TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Lightning continued their winning ways with a narrow defeat of the New York Islanders in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final Wednesday night.
Seven seconds.
That's all that remained on the clock when the Bolts took the lead in the third period on a Nikita Kucherov goal.
Victor Hedman scored the Lightning's first goal of the night in the first period.
Wednesday's win comes after a much different looking Game 1 where the team buried the Islanders 8-2. But the Bolts were not going to let the lopsided win get to their heads.
"It's really only a statement if you can follow it up in Game 2," Head Coach Jon Cooper said when asked about the Game 1 win. "We come out and lay an egg (Wednesday) night and it's 1-1, what kind of statement did we make? Well, let's make a statement and be even better than we were (Monday) night in Game 2 and see where the chips fall. It's a good first step, but it's just one little step."
The Bolts' eight goals in Game 1 were the most scored in a conference final game since the 1992 Chicago Blackhawks beat the Edmonton Oilers 8-1 in Game 1 of the Clarence Campbell Conference Final. The Lightning are also on a six-game win streak, the longest active streak in the 2020 playoffs. The win Wednesday ties them with the Vegas Golden Knights for the longest win streak (6 straight wins) this postseason.
At the end of the day, history is on the Lightning's side when it comes to matchups with the Islanders. Tampa Bay has now won six straight playoff games against the Islanders, going back to 2016. The Lighting are 10-2 all-time against the Islanders in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Game coverage below--
10:39 p.m. (Sept. 9): The Lightning said it best itself: "OMG." The Bolts get it done in the final seconds against the Islanders. The team now leads the Eastern Conference Finals 2-0.
10:21 p.m. (Sept. 9): The Lightning will go two players down for 38 seconds as the team doubles up on penalties. Islanders get a few solid goal attempts, but Andrei Vasilevskiy puts on quite the performance.
10:18 p.m. (Sept. 9): Islanders pull another power play as Ryan McDougnah is called for holding.
10:06 p.m. (Sept. 9): Lightning get an early power play as Scott Mayfield gets called for tripping Blake Coleman.
9:45 p.m. (Sept. 9): The Lightning and Islanders leave a scoreless second period still tied up. Now the third period or OT will decide the game.
9:28 p.m. (Sept. 9): With 8:30 left in the second period, both teams will go a player down to play 4-on-4 after dueling roughing calls.
9:17 p.m. (Sept. 9): Now the Islanders will see if they can take advantage of a power play as Yanni Gourde is called for roughing following a whistle.
9:06 p.m. (Sept. 9): Lightning get an early second-period power play after Adam Pelech gets called for tripping on Nikita Kucherov.
8:45 p.m. (Sept. 9): Things are all tied up at the end of the first period.
8:40 p.m. (Sept. 9): With 1:35 left in the first period, Victor Hedman comes through once again with a goal for the Lightning to tie up the game. This is Hedman's 7th goal during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
8:22 p.m. (Sept. 9): The Lightning now have to fight off a five-minute power play after Alex Killorn gets a major penalty for boarding and receives a game misconduct.
8:13 p.m. (Sept. 9): Islanders get on the board early with a goal from Matt Martin. Bolts trail in the first period: 1-0.
8:11 p.m. (Sept. 9): It's game time! Game 2 is underway in the Eastern Conference Finals.
8:01 p.m. (Sept. 9):
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