The New York Islanders defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Friday night in Edmonton, Canada. The win pulls New York within 2-1 of Tampa Bay in the Best-of-Seven Eastern Conference Finals.
The Lightning came into this game playing shorthanded, as Alex Killorn was serving a one game suspension for a hit in game two, and Brayden Point was unable to play due to injury. In the first period the Islanders got the scoring started first as Cal Clutterbuck scored at the 12:58 mark. The Lightning were able to answer in the first when Mikhail Sergachev scored at the 16:31 mark to tie the game 1-1, which would be the score heading into the second period.
In the second, the Islanders got a goal from Adam Pelech at the 11:50 mark, and Anthony Beauvillier at the 13:50 mark, to make it 3-1. Though the Islanders looked like they may pull away in this game, the Lightning responded in the third period. Ondrej Palat scored at the 2:32 mark of the third on the power play to pull within one - then Tyler Johnson tied the game at the 12:04 mark.
But the Islanders had one more push in them. They took advantage of a key Lightning mistake in the defensive end and Brock Nelson took advantage, scoring to make it 4-3. Jean-Gabriel Pageau added an empty net goal late and the Islanders would win this game 5-3. Andrei Vasilevskiy went 31-for-35 in net for Tampa Bay, while Semyon Varlamov got the win by saving 34 shots on 37 attemps.
The Lightning and Islanders now meet in game four of the best of seven series on Sunday afternoon - puck drop from Edmonton is scheduled for 3 PM, and pregame coverage begins at 2 PM on News Radio WFLA.