Tampa Bay Lightning’s Brandon Hagel (38) fights for control of the puck with New York Islanders’ Mathew Barzal (13) during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024, in Elmont, N.Y. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
ELMONT, N.Y. — The New York Islanders’ slide continued on Saturday afternoon at UBS Arena as they dropped their fifth game out of their last six in a 4-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
The two points for Tampa Bay (31-23-5, 67 points)) allowed it to open up a seven-point gap over the Islanders (23-20-14, 60 points) for the second and final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
“There was some urgency, it was a big game,” Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said. “They were five points ahead… it was an important game. I wanted to win that game.”
NHL points leader Nikita Kucherov recorded a goal and two assists — he’s now up to 98 points on the season — while Victor Hedman potted two assists of his own for the Lightning, who snapped a three-game losing streak.
The Islanders, who were dominated for most of the night, sprang to life in the final moments to mount a late comeback. Anders Lee provided the hosts with an opener with 6:16 left in regulation before Brock Nelson made it a one-goal game with 2:35 left — both goals coming with goalie Ilya Sorokin pulled for an extra attacker.
Sorokin made 19 saves on the night while Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 32 of 34.
“I cannot say we had a bad game,” Roy said. “It was tight out there. There was no room. It was like a playoff hockey game where there were barely chances on both sides… We pulled the goalie and that created some energy for our team and we scored one, we scored two, and unfortunately we came up short.”
Considering how dire every point left on the table is, the Islanders started sluggishly, allowing Nicholas Paul’s opener just 4:12 into the game. Just seconds after Adam Pelech’s tripping penalty expired, Paul…
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