Islanders are led by Barzal and Horvat past Lightning…
The New York Islanders upset the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 on Thursday night, with goals and assists from Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat.
The Islanders, who won their second straight after the All-Star break, also had goals from Noah Dobson, Kyle Palmieri, Ryan Pulock, and Casey Cizikas. Ilya Sorokin earned his 16th victory of the year and concluded with 16 saves.
“We found a method to slow it down and control the game whenever it was becoming a bit too fast or they were pressuring,” Barzal remarked. “Offense resulted from our forecheck. We made a bunch of puck interceptions tonight, and things were just flowing in.”
Tampa Bay had goals from Nikita Kucherov and Brandon Hagel, but the Lightning dropped their second straight game. Johansson Jonas made eighteen saves.
After limiting the Lightning to only 10 shots in the first 40 minutes, the Islanders scored three goals in each of the first two periods.
Referring to Tampa Bay’s lengthy All-Star break, Lightning coach Jon Cooper said, “We looked slow, we looked out of shape, we looked like we took 10 days off.” “I think we handled the break rather well, but I’m in total agreement with the break.”
At 14:07 of the first period, Barzal effectively controlled a loose puck off an offensive zone faceoff and roofed a backhander past Johansson to give New York a 2-1 lead.
At 18:34, Mike Reilly’s beautiful pass to Palmieri was buried, giving the Islanders a two-goal lead.
The Islanders’ coach, Patrick Roy, praised his second line, which included Brock Nelson, Pierre Engvall, and Palmieri, saying, “That line was pretty terrific tonight.” “I could speak for everyone when I say that that line gave us a boost and resulted in a significant goal. That was, in my opinion, a really strong team effort.”
Early in the second period, Hagel put a rebound in and brought the Lightning within one goal.
However, the Islanders came back strong, adding three more goals in the midst of the game to establish a dominating 6-2 lead.
At 7:10, Pulock scored his third of the season with a slap shot.
At 8:18, Horvat made a slap shot of his own that Johannson might have saved with a screen from Anders Lee, the captain of the Islanders.
Horvat remarked, “We limited their time and space.” “They weren’t given enough time to put on plays by us. They are very skilled up front, so I think we did a fantastic job keeping them at bay and closing quickly.”
In his first game back after being activated off injured reserve, Cizikas scored the game’s last goal in the second period. At 15:22, the scrappy forward snuck a puck between Johansson’s legs.
“Being out is never enjoyable. After missing the first ten games, Cizikas remarked, “It’s never fun to watch the boys compete and not be a part of it.” “Since my last performance, a lot has happened. I was merely attempting to acquire a foothold, play strategically, play aggressively, and position myself correctly.”
In the first session, Dobson opened the score at 4:07 with his sixth goal. The defenceman was searching the back post for Oliver Wahlstrom when the puck swerved off Eric Cernak, a defenseman for the Lightning, and ended up in Tampa Bay’s net.
At 6:42 of the first session, Kucherov scored his team’s leading 33rd goal to knot the score at one.
SERGACHEV SIDELINED
Before the match, Cooper announced that D Mikhail Sergachev underwent surgery in New York on Thursday to fix fractures to his left leg, namely to the tibia and fibula. Following a Wednesday altercation with Rangers player Alexis Lafreniere that resulted in his leg bending at an uncomfortable angle, Cooper stated that he will miss “substantial time.”
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