Lightning beat Isles on the road to take 2-1 series lead
Lightning beat Isles on the road to take 2-1 series lead
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Brayden Point scored the eventual winner late in the second period as the Tampa Bay Lightning improved to 6-1 on the road with a 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders in game three of their NHL semi-final series.
Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots and Yanni Gourde also scored for the defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning, who have a two games to one lead after winning in front of a crowd of 13,700 at Nassau Coliseum on Thursday night.
Game four is Saturday on Long Island.
After dropping the series opener at home, the Lightning last Tuesday evened the series at a game apiece, when Tampa Bay scored three unanswered goals in a span of just over 16 minutes of play bridging the second and third periods in a 4-2 victory.
The Lightning have been especially good away from home during the playoffs. They went 16-6 on the road en route to winning the NHL championship last summer.
Point scored with just 20 seconds left in the second to snap the 1-1 tie. Gourde opened the scoring halfway through the first period when he snuck a sharp angle shot by Isles goaltender Semyon Varlamov.
Cal Clutterbuck scored the lone goal for the Islanders at 17:01 of the second to tie it 1-1, finding the puck during a frantic scramble in front of Vasilevskiy and tapping it home.
Varlamov finished with 23 saves.
