Down the Frozen River

Tag: Tyler Johnson

  • Lightning hold on for 4-3 win in Game 4, Series Tied 2-2

    By: Nick Lanciani

    Unknown-1The Tampa Bay Lightning had just enough in them by the third period to hold off a charging comeback from the Pittsburgh Penguins to win 4-3 in Game 4 of the 2016 Eastern Conference Final on home ice at Amalie Arena on Friday night.

    Andrei Vasilevskiy made 35 saves on 38 shots faced for a .921 SV% en route to the victory, while Matt Murray made just 26 saves on 30 shots against before being replaced after the second period in the loss.

    Murray’s replacement, Marc-Andre Fleury, made seven saves on seven shots faced in the third period.

    Ryan Callahan kicked off the scoring with the second fastest playoff goal in franchise history for the Lightning, just 27 seconds into the first period on redirect. Victor Hedman fired a slap shot from the point that Callahan tipped past Murray for the goal, which was just his 2nd of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Hedman (8) and J.T. Brown (2) notched the primary and secondary assists.

    Adam Hall had the fastest playoff goal for Tampa, 13 seconds into Game 2 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Final in Boston.

    Carl Hagelin gave the Bolts their first power play of the night when he was sent to the penalty box for tripping Lightning forward, Alex Killorn, at 1:10 of the first period. Tampa was unable to convert on the power play.

    The Lightning also failed to take advantage of another man advantage when the Penguins were penalized for too many men on the ice at 7:59 of the first period. Phil Kessel served the bench minor for Pittsburgh.

    Andrej Sustr found the back of the net on a breakout for Tampa at 14:28 of the first period and gave the Bolts a 2-0 lead with his first goal of the playoffs. Nikita Kucherov (6) and Alex Killorn (7) picked up the primary and secondary assists on Sustr’s goal.

    With two minutes left in the first period, Chris Kunitz and J.T. Brown got into a little bit of a shoving match that set the tone for the rest of the game. Both players received roughing minors and were sent to the locker room early to cool off before the first intermission commenced.

    After twenty minutes, Tampa was leading 2-0.

    Pittsburgh Penguins LogoThe second period began with a Pittsburgh power play just a little over two minutes into it. Kucherov was called for boarding on a hit that shook up Ian Cole for a minute or two, before he regained himself and continued to play the rest of the night.

    The Penguins were unable to convert on the man advantage and failed again to do so when Jonathan Drouin was sent to the box for holding almost four minutes later.

    At 11:38 of the 2nd period the whistle had blown on a delayed call against the Penguins, except Kris Letang continued to shoot the puck up the boards and into a passing by Drouin. Several Lightning players, including Drouin, were sure to let Letang know they did not appreciate the extracurricular effort.

    As a result, Matt Cullen was sent to the box with the original infraction of holding and his friends Brian Boyle and Letang each took a trip to their respective boxes with him (Boyle for roughing, Letang for roughing and cross checking). Because Letang took two penalties at once, the Penguins were shorthanded for four minutes and the Lightning went to work on a lengthy power play opportunity.

    Vasilevskiy had just denied a shorthanded breakaway with a huge save to keep it a 2-0 game, when the Bolts found a way to get going to the other side of the ice and start generating rebounds. Drouin found a rebound in the low slot, off of Murray, and sent it to the back of the twine to give Tampa a 3-0 lead with a power play goal. Drouin’s goal was his 4th of the postseason and 3rd of the series.

    Ondrej Palat (5) and Hedman (9) were credited with the assists on the goal.

    In a largely undisciplined second period, the Lightning again took another penalty when Alex Killorn tripped Evgeni Malkin with less than five minutes remaining in the period. Pittsburgh was unable to generate any successful offense on the ensuing power play.

    Tyler Johnson added another goal for Tampa with what would become the game-winning tip-in goal at 17:48 of the 2nd period. An errant shot by Kucherov caught enough of Johnson to deflect past Murray to give the Lightning a 4-0 lead. Johnson’s goal was his 6th of the playoffs and was assisted by Kucherov (7) and Killorn (8).

    With forty minutes in the books the Lightning were ahead 4-0 on the scoreboard and led in shots on goal (30-22), faceoff wins (23-22) and blocked shots (6-5). The Penguins led in hits (18-17) and giveaways (8-7) in what was a tight possession battle that had yet to translate on the scoresheet. Pittsburgh was 0/3 on the power play entering the second intermission and Tampa was 1/3.

    Penguins head coach, Mike Sullivan, made the executive decision to replace Murray with the veteran— though back from an injury and yet to have seen much action in the playoffs— Marc-Andre Fleury after Murray allowed four goals through forty minutes of play.

    Phil Kessel kick started the comeback attempt for the Pens with his 8th goal of the playoffs 1:18 into the 3rd period. Nick Bonino (11) and Brian Dumoulin (6) tallied the assists.

    Evgeni Malkin scored his 4th goal of the postseason (his 1st of the series) just past the eleven minute mark at 11:13 of the third period to cut Tampa’s lead in half. Ian Cole picked up his 2nd assist of the playoffs on Malkin’s goal that made it a 4-2 game with plenty of time remaining.

    Thirteen seconds after Malkin scored, the Lightning committed their last infraction as Killorn was guilty of tripping up Letang. The Penguins were once again, on the power play for the fourth time of the night and found a way to convert in its closing seconds.

    Chris Kunitz notched his 3rd goal of the postseason on a pass from Justin Schultz at 13:08 of the third and brought Pittsburgh to within one. Schultz (2) and Conor Sheary (4) assisted on Kunitz’s goal. What had been a 4-0 lead for Tampa was now a nerve-wracking 4-3 battle.

    With over a minute and a half remaining in the game, Sullivan motioned to Fleury to vacate his net and head for the bench in exchange for an extra attacker.

    Facing desperation, Vasilevskiy stood tall in his net and picked up his first career playoff win that was not in a relief appearance for the Lightning. Tampa Bay had held off the momentum swinging Penguins in a raucous third period and tied the series 2-2.

    What looked like it would be a blowout turned out to be a close 4-3 victory for Tampa and a hard fought battle for Pittsburgh. After sixty minutes, the Penguins finished the night leading in shots on goal (38-37), hits (29-27), faceoff wins (33-31) and giveaways (10-7), while the Lightning clung on to an advantage in takeaways (4-2) and in blocked shots (14-6). Both teams wrapped up the night 1/4 on the power play.

    Game 5 is scheduled for Sunday night at 8:00 PM ET at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh. It can be seen on NBCSN for viewers in the United States and on CBC and TVA Sports in Canada.

  • The Celestial HBK line leads Pittsburgh to a Game 3 Win and a 2-1 Series Lead.

    The Pittsburgh Penguins took care of the Tampa Bay Lightning Wednesday night by a score of 4-2. The Penguins were led by their red-hot “HBK” line, made up of Phil Kessel, Carl Hagelin, and Nick Bonino, who combined for 5 points (2G, 3A)

    The Tampa Bay Lightning looked to avenge their 3-2 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night. The Lightning looked to use their home ice advantage in their favor to go up in the series. Tampa was once again without Vezina nominated goaltender Ben Bishop for the second straight game. They turned to their 21-year-old goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy in hope for another solid performance from the youngster.

    Pittsburgh Penguins Logo

    Tonight’s contest started with both teams trading chances back and forth but no team could gain the full momentum. We would then finally get the game’s first prime scoring chance 9:02 into the opening frame. Pens superstar center Sidney Crosby found the puck in his feet behind Tampa’s net. Crosby was being pressured behind the net by the Lightning defender and dished a beautiful no-look between the legs backhand pass to fellow linemate Patric Hornqvist who received the puck to Vasilevskiy’s right and threw a quick snap shot on net. Tampa’s Andrei Vasilevskiy was up to the task and denied Hornqvist chance with his blocker and kept the score tied at zero.

    We would then get our games first man power advantage. Pittsburgh winger Patric Hornqvist would get a two-minute call for slashing Tampa vet Ryan Callahan at 17:42 of the first period. This would send Tampa to their first power play of the game. The Pens penalty killers were huge and did not allow a single shot and killed off the penalty. With 2 seconds remaining in the period the Penguins had a faceoff in the offensive zone. Tampa center Brian Boyle would try and beat Pens center Sidney Crosby and close out the period with no damage done. Well, Boyle won the faceoff with ease and pulled the puck back hoping that his fellow defender would grab the puck and waste the remaining time on the clock. Unfortunately, his D-man missed the puck and it went right to the Pittsburgh D-man Trevor Daley who was in deep looking for a shot. Daley flipped right to his backhand and tried lifting the puck over Vasilevskiy’s glove. Vasy was right there to shut down the opportunity with a strong glove save.

    The first period would end with the score 0-0 with the Penguins basically dominating Tampa the first 10-15 minutes of the period. While the Lightning would get a little momentum towards the end of the period.

    Pittsburgh would get their first power play chance just 3:57 into the second period. Tampa winger Ryan Callahan would get the trip to the sin bin for holding Pens winger Chris Kunitz. Pittsburgh would turn to their dormant PP in the hope of striking first. The Pens would get three excellent scoring chances that were all turned away thanks to stellar goaltending from Andrei Vasilevski. Tampa would also get a great scoring chance thanks to winger Ondrej Palat shorthanded. Palat would get the puck right in front of Pens goalie Matt Murray. Palat would grab Valtteri Filppula’s rebound from Murray and throw a little backhand on net after Murray was way out of position. The shot would have gone in but Pens defender Kris Letang was there to sweep the puck away and back into Murray for the whistle. After both teams had a flurry of chances to open the scoring but the score still sat at 0-0.

    Tampa would get the best scoring chance of the game so far 9:49 into the middle period. Lightning grinder Brian Boyle would receive a pass on the left-hand dot from a teammate. Boyle quickly unleashed a nasty one-timer that beat Pens goalie Matt Murray low short side blocker but not the post, it hit iron and came right back out.

    Pittsburgh would counter with their best chance of the game almost three minutes later. Pens center Nick Bonino in his own zone, spotted fellow winger Phil Kessel streaking down the right-hand side. Bonino fired a rocket of a pass to Kessel and sent him in all alone on a breakaway. Kessel got to the top of the right-hand circle and let a wrister go towards the net. Vasilevskiy made the save look easy and swallowed the shot right into his chest to keep the Pens from scoring again.

    FINALLY after all these shots and chances from both squads we would get the games first goal with just 10 seconds remaining in period two thanks to the HBK line. The play started with Pens winger Phil Kessel making a great play and intercepting Tampa’s Jonathan Drouin’s pass high in the defensive zone. Kessel would then turn on the jets and beat Lightning defender Victor Hedman down the right-hand boards. Kessel would drive down the right side and throw a shot far side that was turned aside from Vasilevskiy right pad. Regrettably, Vasy kicked the puck into the slot and left a juicy rebound just sitting in the slot. Pittsburgh winger Carl Hagelin would beat coverage from lazy D-man Braydon Coburn, pounce on the loose puck, and put home the rebound to open the Pens scoring tab at 1-0.

    The second period would end with the score being 1-0. Pittsburgh would again COMPLETLY control the second period. They threw 21 shots on net and only gave up 6, and yes this was ONLY in period two. Tampa’s only strong suit in the period was from their goalie, Andrei Vasilevskiy, who kept them in the game with a number of solid saves. If Tampa looks to come back from their 1-0 deficit they will need to get more shots, and keep the pressure off of Vasy.

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    Pittsburgh would then double their lead to 2-0. The dominate HBK line would apply more and more pressure and it eventually paid off again. Pens winger Nick Bonino would get the puck behind the net after a lengthy time of cycling down below the goal line. Bonino would dish the puck to fellow winger Phil Kessel on the low left-hand dot. Kessel would get the puck and quickly fire a laser top cheese and beat Vasy high glove side.

    Just 14 seconds later Tampa would get one back and cut into the Pens lead. This time, it was Tampa’s red hot triplet line that got the goal. Lightning winger Ondrej Palat, who sat in his own defensive zone, saw fellow winger Nikita Kucherov at the far blue line. Palat wired a tape to tape pass to Kucherov who caught the pass and skated into the offensive zone. Kucherov left a backhand pass in the high slot to streaking center Tyler Johnson who grabbed the puck and skated in on a mini breakaway. Johnson fired the puck blocker side that beat goalie Matt Murray under the arm and made the score 2-1.

    A little over three and a half minutes later Pens D-man Kris Letang and Tampa winger Ondrej Palat each got a two-minute roughing minor after the whistle. So we still played even strength hockey as those penalties offset. Just 48 seconds later Lightning defender Braydon Coburn took a terrible penalty by elbowing Pens winger Carl Hagelin who was entering the zone. This sent the Pens to their second power play of the game as they looked to restore their two-goal lead playing 4 on 3 hockey. Pittsburgh’s wish would pay off thanks to a stellar power play at the 10:50 mark of the final period. Pens star Sidney Crosby would dish the puck to center Evgeni Malkin high in the center of the slot and top of their umbrella on the PP. Malkin quickly threw the puck back Crosby’s way on top of the right-hand dot. Crosby fired a wicked one-timer that beat Vasilevsky high glove short side to increase their lead to 3-1.

    Pittsburgh would tally again at 13:12 of the third period. This goal was a confusing one as the puck was bouncing all over the place. Vasy made a great save in close on a tough Penguins shot. The rebound sat in the slot and Tampa back checker Cedric Paquette would blindly backhand the puck out of the slot to, what he thought was, the right-hand corner out of harms way. Sadly, he passed the puck right to Penguins’ winger Chris Kunitz who grabbed the puck and beat a surprising Andrei Vasilevsky short side to stretch the score to 4-1.

    The Lightning would take another penalty a minute later with another pointless call from Tampa defenseman Braydon Coburn who caught Pens winger Bryan Rust up high with his stick. Tampa was able to halt the bleeding and stop the scoring onslaught and kill off the penalty. Then with 1:44 left in the game Tampa was able to grab a consolation goal. Lightning defender Matt Carle passed the puck to winger Nikita Kucherov on the left side boards. Kucherov slid down the side and dished the puck to Ondrej Palat in the high slot who ripped another one-timer high glove side on Matt Murray to cut the score to 4-2.

    With 19 seconds left in the game, a minor scrum ensued between the two teams. After everything got settled down three penalties were handed out, one to Pittsburgh and two to Tampa Bay. Pens D-man Trevor Daley got a two-minute roughing call and Tampa winger Alex Killorn getting a roughing call as well as a 10-minute misconduct.

    The game ended with Pittsburgh winning comfortably 4-2. Pens goalie Matt Murray stopped 26 out of 28 shots for a .929 SV% while opposing goalie Andrei Vasilevsky stopped 44 out of an insane 48 shots for a .917 SV%. Pittsburgh led in shots (48-28), and faceoffs (34-30). While Tampa led in hits (30-16), blocked shots (13-12), giveaways (11-8), and penalty minutes (20-6). Pittsburgh went 1/3 on the PP while Tampa Bay went 0/3.

    These two clubs will take a day off and play again on Friday night here in Tampa, Florida with puck drop at 8 pm. Tampa will hopefully get goalie Ben Bishop back in net from injury.

  • Lightning Win Game 1, Lead Eastern Conference Final 1-0

    By: Nick Lanciani

    Unknown-1The Tampa Bay Lightning were victorious on road ice in Game 1 of the 2016 Eastern Conference Final, beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-1 at CONSOL Energy Center on Friday night.

    Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves on 26 shots faced for a .962 SV% in 46:55 TOI in the win, while Matt Murray made just 17 saves for the Penguins on 20 shots faced for a .850 SV% in the loss. Ben Bishop played just 12:25, made 9 saves on 9 shots against and left the game with an injury in the first period.

    Ryan Callahan took a five-minute major penalty for boarding Penguins defenseman, Kris Letang, almost three minutes into the first period. Letang remained down on the ice briefly, before being helped up by the Penguins training staff and skating off on his own power and walking to the locker room. He would return later in the first period.

    Ben Bishop went down with a lower body injury a little over twelve minutes into the first period after trying to handle the puck in the trapezoid. Bishop skated to reach the puck, mishandled it and quickly tried to get back into position in the crease. He awkwardly extended his left leg and fell backward as the puck skipped by and the refs blew the whistle for the Lightning athletic training staff to tend to his injury. Bishop suffered a similar lower body injury in last year’s Stanley Cup Final.

    Bishop was stretchered off the ice and transported to a local hospital for further evaluation. Anredi Vasilevskiy replaced Bishop in goal and Kristers Gudlevskis soon worked his way to the Tampa bench in the second period to serve as the Lightning’s backup in case Vasilevskiy went down.

    Alex Killorn kicked off the scoring for the Lightning when he sent a backhand past Matt Murray on a breakaway for the 1-0 lead. Killorn’s goal was his 4th of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs and was assisted by Victor Hedman (6) at 18:46 of the first period.

    Tyler Johnson was injured on a hit along the boards late in the first period and appeared to have suffered a lower body injury, if not at least a leg or knee injury. He returned to Tampa’s bench in the second period.

    After twenty minutes of play the Bolts led 1-0 on the scoreboard. Pittsburgh led in shots on goal (10-6) and faceoff wins (9-7) after the first period and Tampa led in hits (16-14) and blocked shots (6-4), while both teams recorded two giveaways and three takeaways each. The Lightning had yet to see the man advantage after one and the Penguins were 0/1 on the power play through twenty minutes of play.

    Pittsburgh Penguins LogoEvgeni Malkin hooked Victor Hedman just 1:46 into the second period and was sent to the penalty box for a minor infraction, giving Tampa their first power play opportunity of the night. The Lightning went right to work on the man advantage and peppered Murray with a couple of decent chances.

    Valtteri Filppula found Ondrej Palat as he was crashing the net on a rebound. Palat backhanded the puck while he was falling past an out of position Murray for his 3rd goal of the postseason. Filppula (4) and Jason Garrison (5) picked up the assists on the power play goal that was scored at 2:33 of the second period.

    With a 2-0 lead the Lightning set into a rhythm.

    Nikita Nesterov gave Pittsburgh a power play after hooking Conor Sheary at 7:50 of the second period. The Penguins were unable to convert on the man advantage. Likewise the Bolts were unable to convert on their man advantage three minutes later when Matt Cullen tripped Hedman.

    At 18:25 of the second period, Jonathan Drouin potted his 2nd goal of the playoffs on a one timer from Palat as the Lightning entered the offensive zone on a 3-on-1 rush. Palat (3) and Filppula (5) notched the assists on Drouin’s goal that made it 3-0 Tampa Bay.

    A mere 24 seconds later, Hedman tripped Sheary and set the Penguins up with another power play. This time, Patric Hornqvist fired a shot past Vasilevskiy and Pittsburgh scored six seconds into the power play, thus ending the shutout bid for Vasilevskiy and cutting the Lightning’s lead to two. The goal read as Hornqvist’s 6th of the postseason, assisted by Sidney Crosby (8) and Phil Kessel (8) at 19:05 of the 2nd.

    Tampa Bay still went into the second intermission with a 3-1 lead on the scoreboard. Pittsburgh continued to lead in shots on goal (19-15) and faceoff wins (26-10), while the Lightning led in hits (28-24) and blocked shots (15-9). Both teams had three giveaways and three takeaways each. The Bolts were 1/2 on the power play and the Pens were 1/3 on the man advantage after forty minutes of play.

    With the exception of shots on goal and lots of saves, not much happened in the third period. There was no more scoring in the game and only a couple more penalties distributed.

    Ondrej Palat drilled Brian Dumoulin into the boards face first 15:14 into the third period and received a two-minute minor penalty for boarding, as Dumoulin took some time to gather himself and be helped off the ice by his teammates, Nick Bonino and Kris Letang. Penguins fans were not pleased and it was the fourth time in the night that a player required extra time to recover from a potential injury on a play in the game.

    With less than three minutes to go, Penguins head coach, Mike Sullivan, called for Murray to vacate the goal in exchange for an extra attacker in a last ditch effort for Pittsburgh to try to tie the game and at least force overtime, if not score three goals to win it before the end of regulation.

    But the extra skater was to no avail as the Penguins iced the puck a couple of times, forcing Matt Murray back into the goal, and the Lightning held off the Pittsburgh offense.

    Hornqvist took one last penalty as time expired for cross checking Matt Carle at 20:00 of the third.

    The Penguins finished the night leading in shots on goal (35-20), faceoff wins (35-23) and giveaways (9-4). The Lightning had not only won the game 3-1, but had also ended the night with an advantage in hits (40-31), takeaways (6-4) and blocked shots (20-10). Tampa finished the night 1/2 on the power play and Pittsburgh finished the night 1/4.

    This is the Penguins first visit back to the Eastern Conference Final since 2013 when they were swept by the Boston Bruins. The Lightning are making their second appearance in a row in the Eastern Conference Final, having defeated the New York Rangers last year in the 2015 Eastern Conference Final en route to an unsuccessful Stanley Cup Final run against the Chicago Blackhawks.

    In other news and notes…

    Heading into Game 1 the Tampa Bay Lightning had not lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the regular season in all three occasions. The Lightning had scored at least four or more goals in each of their wins against Pittsburgh, with their most recent victory having been a 4-2 win at CONSOL Energy Center on February 20th.

    Game 1 marked the fourth time in the past 35 years in which both goalies were 21 years old or younger, as noted by Elias Sports. A 20-year-old, Tom Barrasso, of the Buffalo Sabres faced a 21-year-old, Mario Gosselin, of the Québec Nordiques in the 1985 Division Semifinals, while Bill Ranford of the Boston Bruins and Patrick Roy of the Montréal Canadiens squared off as 19 and 20 year olds and then 20 and 21 year olds, respectively in the 1986 and the 1987 Division Semifinals prior to last night’s 21-year-old matchup of Matt Murray and Andrei Vasilevskiy.

    Sidney Crosby’s assist was his 83rd career playoff assist and moved him past Jaromir Jagr (82 assists) for sole possession of the second most playoff assists in Penguins franchise history.

    Tampa Bay now has a 1-0 series lead heading into Game 2 on Monday night in Pittsburgh. Puck drop is scheduled for 8:00 PM ET and the game will be televised on NBCSN in the United States and CBC and TVA Sports in Canada.

  • Tampa Emerges Victorious in OT For Second Straight Game, Stretches Series Lead to 3-1.

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    The New York Islanders lost a heartbreaker at home in overtime by the score of 2-1 to the Tampa Bay Lightning. This was the second straight game that went past 60 minutes and where the Lightning came from behind to tie and eventually win in OT.

    New York looked to avenge their 5-4 OT loss to the Lightning on Tuesday Night. Both teams had a couple bone crunching hits in Game 3, so everyone was wondering if that would boil over into tonight’s game. Besides that fact, tonight’s matchup will be intense for sure and I was not wrong.

    Both New York and Tampa Bay started out very physical with the teams combining for 6 hits in the first 2:30 of the game  The Islanders got the first chance to score in the opening frame with an opportunity in front that was shut down by Tampa goalie Ben Bishop. After Bishop froze the puck, a big scrum ensued in front of the net with all the Islanders trying to poke the puck in. While all the Lightning players took offense to the Islanders poking their goalie and stood their ground.

    From this scuffle the games first penalty was taken thanks to Lightning enforcer Mike Blunden getting called for a two-minute infraction for roughing on New York center Ryan Strome at 2:44 of the first. New York would go to their first manpower advantage of the game looking to strike early. The Islanders would get their wish thanks to Kyle Okposo aka Booker T. The Islanders chance to strike on the power play was winding down and things were not looking so good. Fortunately, Islanders center Frans Nielsen held the puck in at the left-hand dot and slid the puck down to fellow line-mate Nikolay Kulemin below the goal line. Kulemin spotted alternate captain Kyle Okposo in the slot and hit him with a one touch pass. Okposo wasted no time with the puck on his stick and roofed it high glove side to put the Islanders up 1-0 just 4:20 into the first. This was Okposo’s first goal since scoring in Round 1 Game 1 against the Florida Panthers.

    The games next scoring chance would fall to the Islanders as well. Just five minutes later Islanders rookie Shane Prince came down the left-hand side and put a wrister on net. Prince’s shot was turned away by Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop, but he put the rebound right in the slot. Islanders superstar John Tavares picked the puck up and put a shot on net that beat Bishop blocker side but not the post and hit the iron and came right out. A definite chance that we will probably look back to as this game goes on.

    Tampa Bay vet Ryan Callahan would then take a double minor for roughing Islander D-man Thomas Hickey. New York would go on a four-minute power play looking to cash in again to double their lead before the period ended. Although thanks to stellar penalty killing, Tampa Bay was able to kill off the long man advantage and only gave up 1 shot in the process. The first period ended with the Islanders up by the score of 1-0.

    The second period started off just like the first one did with a penalty early. This time just 1:33 into the period, the roles were reversed and the Islanders went on the penalty kill with 4th liner Casey Cizikas getting a two-minute tripping call on Lightning star Ondrej Palat. To start the PP, New York goalie Thomas Greiss lost a skate blade and had to leave the ice for a repair. So New York was forced to call upon newcomer goaltender Jean-Francois Berube (first NHL playoff action) while Greiss is being attended too in the locker room. Tampa’s first power play of the game was ineffective as they only managed two weak shots and Berube shut them down so New York killed it off with poise.

    Thomas Greiss was able to come back after only missing 4:47 in total time. Berube only faced two shots in his brief call to action and showed a strong confidence in himself. If he were to be called upon again, I am sure Islanders coach Jack Capuano will have a lot of faith in Berube to get the job done.

    New York would get the next prime scoring chance again at the 10:22 mark of period two. Islanders 1st line center John Tavares dished some backhand sauce and sent Kyle Okposo in on a mini-breakaway in the slot. Okposo received the puck on his backhand and quickly turned the puck to his forehand and released a quick shot on net. Tampa’s Ben Bishop was up to the task and stoned Okposo with his glove and kept the score at 1-0 half way through the second frame.

    The Lightning would get their second power play of the game with 11:42 gone as New York defender Johnny Boychuk slashed Tampa winger Ondrej Palat. New York penalty killers made that kill look easy and didn’t even allow a single shot and killed off the penalty. Then almost seven minutes later the Lightning would get their third power play and another chance to tie the game as they went back on the power play. Islander winger Brock Nelson got two minutes for tripping Tampa’s Jonathan Drouin. Just 17 seconds later, on the penalty kill no less, New York defenseman Calvin de Haan was in alone in front and tried going 5-hole on Lightning goalie Ben Bishop. Haan was robbed on the breakaway with Bishop’s pad. Bishop was able to keep his team’s deficit still at one.

    After that mishap, Tampa was able to stay in the offensive zone for almost the whole power play. Tampa was only able to get two shots on net, and thanks to killer shot blocking from the Islanders penalty killers they were able to get back to full strength. The second period ended with the score still sitting at 1-0.

    The third period started off with a 5-10 minute delay because the glass/stanchion was broken in the rink so they had to fix it. As the game resumed, both teams started out strong. New York and Tampa Bay traded shots and chances back to back but no team was really able to gain momentum.

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    Tampa Bay was finally able to break through and get one past Thomas Greiss. Tampa went to work behind the net in the offensive zone to try and get the puck. Lightning center Tyler Johnson was able to come out of the pile of players with the puck below the goal line. He found fellow 1st liner, Nikita Kucherov on the left-hand dot. Johnson delivered a perfect pass right in Kucherov’s wheelhouse. Kucherov one-timed the puck short side on Greiss to level the score to  1-1 at the 7:49 mark of the third. This was Kucherov’s league leading 8th goal of the playoffs.

    After Kucherov’s tieing goal the Islanders and the Lightning had a couple prime scoring chances. Goalies Thomas Greiss and Ben Bishop were both stellar and didn’t let anything get past them. The third period ended 1-1. So now the game will be decided in sudden death overtime, just like Game 3 did. Tampa won Game 3 in OT thanks to Dan Boyle so the Islanders were definitely looking for revenge.

    Well, Tampa Bay and New York obviously did not want to play triple OT like the Predators and the Sharks did last night because it took just 1:34 into the first overtime frame to get a winner. Tampa Bay had ALL the pressure to start off the OT and that’s how they scored the game winner. Tampa defensemen Andrej Sustr corralled fellow D-man Jason Garrison’s blocked shot in the left-hand corner and slid up to the point. Sustr located Garrison at the right-hand point and threw a beautiful pass over into Garrison’s sweet spot. Garrison unloaded a nasty one-timer that beat New York goalie Greiss far side past his blocker to end the game. It was the shortest overtime played this postseason.

    Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss saved 20 out of 22 shots for a .909 SV% as well as J.F. Berube stopped the two shots he faced in emergency relief. Tampa goalie Ben Bishop stopped 27 out of 28 shots for a .964 SV%.

    New York led in shots (28-24), faceoffs (29-22), and hits (45-29). Tampa only led in blocked shots (22-10). While the teams tied in penalty minutes (6-6) and giveaways (13-13). The Islanders were 1/3 on the Power Play and the Lightning were 0/3.

    Tampa Bay put a major dagger in New York’s playoff hopes with tonight’s win. Their win now has them leading 3 games to 1 in the series (3-1). These two teams will play again on Sunday afternoon at 3 pm in Tampa, Florida where the Lightning will look to end the series on home ice.

  • Tampa Takes one in New York

    The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New York Islanders 5-4 in overtime to take game 3 on the road. Brian Boyle scored the game winning goal in overtime. Josh Bailey had a strong game in his return scoring 2 goals in a losing effort.  

    Going into game 3, Josh Bailey was a game time decision after missing the past few games. It proved to be a great choice as 8 minutes into the game Josh Bailey opened the scoring of the game. Travis Hamonic dumped the puck into the offensive zone and Nikolay Kulemin got in on the fore-check and managed to get the puck to Bailey in front of the net and made no mistake to beat Ben Bishop.

    The Islanders continued to pressure Tampa as they threw puck after puck at the net, but Bishop was up to the task. Bishop had a great first period making 16 saves on 17 shots. It looked like the Islanders were going to take the lead into the second period, but with 1:30 left in the period Casey Cizikas took a tripping penalty. Tampa made no mistake on the power-play as Alex Killorn’s slap shot from the point was deflected by Ryan Callahan past Thomas Greiss with just 13 second left in the period. Unknown-1

    The second period started with the Islanders throwing their weight around and no one felt it more than Jonathan Drouin who was hammered by Thomas Hickey crossing over the blue line. It was a little questionable with a lot of contact to Drouin’s head. It was also pointed out that Drouin lowered his head and Hickey had no option but make contact with his head. Drouin didn’t return until halfway thru the 3rd period.

     A few minutes later Tampa took its first lead of the game, Tyler Johnson won an offensive zone faceoff back to Victor Hedman who stepped into a slap shot and hammered it past Greiss. The lead lasted for about six minutes until the 4th line for New York was out grinding. Cal Clutterbuck got the puck back to Nick Leddy who let a slap shot go with big Matt Martin in front of the net and the puck beat Bishop. The 2nd period finished with both teams tied at 2 going into the final 20 minutes of the game.

    The 3rd period got underway and Jason Garrison took a high sticking penalty, giving the Islanders their 4th powerplay of the game. This time they were able to capitalize on the man advantage as Josh Bailey scored his second goal of the game after a great pass from Thomas Hickey making the game 3-2 just 2 minutes into the game.  

    This lasted 58 seconds as Tampa answered with a goal of their own. Valtteri Filppula was behind the net and made a great pass to find Vladislav Namestnikov who’s one timer hit the back of net. Alex Killorn also picked up an assist on the goal. The game slowed down a little as both teams began to play conservative hockey.

     With 8 minutes left in the period the Islanders’ 4th line struck again as they won a battle along the boards and found Cal Clutterbuck in the high slot who buried his shot past Bishop to retake the lead. New York Islanders Logo

    Tampa was looking to tie the game, so with just over 2 minutes left in the game they pulled Bishop for the extra attacker. It proved to be a great decision as Nikitia Kucherov receives a pass from Drouin to tie the game with 38 seconds left in the game. This meant overtime was needed to decide a winner.

    Overtime lasted a whole 2:48 as Brian Boyle scored his first ever playoff winning goal. Victor Hedman took a shot that missed the net and came off the boards to Boyle who made no mistake in finding the net with Greiss down and out.

    The next game will be Friday, May 6th at 7pm eastern standard time in New York.

  • Johnson and Drouin lead Lightning to 4-1 victory in Game 2

    By: Nick Lanciani

    Unknown-1Tyler Johnson and Jonathan Drouin led the charge in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders in Game 2 of their 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs Second Round matchup on Saturday afternoon at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.

    Ben Bishop made 19 saves on 20 shots against for a .950 SV% in the win, while Thomas Greiss stopped 27 shots out of 30 shots faced for a .900 SV% in the loss. Drouin’s game winning goal came shortly past the halfway mark of the first period after a successful penalty kill by the Lightning. Tampa has now tied the series at 1-1.

    The Islanders failed to secure a 2-0 series lead in what would have been their first 2-0 series lead since the 1983 Stanley Cup Final. The Lightning, meanwhile have now won their last six Game 2s in recent playoff history.

    Ondrej Palat took the game’s first penalty at 3:12 of the first period for interference, sending New York on their first power play of the afternoon. After failing to get much generated on the power play, the Islanders surrendered the first goal of the game at 6:03 of the first period when Tyler Johnson received a pass from Palat that he sent past Greiss on a backhand to give Tampa a 1-0 lead.

    Johnson’s goal was his 3rd of the postseason and was assisted by Palat (1) and Victor Hedman (3).

    After killing off Ryan Callahan’s holding penalty, the Lightning capitalized on a surge in momentum after a successful penalty kill, 11:55 into the 1st. Drouin received a pass from Valtteri Filppula that he then sent through Greiss’s five-hole with a backhand shot to give Tampa a 2-0 lead.

    Brian Boyle sent the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty 13:32 into the first period and sent New York on a power play. Nikolay Kulemin scored the lone Islanders goal on the ensuing man advantage at 15:15 of the first period to make it a 2-1 game. Thomas Hickey (3) and Alan Quine (4) assisted on Kulemin’s first goal of the playoffs.

    Travis Hamonic closed off the end of the period with a cross checking minor heading into the first intermission.

    The Islanders led in shots on goal (12-5), giveaways (4-3) and takeaways (3-2) after twenty minutes, while the Lightning led in hits (16-12) and faceoff wins (10-7) after one period of play.

    Drouin tripped Cal Clutterbuck early into the second period and gave the Islanders another power play, which they were unable to capitalize on. Marek Zidlicky took a trip to the sin bin for interference at 5:40 of the 2nd period, but the Lightning were unable to convert on the man advantage.

    New York Islanders LogoWhen Clutterbuck was sent to the box for goaltender interference at 11:11 of the 2nd period, Tampa went on the aggressive on the ensuing power play opportunity. Their quick puck movement and possession management led to a rocket of a slap shot from Hedman that beat Greiss to put the Bolts up 3-1 at 11:59 of the 2nd. Hedman’s goal, his first of the postseason, was assisted by Tyler Johnson (6) and Jonathan Drouin (6).

    Alex Killorn was penalized for elbowing John Tavares at 18:59 of the second period, but it was not enough to get Tavares to enact revenge on the scoreboard like he did in Game 1. Less than a minute later, Frans Nielsen was sent to the box for holding and the game witnessed its first 4-on-4 action that would extend into the third period.

    The third period began with Jonathan Marchessault and Ryan Strome both being sent to the box and forcing 4-on-4 play at 6:33 of the 3rd period. Marchessault went to the box for slashing, while Strome was sent to the box for roughing.

    When full strength hockey resumed, both teams remained rather disciplined and nobody could figure out how to beat either goalie. Then with under four minutes to go in the game Greiss vacated the Islanders net for an extra attacker, but it was to no avail.

    At 17:42 of the 3rd period, Johnson pocketed his 4th goal of the postseason on an empty net goal. Johnson’s goal was assisted by Jason Garrison (4) and put Tampa on top of New York by a score of 4-1.

    Matt Martin was penalized for charging Victor Hedman at 18:20 of the period and Cal Clutterbuck had a part in creating a 5-on-3 power play for the Lightning at 19:22 of the 3rd period. Marchessault was also penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct and with 20 seconds to go in the game, tempers between Killorn and Hickey flared enough for Killorn to receive two minutes for roughing and Hickey to receive two minor penalties— one for interference and the other for slashing.

    At the final horn the Tampa Bay Lightning had even the series at 1-1 with a 4-1 rout of the New York Islanders on home ice in Game 2 of their series. The Bolts finished the game leading in shots on goal (31-20), faceoff wins (30-26), giveaways (8-7) and takeaways (12-3), while the Isles led in hits (33-31) and blocked shots (14-7). Both teams finished the afternoon 1/5 on the power play.

    Game 3 is scheduled for Tuesday night in Brooklyn, New York at the Barclays Center. Puck drop is set for a little after 7:00 PM EST and the game can be viewed on NBCSN in the United States and on CBC and TVA Sports in Canada.

  • Prince Nets 2, Bishop Chased, Islanders Win 5-3 in Game 1

    By: Nick Lanciani

    New York Islanders LogoThe New York Islanders defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 at Amalie Arena in Game 1 of the Second Round of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Wednesday night.

    Thomas Greiss made 33 saves on 36 shots against for a .917 SV% in the win, while Ben Bishop made 9 saves on 13 shots faced and was replaced by Andrei Vasilevskiy with a .692 SV% on the night. Vasilevskiy made 8 saves on 8 shots faced in 29:40 TOI in the loss.

    Josh Bailey was out of the lineup for the Islanders on Wednesday night after leaving Game 6 versus the Florida Panthers with an upper body injury. With Bailey out, Ryan Strome was inserted into the lineup for New York.

    Ondrej Palat opened up the scoring in the first period for Tampa a little over three minutes into the opening frame. Palat’s goal was his 2nd of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs and was assisted by Jonathan Drouin (5) and Vladislav Namestnikov (1) and gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead.

    Travis Hamonic answered back in a hurry at 5:44 of the first period with a goal of his own for New York. Hamonic’s first goal of the postseason was assisted by Alan Quine (3) and John Tavares (5) and tied the game at 1 for the Islanders.

    Both teams settled into a little rhythm after swapping goals early in the first. Lightning forward, Tyler Johnson received a minor penalty for hooking New York forward, Cal Clutterbuck, at 9:06 of the first period. The Islanders were unable to convert on their first power play opportunity of the night. They subsequently failed on their next power play opportunity when Alex Killorn went to the box for kneeing Calvin de Haan. Actually, Killorn’s penalty was served by Jonathan Drouin, but anyway…

    At 17:28 of the first period, Shane Prince potted one at the back of the net. Ryan Strome (2) and Brock Nelson (3) assisted on Prince’s 2nd goal of the postseaon. A little more than two minutes later, Prince, Strome and Nelson connected for another Islanders goal to give New York a 3-1 lead. The goal was Prince’s second goal of the game and his 3rd of the postseason. Strome picked up his 3rd assist of the playoffs and Nelson picked up his 4th assist of the postseason.

    After twenty minutes of play, the Islanders were leading 3-1 and led in shots on goal (12-8), faceoff wins (10-9) and takeaways (3-2). The Lightning led in hits (18-12), giveaways (5-3) and blocked shots (6-3). New York went 0/2 on the power play, while Tampa had yet to see time on the power play entering the first intermission.

    Marek Zidlicky served a minor penalty for interference 2:21 into the 2nd period, which gave Tampa their first power play of the night. The Lightning were unsuccessful on the man advantage.

    Unknown-1Jonathan Marchessault hooked John Tavares at 8:12 of the 2nd period, resulting in an Islanders power play.

    47 seconds into the man advantage Tavares made the Lightning pay with his 6th goal of the 2016 playoffs on the power play at 8:59 of the 2nd. Kyle Okposo (6) and Frans Nielsen (2) picked up the primary and secondary assists on the goal that made it 4-1, Islanders.

    Tampa Bay head coach, Jon Cooper, replaced his starting goaltender, Ben Bishop, with Andrei Vasilevskiy after the Tavares power play goal.

    Ryan Callahan took a holding penalty with under three minutes left in the second period. New York was unable to convert on the ensuing power play. After forty minutes of play, the Islanders had a commanding 4-1 lead over the Lightning, despite trailing in shots on goal (19-17), hits (22-19) and blocked shots (8-6).

    Nikita Kucherov kicked things off in the third period for the Lightning with his 6th goal of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs at 7:41 of the period. Kucherov’s goal was assisted by Mathieu Carle (2) and Victor Hedman (2) and cut the Islanders lead to two.

    The final penalty of the night was called at 15:20 of the 3rd period, when Casey Cizikas sent the puck over the glass for a delay of game minor. Eight seconds after the conclusion of the power play, Tampa scored to trail by one. The goal was Valtteri Filppula’s first of the playoffs and was assisted by Killorn (3) and Jason Garrison (3) at 17:28 of the period.

    With 1:39 to go in regulation, Vasilevskiy deserted the net for an extra attacker, but it was to no avail as Cal Clutterbuck notched one in the empty net at 19:05 of the third. Cizikas (1) and de Haan (2) picked up the assists on Clutterbuck’s first goal of the postseason and ensured that the Islanders would pick up the 5-3 victory in Game 1.

    Tampa led in shots on goal (36-22), hits (33-29) and giveaways (13-7) at the end of the game, while New York led in faceoff wins (32-21), takeaways (4-2) and blocked shots (15-10). The Islanders were 1/4 on the power play on the night while the Lightning were 0/2.

    The Isles won two out of the three regular season games against the Bolts and took Game 1 convincingly, despite being outworked in the final twenty minutes. More rest proved to be sloppy for the Lightning out of the gate, however more work caught up to New York by the end of sixty minutes of play.

    For the first time since 1983 two playoffs occurred on the same day, with the Tampa Bay vs. New York game opening the Second Round on Wednesday night, while the Anaheim Ducks and the Nashville Predators closed out their First Round series in Game 7 at the Honda Center.

    The Lightning play host to the Islanders once again for Game 2 on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 PM EST on home ice at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. The game can be seen on NBC in the United States and on Sportsnet and TVA Sports in Canada. The Islanders lead the series 1-0 with their 5-3 victory on Wednesday night.

  • Drouin and Kucherov Take Over Game 4

    The Tampa Bay Lighting defeated the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in game 4 of the series. Tampa now has a stranglehold on Detroit with a 3-1 series lead. Nikita Kucherov and Jonathan Drouin had 3-point nights, as Drouin had 3 assists and Kucherov had 2 goals and an assist. Tampa had a great night on special teams going 3/5 on the powerplay. Unknown-1

    The first period started when just five minutes into the game Justin Abdelkader took a holding penalty. On the Powerplay Tampa was able to open the scoring as Nikitia Kucherov his 4th of the playoffs off a one-timer. Jonathan Drouin and Tyler Johnson picked up assists on the goal. Petr Mrazek was keeping Detroit in the game making a lot of really good saves. The momentum began to switch and Detroit started using their speed, but couldn’t seem to beat Ben Bishop.

    In the second period Tampa retook momentum with a strong forecheck that seemed to keep Detroit pinned in their zone. Drouin was having a great night on the forecheck as he was playing the pest role, picking the pockets of the D-men. No surprise, the pressure caused Detroit to take another penalty as Riley Sheahan took a slashing penalty. Kucherov struck again on the powerplay after a great pass by Jonathan Drouin, extending Tampa’s lead to 2-0.

    With 7 minutes left in the period, Cedric Paquette took his 3rd penalty of the game. Right after the penalty expired, Darren Helm capitalized on a lucky bounce to cut the lead in half, and picking up assists on the goal were Brendan Smith and Luke Glendening. Detroit wasn’t done yet, though. With less than 10 seconds left in the period, Gustav Nyquist scored his first of the playoffs. Riley Sheahan made a great pass over the D-man to Nyquist, who put it by Bishop. Unknown-1

    Detroit started the 3rd period much better than the first two periods, and was outshooting Tampa 6-2 early. Detroit thought they had taken the lead as Larkin hit the crossbar with a backhand. The red hot Tampa powerplay unit got another chance as Jonathan Ericsson took a crosschecking penalty. On that powerplay, Jonathan Drouin had another great pass to find Ondrej Palat for the tip in and gave Tampa the lead, 3-2. They were able to see the game out and take the 3-1 lead in the series.

    The next game between the Red Wings and the Lightning will be Thursday, April 21 at 7pm Eastern time at Amalie Arena.

  • Bolts Win Big in Game 2

    Is it time for Detroit to hit the panic button?  A poor performance in the final fifteen minutes of game two leaves them down 2-0 in the first round series of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Lightning on the other hand are set on cruise control as they look to take game three in Hockeytown. Even though the score board reveals a dominant performance from Tampa Bay, both teams seemed to be executing their game plan accordingly during the first two periods of play.

    First Period

    The first half of the opening period was rather unexciting. Each team had a handful of chances, but neither could find the back of the net. That is until Nikita Kucherov scored his third goal of the playoffs. He one-timed a feed from Victor Hedman and put the Bolts up 1-0 on the power play.

    Second Period

    The action picked up a little bit here in the second, as each team was able to kindle some offense. Just 3:30 into the period, Dylan Larkin made a play and scored his first career post-season goal. Larkin picked up a puck that banked off the back boards and beat Ben Bishop five-hole.

    Just a few minutes later, Brian Boyle regained the lead for his club. The Lightning broke out on a 3-on-2 play and Jonathan Drouin was able to feed Boyle in the high slot. A nice wrist shot beat Jimmy Howard as the tie was broken. Detroit was upset with the sequence, as they believed Boyle had committed a penalty earlier in the shift.

    Third Period

    The Redwings battled hard and received a good call in their favor, as Nikita Nesterov was sent to the box for a high stick. Bishop was fighting through a good screen as Brad Richards took a shot that found the net.  Assists on the play went to Mike Green and Tomas Tatar and the game was tied 2-2.

    That goal was the last bit of hope for the Wings, as Tampa Bay went on to score three straight goals and win a pivotal game two with a score of 5-2. Tyler Johnson put two tallies on the board, scoring the game-winner just shortly after the goal from Mike Richards. Alex Killorn put the final nail in the coffin with an empty-net goal late in the period. Johnson assisted on the play to earn his fourth point in what was a monster performance from the forward.

    The referees had themselves a mess to sort out at 19:06 of the final frame. A whopping thirteen penalties were handed out to all ten skaters on the ice. Both teams skated with grit and aggression.

    Ben Bishop was by far the better of the two goalies, as he stopped 30 of 32 shots, while only allowing one even strength goal. Jimmy Howard only turned in a 26 saver performance on 30 total shots.

    Game three will be played on April 17th at 7:00pm in Detroit.

  • Tampa takes game 1 behind Kucherov’s big night

    The Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Detroit Red Wings in game 1 of the 1st round of the playoffs. Nikita Kucherov had a great night with two goals and an assist. Both teams seemed to ignite the hatred for each other from last year. Unknown-1

    Tampa started off slow as it took them five minutes before they registered the first shot of the game. However, it didn’t stop them as 6:23 into the first period they found the net with Nikita Kucherov getting his 12th career playoff goal. Tampa kept the lead through the first period.

    Detroit found the scoreboard just over two minutes into the first period with Mike Green netting his 10th career playoff goal, his first as a Wing. It wasn’t long before Detroit took the lead with Justin Abdelkader getting a tip on Kyle Quincey’s shot. Detroit was definitely sparked half way through the second period they were outshooting Tampa 22-11. It didn’t stop the Lightning however as Kucherov poked in his second of the game. This seemed to spark the team’s physical play and after whistle actions.

    The final period saw Tampa score a goal as Victor Hedman scored a goal that was reviewed by the coach challenge and waived off – Jonathan Drouin got into the zone too early. It didn’t seem to matter as two minutes later with Alex Killorn showing off his hand-eye coordination and batting one out of the air past Howard. Tampa had the advantage and stellar play from Ben Bishop kept Detroit off the scoresheet again.  

    The three stars of the game was Tampa’s first line with Kucherov earning the first star with two goals and an assist. Tyler Johnson was the second star with two assists and Alex Killorn took the third star with a goal and an assist.  Both teams struggled with Powerplay as Detroit went 0-5 and Tampa went 0-4. Unknown-1 

    The young kids struggled for both teams as Dylan Larkin and Jonathan Drouin both seemed a little out of their element. Drouin took two penalties and was around all the rough stuff. Larkin didn’t seem like himself either as he fell a lot and couldn’t find that offensive stark.  

    The next game with be Friday at 7pm at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.