who received a minor penalty for goalie interference.
Nelson tied it 1-1 on the ensuing power play at 13:30 after a giveaway by Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh.
Varlamov returned at the start of the second period.
"First and foremost, I'm really glad to see 'Varly' come back in the game," Point said. "You don't want to have collisions like that, and I certainly wasn't trying to hurt anybody, so I was super happy to see he was all right and able to finish the game and came back. … It happens fast, so I can't really blame anyone (for the penalty). I'm just glad everyone was all right because you don't like to see collisions like that."
NOTES: Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau did not play in the final 13:32. Trotz said Pageau "tweaked something" but is expected to be able to play Game 3. … Kucherov has an assist on 20 of Point's 32 playoff goals (62.5 percent), the second-highest percent in NHL history of players with at least 25 goals. Vancouver Canucks center Henrik Sedin had an assist on 17 of Daniel Sedin's 25 NHL playoff goals (68.0 percent). … Point's goal streak is tied for the longest in the NHL this postseason with Colorado Avalanche forward Brandon Saad.