Lightning defeat Islanders in Game 3, take series lead

UNIONDALE, N.Y. -- Brayden Point scored for the sixth straight game, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the New York Islanders 2-1 in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals at Nassau Coliseum on Thursday.

Point's shot while falling down in the right circle found its way through traffic and gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead with 20 seconds left in the second period.
It was his NHL-leading 11th goal of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and his third game-winning goal, which is tied with Vegas Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty and Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock for the NHL lead.
"The puck just took a good bounce and lands right on my stick," Point said. "It's a lucky one."
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves for the Lightning, who are 6-1 on the road this postseason and lead the best-of-7 series.
"It's everyone buying into the system," Tampa Bay captain Steven Stamkos said. "We know what our job is, we talked about it in between the second and third. We've got a one-goal lead going into the third period of a playoff game, we know what we have to do. We've done it time and time again.
"This group is comfortable in these situations. It's the conference finals or semifinals, whatever you want to call it. This time of the year, it's guys doing whatever it takes to win, that's the most important thing. When you have a complete buy-in, you're getting results like we're getting right now."

Cal Clutterbuck scored for the Islanders, who have lost Game 3 at home in each of the first three rounds of the playoffs. Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves.
Teams that take a 2-1 lead are 89-25 (.781) winning a best-of-7 NHL semifinal series. Game 4 will be played here Saturday (8 p.m. ET; USA, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"They've been in this position a few times, obviously, they're Stanley Cup champions," New York coach Barry Trotz said. "They've been in these situations. We tried. We have to get more pucks, we're going to have to get inside. We had some chances, and Vasilevskiy made a couple of key saves.
"They didn't have a lot tonight. I thought we were pretty good defensively as well. A lot of stuff they got, I think we gave it to them. It's funny, as you go along this path deeper and deeper, these teams are better and better, and you've got to dig in even harder and harder."
Kyle Palmieri had a chance to give New York an early lead, but Vasilevskiy got his glove on his shot from point-blank range at 6:53 of the first period.
Yanni Gourde then gave Tampa Bay a 1-0 lead at 10:05, quickly shooting the puck from a sharp angle after Blake Coleman's centering attempt from below the goal line redirected to him off the skate of Islanders defenseman Nick Leddy.

Clutterbuck tied it 1-1 at 17:01 of the second period when he jammed Matt Martin's rebound over the goal line after Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak tried to stuff the puck under Vasilevskiy's glove.
Vasilevskiy denied Leo Komarov on a rebound off the end boards with 5:49 remaining in the third period to preserve the 2-1 lead. He is 6-1 with a 1.58 goals-against average and .953 save percentage in seven road games this postseason.
"I think the biggest thing is trying to get in lanes, and you know 'Vasy's' back there to bail us out when they do get through," Tampa Bay center Anthony Cirelli said.
The Islanders held the Lightning to five shots on goal in the third period.
"We're a veteran team," Martin said. "I think we try to brush off anything that comes our way throughout a game. That's always made us successful is our composure and the way we stick to our identity and our game plan. So it was a big goal, obviously, at the time to tie the game. Point gets one back not long later, but we still felt good about our chances and we're always going to play with confidence because we believe we're a good team.
"Obviously, you want to be playing with the lead, but we believe we can come back in hockey games as well."
Tampa Bay blocked 21 shots, led by defensemen Victor Hedman (four) and Ryan McDonagh and Mikhail Sergachev, who each had three.
"It was will that got us through it," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "We'll need to have that again if we're going to come in here in Game 4 and do the same thing."
NOTES: Point is the first Lightning player to score in six straight playoff games, and the first in the NHL since Martin Havlat with the Ottawa Senators in 2006. Point's goal was the 33rd in the postseason, tying him with Martin St. Louis for third in Lightning history. Nikita Kucherov leads with 41, and Ondrej Palat has 35. … Cooper said Cernak and defensemen Jan Rutta each sustained "some stingers" in the third period but are expected to be able to play Game 4.