Lightning doesn’t strike twice; Isles roll for eighth straight win

The New York Islanders had won seven games in a row but weren’t satisfied just yet.  They were ready for their eighth straight win as they faced the Tampa Bay Lightning at Nassau Coliseum.

The Islanders were jumping to start the game, after a long layoff where the Islanders hadn’t played since Sunday.
Mathew Barzal started the scoring off with a nifty move that left two Lightning on the ground and the puck in the net.  Barzal stuffed a loose puck through the pads of Andrei Vasilevskiy after a good shot from the slot.

After an Islanders penalty expired, Yanni Gourde slipped one in between the post and Thomas Greiss.  It was one Greiss should have had but the goaltender wound up making 31 saves in the victory.  Ryan Pulock took a feed from Derick Brassard and boomed a slapper through the legs of two Lightning players and past Vasilevskiy.

The Islanders led after the first period 2-1 and after a stout effort from both teams in the second, the score was the same going into the third.
Josh Bailey essentially put the game away with a Tic Tac Toe goal that was facilitated by Anders Lee and Mathew Barzal.  Scott Mayfield threw the puck into the Tampa zone and after a deflection off a player landed on the stick of Lee.

A few minutes later in the third Anders Lee knocked down a slapper from Johnny Boychuk and snuck one off the back of Vasilevskiy for a 4-1 lead.

Ryan McDonagh had a late goal that made things tighter but Derick Brassard was able to dump an empty netter in to clinch the game and pot a goal in four straight games.

The Islanders continue to roll and now head to Buffalo for a Saturday night matchup with the Sabres.  The Isles look to win their ninth straight when they face off.