Lightning overwhelm Islanders in Game 5, take lead in Semifinals

Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves for the Tampa Bay Lightning in an 8-0 win against the New York Islanders in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Monday.

It was the third shutout of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for Vasilevskiy, who helped the Lightning take the lead in the best-of-7 series. Tampa Bay has not lost consecutive postseason games since the 2019 Eastern Conference First Round (13-0), the longest such run in NHL history.
"It's certainly a response and a mindset, and it starts with our goalie," Stamkos said. "'Vasy' just has an amazing ability to bounce back, whether he plays great or he doesn't play great. Most of the time he plays great, but if we lose, he takes that personally. He was outstanding tonight. He made some big saves early, settles us into a game, we get some goals, we get some confidence.
"The whole group, when we don't play our game, from the coaching staff to the players, we have an ability to break down the tape, realize what we did wrong and then make the corrections. It comes with experience, which we certainly have at this time of the year, and it just comes with maturity as a group. It's a fun group to be part of because we know when we don't play our best, we're going to bring it the next night. That's what we're going to expect from them next game, so we're going to have to be prepared for that."

Alex Killorn had two goals and an assist, Brayden Point extended his goal streak to eight games, and Nikita Kucherov had three assists for the Lightning.
"In the end, it's one win," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "Regardless what you win by, it's the win that matters, not by how much. It's a clean slate in two nights and we've got to get after it again."
Semyon Varlamov allowed three goals on 16 shots for the Islanders before being pulled at 15:27 of the first period. Ilya Sorokin made 21 saves.
Teams that take a 3-2 lead are 47-15 (.758) winning a best-of-7 NHL semifinal series. Game 6 will be played at New York on Wednesday.
"At the end of the day, we're going back home, it's 3-2 and we've just got to focus on earning the right to keep playing," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "At the end of the day, we could've lost 1-0 tonight in double or triple overtime and it feels like it's the same result.
"We can fix a lot of things that we put ourselves into today, and we're going to have to have our best game. They've been here before, we've been here before, and we're going to have to have our best effort from every player on our team. And if we do that, we'll be back here for Game 7 (on Friday)."

Stamkos scored his first goal in six games to give Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead 45 seconds into the first period.
Yanni Gourde made it 2-0 at 11:04 when his pass hit defenseman Andy Greene's stick and trickled past Varlamov.
The Islanders goalie was pulled after Killorn made it 3-0 at 15:27. Following a turnover by Ryan Pulock in the neutral zone, David Savard sent a shot from the right point that hit Killorn and fluttered into the net.
Tampa Bay outshot New York 19-5 in the first period.
"We weren't managing the puck very well, whether it was at our blue line or through the neutral zone or their blue line," Greene said. "We turned a lot of pucks over, and obviously they're a great transition team, and you start giving them chances like that, they're going to make you pay."
Stamkos scored his second of the game at 5:42 of the second period with a one-timer from the left face-off circle on the power play to extend the lead to 4-0.

Ondrej Palat made it 5-0 with a redirection of Savard's shot along the right wall at 15:43, and Killorn scored another power-play goal at 17:53 to push it to 6-0.
Mathew Barzal was given a major penalty and a game misconduct for cross-checking Jan Rutta at the end of the second period. Cooper did not have an update on Rutta, who did not play in the third.
"I'm disappointed because it wasn't going well and you just sort of dug it a little deeper for the guys," Trotz said of Barzal.
Point scored on the ensuing power play at 1:59 of the third period to make it 7-0. Point's goal streak is the second longest in NHL postseason history, behind Reggie Leach, who scored in 10 straight for the Philadelphia Flyers in 1976.
"I'm not thinking about it," Point said. "It's playoff time, and personal stats don't mean anything. It's about wins. Our group played solid tonight and we got a big win. It doesn't happen without teammates. I've had a lot of goals these playoffs that have been great setups or tap-ins, so it's been a group effort."
Luke Schenn, playing for the first time since Game 3 of the second round, scored at 12:05 for the 8-0 final.
NOTES:It was the largest margin of victory in Lightning playoff history, and the worst margin of defeat in Islanders postseason history. … The team that scores first has won each game in the series. … Pulock, who blocked a shot with 2.7 seconds left to preserve New York's 3-2 win in Game 4, was minus-4 in 19:11 of ice time. … Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak did not play because of an upper-body injury he sustained in the third period of Game 4. Cooper did not have an update on his availability for Game 6.