Lightning defeat Islanders in Game 4, move one win from Cup Final

Brayden Point had a goal and an assist, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the New York Islanders 4-1 in Game 4 to extend their lead in the Eastern Conference Final at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Sunday.

Point returned after he was unfit to play in Game 3 on Friday, a 5-3 win for the Islanders. He has 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) this postseason, tied with linemate Nikita Kucherov and Colorado Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon for the NHL lead.
"I'd go as far to say Point is] the most dangerous guy in the [Stanley Cup] Playoffs this year," Lightning forward Blake Coleman said. "He's a special talent. He tilts the ice every time he's out there. Anytime you have a guy like that in your lineup, you have a better chance of winning hockey games."
[WATCH: [All Lightning vs. Islanders highlights]
Ondrej Palat and Coleman scored 12 seconds apart in the second period, Kucherov had two assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for the Lightning, the No. 2 seed in the East, who are one win from advancing to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2015.
"Just because you're one game away doesn't mean you're in," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "You're still one game away, and we're going to have to match an effort that we've watched [the Columbus Blue Jackets] give and [the Boston Bruins] give, and I'm sure the Islanders are going to give. But we've gone through this. We know what we have to do, and we just got to be ready to do it."

Semyon Varlamov made 32 saves, and Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders, the No. 6 seed.
"You're always focused on winning," New York defenseman Scott Mayfield said. "You go out there to win. We need to win the next one."
Since the conference format was adopted for the 1981-82 season, teams with a 3-1 lead in the conference final are 34-1 (97.1 percent). They are 288-29 (90.9 percent) winning any best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series, including 10-0 in the first two rounds this season.
Game 5 is in Edmonton, the hub city for the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final, on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"We played a great game," Palat said. "We need to turn the page and get ready for the next game. We just need to play our game, stay focused, and do what makes us successful."

After Nelson gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead with a snap shot from the left face-off circle at 11:27 of the second period, Coleman took a lofted pass from Yanni Gourde and scored 15 seconds later on a breakaway to tie it 1-1 at 11:42.
Following the ensuing face-off, Kucherov skated in on a rush and sent a cross-slot pass to Palat for a one-timer to give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead at 11:54. Palat has eight goals in the postseason, with each coming in the past eight games.
"You want to follow up a goal with a good shift and kind of stay on it," Nelson said. "They had a better response than we did, and that was the difference, really. Thirty seconds there. If you can hang on, it's a different game."
Point extended the lead to 3-1 at 3:33 of the third period, tapping his own rebound into an open net after his initial attempt following a cross-crease pass from Palat hit Varlamov's skate.
Kucherov and Point had the assists on Palat's goal, and Palat and Kucherov had the assists on Point's.
"Their first line put a mark on us in a couple of game here," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "They're all good players. They're outstanding players. They can make plays. They go to the hard areas. ... They're high-level, elite players. You can't give them an inch. We've given them too many inches."
Pat Maroon scored an empty-net goal with 2:24 remaining for the 4-1 final.
In addition to Point, Lightning forward Alex Killorn also returned after serving a one-game suspension in Game 3 for boarding Nelson in Game 2. He had three hits and two blocked shots in 18:21 of ice time.
NOTES:New York forwards Casey Cizikas and Tom Kuhnhackl each left the bubble because of an undisclosed injury and will not return for the remainder of the playoffs. … New York was 0-for-3 on the power play and has scored once on 14 chances in the series. … Tampa Bay has won seven of its past eight games since losing 3-2 to the Bruins in Game 1 of the second round on Aug. 23. ... The New Jersey Devils rallied from down 3-1 to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers in the 2000 Eastern Conference Final and then won the Stanley Cup.
NHL.com staff writer Mike Zeisberger contributed to this report