NHL Playoffs: Lightning vs. Islanders Game 4 recap, full highlights

The Tampa Bay Lightning pushed the New York Islanders to the brink of elimination with a 2-1 overtime win in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. 

For the second consecutive game at the Barclays Center, the Tampa Bay Lightning erased a late deficit and beat the New York Islanders to go up three games to one in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semifinals.

Continuing a theme from earlier in the series, the start of the game brought frenetic, physical action from both teams. New York took advantage first, as some beautiful passing on the Power Play set up the opening tally from Kyle Okposo at the 4:20 mark, just his second goal of the playoffs.

The most encouraging sign for the Islanders early was the top line getting more involved than in Games 2 or 3, as John Tavares nearly doubled the lead halfway through the period on a shot that rung off the post. Only 14 saves from Ben Bishop and a key four-minute penalty kill kept Tampa Bay’s deficit from getting worse by the intermission.

New York got a scare early in the second, as goalie Thomas Greiss had to leave the game briefly with a broken skate right as Tampa Bay went on the Power Play. An excellent penalty kill ensured backup Jean-Francois Berube only had to make one tough save in his few minutes of game action.

Tampa Bay started to generate a little more momentum around the midway point in the period thanks to two Power Plays, but could not push a shot past Greiss. Still, the Islanders held a 22-17 shot advantage through two.

The game had its second strange delay at the start of the third, as crews had to repair a section of the boards and glass for over 10 minutes. That didn’t seem to interrupt Tampa Bay’s momentum, as Nikita Kucherov scored his league-leading eighth goal of the postseason to even things with 12 minutes left.

New York got a nice push over the rest of regulation thanks to Matt Martin and the fourth line, but the two teams would require overtime for the second consecutive game.

Just like in Game 3, the overtime did not last long. On a play where Islanders defenseman Calvin de Haan was without a stick, Jason Garrison rocketed a shot from the blue line past Greiss at the 1:34 mark to give Tampa Bay its second consecutive come-from-behind overtime win.

Once again, Bishop was a difference-maker, and the Lightning did not give up when facing a late deficit while enduring New York’s physical play. The Islanders must figure out a way to bounce back from two consecutive blown leads at home.

Three stars

Jason Garrison, D, Tampa Bay. First goal of the playoffs was an important one, as it put Tampa Bay one game away from the Conference Finals.

Nikolay Kulemin, LW, New York. Set up New York’s goal with some nice passing while also making key contributions on the penalty kill.

Ben Bishop, G, Tampa Bay. Bounced back from shaky Game 3 to record 27 saves in winning effort.

Full highlights

Next game

The Lightning will try to close out the Islanders on home ice Sunday at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.

For more coverage of the NHL Playoffs, make sure to check out our NHL hub page.