Lightning Drop 3-2 OT Decision To Islanders, Look Ahead To Game 7

UNIONDALE, NY — Throughout a back-and-forth Stanley Cup semifinal series in which the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders have traded blows — both physically and competitively — one constant theme had carried through.

The team that struck first in each game had never trailed. That is, until Wednesday night.

The Lightning watched a two-goal lead evaporate before Anthony Bauvillier scored 1 minute, 8 seconds into overtime to lift the Islanders to a 3-2 overtime victory at Nassau Coliseum. Game 7, which will determine which team moves on to the Stanley Cup Final against either Montreal or Vegas, will be played Friday night at Amalie Arena.

The Lightning, who have won their last 13 games following a playoff loss dating back to the 2019 postseason, will need to extend the streak to continue their defense of last season’s Stanley Cup championship.

The Bolts —who fell to 0-3 in overtime playoff games this season with Wednesday's loss — carried a 2-1 lead into the third period, when the Lightning hoped their defense could hold off the Islanders and close out the series in regulation. But the Islanders managed to draw even on Scott Mayfield’s goal at the 11:16 mark of the final stanza and neither team could produce the deciding goal the remainder of the way to force overtime.

The Islanders, who lost to Tampa in last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, then kept their season alive on Bauvillier’s game-winner which came off of Lightning turnover to send their loyal fans into a state of pandemonium.

The Lightning took an early lead when Brayden Point scored for the ninth straight game and won a 1-on-1 battle in front of the Islanders net to tally the game’s first goal. Point is now one game shy of tying the Stanley Cup Playoff record set by Reggie Leach, who scored in 10 consecutive games for the Philadelphia Flyers in 1976.

Anthony Cirelli doubled the Tampa advantage with just under eight minutes gone in the second period after the Lightning defense managed to kill off a pair of penalties to preserve the 1-0 lead. The Islanders were unable to capitalize on a 5-on-3 scoring chance before the Bolts then fended off a New York one-man advantage before returning to full strength.

Tampa did so without playing almost the entire night without Nikita Kucherov, who was injured on his first shift when he appeared to injure either his arm or shoulder while trying to deliver a hit against the boards to New York's Mathew Barzal.

The Islanders, who hadn’t scored since Game 4 after being blown out in an 8-0 Game 5 loss, finally got on the board at the 14:22 mark of the second when Jordan Eblerle beat Andrei Vasilevskiy to cut the Lightning lead in half. New York controlled much of the third period but was not able to solve Vasilevskiy – who made 25 saves in the loss — but who could not come up with Bauvillier's shot that sends the series back to Tampa.