@jayRecher
It's nice when you get contributions from literally everyone.
Brayden Point, Brandon Hagel, Corey Perry, Nick Paul & Alex Killorn each scored and Brian Elliott made 32 saves as the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the New York Islanders 5-3 on Saturday night at Amalie Arena.
The Islanders controlled the first half of the 1st Period, but it was the Lightning who opened up the scoring at 10:43.
Following a sustained shift in the Tampa Bay zone, the Lightning flipped the script & went to work down near the New York net. Hagel found Nikita Kucherov, whose shot was stopped by Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin. Point found the rebound and flipped it past the Russian netminder to put the Bolts ahead 1-0.
Unfortunately for Lightning fans, it didn't take long for the Islanders to tie it up.
An ill-advised pass from Perry went directly to New York's Matt Martin in the slot & he fired one past the blocker of Elliott to the score at one 1:46 after the Point goal.
The Martin goal didn't deflate the Lightning. It actually did the opposite. At the 18:03 mark, they re-took the lead.
After a deflected Point shot ricocheted off the crossbar, Hagel pounced on the rebound and beat Sorokin for his first of the season to give the Bolts a 2-1 lead.
Tampa Bay took the lead into the intermission and extended their lead at 3:12 of the second.
After a big hit by Pat Maroon behind the net, Pierre-Edouard Bellemare found Perry in front & the veteran winger atoned for his earlier mistake by scoring off that pass & putting the Bolts up by a pair.
In true Islanders fashion, they just did not go away.
Anthony Beauvillier scored at 9:36 to make it 3-2 & it looked like that's what the score was going to be entering the second intermission.
Until it wasn't.
Racing down the right wing, Paul fired a shot that was able to beat Sorokin with just 0.1 seconds left on the clock to send the crowd into a frenzy just before the end of the period.
Ryan Pulock made it 4-3 at 5:45 of the 3rd after another sloppy turnover by the Bolts but Killorn's first goal of the season with just under six minutes left sealed the deal for Tampa Bay.
Sorokin stopped 21 of the 26 shots he saw on the evening.
Cernak Out : The Lightning announced before the game that defenseman Erik Cernak would be out for the game because of an upper-body injury. Cernak left the game late in the 3rd Period last night against the Panthers & did not return. Coach Cooper said in his postgame press conference that Cernak should be good to go in the next game.
*****
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
- Tampa Bay - Point - (Kucherov, Hagel) - 10:43
- New York - Martin - (Unassisted) - 12:29
- Tampa Bay - Hagel - (Point, Hedman) - 18:03
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - Perry - (Bellemare, Maroon) - 3:12
- New York - Beauvillier - (Nelson) - 9:36
- Tampa Bay - Paul - (Colton) - 19:59
3rd Period
- New York - Pulock - (Unassisted) - 5:45
- Tampa Bay - Killorn - (Paul, Sergachev) - 14:08
*****
PENALTY SUMMARY
1st Period
- Tampa Bay - Myers - (Delay of Game) - 0:40
- New York - Nelson - (Hooking) - 18:40
- New York - Clutterbuck - (Tripping) - 19:58
2nd Period
- Tampa Bay - Sergachev - (Tripping) - 4:02
3rd Period
- Tampa Bay - Myers - (Tripping) - 3:04
- New York - Barzal - (Tripping) - 11:45
*****
What's Next For The Bolts : The Lightning are back in action on Tuesday night as they travel to Los Angeles to take on the Kings. Puck drop is slated for 10:30pm.
PHOTO : Getty Images