Islanders get struck down by Lightning

Tampa outscores New York in battle of NHL’s top-two offenses

December 6, 2017 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The Islanders could only watch as Tampa’s Yanni Gourde celebrated his go-ahead goal in the second period of New York’s 6-2 loss to the Lightning Tuesday night in a matchup of the NHL’s two highest-scoring teams. AP Photo by Chris O’Meara

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The Islanders’ visit to Tampa Bay on Tuesday night was billed as a battle between the two highest-scoring teams in the NHL.

Unfortunately for New York, the Lightning struck early and often en route to a dominating 6-2 victory over the Islanders in front of a sellout crowd of 19,092 at Amalie Arena.

“We weren’t ready to play,” admitted Isles second-line center Jordan Eberle, whose second-period goal evened the contest at 2-2 before Tampa Bay pulled away for good with a flurry of three consecutive goals later in the stanza.

“We woke up in the second and started to play,” added Eberle. “We played really well for 15, 16 minutes and found a way to climb back into it.”

Climbing back in never resulted in climbing over the Lightning (19-6-2), who got a pair of goals from Yanni Gourde, including one on the power play, to snap the second-period deadlock before Vladislav Namestnikov made it 5-2 with 1:14 to go before the second intermission.

“We had the whole ice tilted and had taken the game over and reversed the whole script,” Isles head coach Doug Weight said of his team’s comeback from an early 2-0 deficit.

“Two penalties late and it’s 4-2, then 5-2 and the game was virtually done. It’s disappointing, but we have to march on.”

New York (16-9-2), which came into the contest averaging 3.67 goals per game, just .03 shy of Tampa’s league-leading average, watched almost helplessly as the Lightning peppered goaltender Thomas Greiss throughout the opening 20 minutes.

Tampa outshot New York, 11-2, in the opening period and went out in front on goals by Brayden Point and Andrej Sustr.

The tide turned quickly in the second period as Isles super rookie Mathew Barzal, the shootout hero in Monday night’s 5-4 victory in Florida, used his blinding speed and deft stickwork to backhand a shot past Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy for a power-play goal at the 7:07 mark.

Barzal, who leads all NHL first-year players with 26 points and is being heralded as a strong candidate for Calder Trophy honors, picked up an assist on Eberle’s 11th goal of the season just under two minutes later to even the contest.

But instead of turning into the expected back-and-forth shootout, the game shifted in Tampa’s favor when Jason Chimera and Anders Lee picked up minor penalties in the final five minutes of the period.

Gourde struck on the power play at the 16:22 mark and added an even-strength tally 1:44 later.

“They came out really strong and I think we came out flat [in the second period],” Gourde said.

“We scored on the power play and momentum turned back around for us. I think that was a key moment.”

Namestnikov’s goal with the man advantage closed out the scoring in the second and Chris Kunitz added a tally in the third to wipe out any chance of an Islander comeback.

“A team like that, they have a lot of firepower over there,” Eberle said after the Isles lost for just the third time in their last 11 games.

“You make one mistake or miss a coverage or mess with penalties, they’re going to find a way to capitalize and they did.”

The Isles, who beat the Lightning in Tampa, 5-3, back on Nov. 18, failed to capitalize on their chances down the stretch despite outshooting the Lightning 29-23 over the final 40 minutes of regulation.

“We weren’t very good for a majority of the game,” said Isles team captain John Tavares. “We just didn’t do very good things with the puck.”

Greiss finished with 28 saves and Tavares had an assist for New York, which fell to 1-1-0 on its ongoing four-game road trip, which continues at defending two-time Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh on Thursday night.

“It’s going to be a good test,” Barzal said. “It’ll be a character check coming off a tough loss in Tampa.”

Isle Have Another: The Isles are a perfect 10-0-0 this season when scoring first, something they failed to do Tuesday night in Tampa as the Lightning registered the game’s first 11 shots on net … Following their visit to Pittsburgh, the Isles will go to Boston on Saturday night to face the Bruins before returning to Barclays Center on Monday night to host the Washington Capitals … Anders Lee had a four-game goal-scoring streak snapped Tuesday and Tavares’ assist on Barzal’s goal tied him with Josh Bailey for the team lead in points with 31. Tavares’ 17 goals and Lee’s 16 rank third and fourth, respectively, in the NHL behind Tampa’s Nikita Kucherov (19 goals) and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin (20) … The Isles have yet to go consecutive games without picking up at least one point this season, a trend they will try to continue Thursday night in Pittsburgh.