After the New York Islanders made a Game 1 win look easy, the Tampa Bay Lightning responded on Saturday and proved the rest of the series wouldn't be.
Lightning silence Islanders and even series with dominant Game 2 win
The series heads back to New York tied at 1-1.
Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Buoyed by a strong attack, the Lightning sent the series back to Long Island tied at 1-1 with a 4-1 win in Game 2. Tyler Johnson led Tampa Bay with two goals and an assist, and Jonathan Drouin offered two points of his own. Ben Bishop rebounded from an awful start on Thursday to win with 19 saves.
The Islanders rode a hot start to a win in Game 1. In Game 2, the Lightning flipped the script. Tyler Johnson broke open the scoring with his third goal of the playoffs six minutes into the first period.
Lightning winger Jonathan Drouin had his best game of the playoffs, and it started minutes after Johnson's goal. Valtteri Filppula drove into the offensive zone and fed a pass to a streaking Drouin, who slipped it past Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss for a 2-0 lead.
New York's power play wasn't effective (they went 1-for-5 in the game), but they did cash in late in the first period. Nikolay Kulemin set up in front of the Lightning net and tipped in a shot from Thomas Hickey to pull back within one goal. The Islanders finished the first period with a 12-5 shot advantage.
That, too, flipped in the second period. The Lightning outshot the Islanders 14-5 in the second period, and took a 3-1 lead off a power play goal from Victor Hedman. The shot deflected off Islanders defenseman Calvin de Haan and into the net.
Instead of going into shutdown mode, the Lightning dominated the third period. They ramped up the pressure on Greiss, pouring 10 shots on the Islanders’ net to preserve the win with a Johnson empty-netter at 17:42. The Islanders only managed eight shots in the final two periods of the game.
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