Lightning rout Isles in Game 1

EDMONTON, Alberta — Brayden Point scored twice and added three assists, and the well-rested Lightning romped to a 8-2 win over the travel- and game-weary Islanders to open the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night.

The Lightning showed no signs of rust following a near week-long break after eliminating the Bruins in their second-round series with a 3-2 double-overtime win Aug. 31. They instead resembled a refreshed team by scoring three times on nine shots to build a 3-1 lead by the 10:46 mark of the first period, and matched a franchise record for most goals scored in a playoff game.

Nikita Kucherov had four assists, and scored his 34th career playoff goal to move one ahead of Martin St. Louis for first on the franchise list. Yanni Gourde scored twice, Victor Hedman had a goal and two assists and Ryan McDonagh and Ondrej Palat also scored for the secondseeded Lightning.

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 23 saves, and the Lightning have won five straight.

Game 2 is Wednesday.

The sixth-seeded Islanders, by comparison, came out flat, looking like a team that spent Sunday flying to Edmonton from Toronto, a day after a 4-0 win over the Flyers in Game 7 of their second-round series.

Thomas Greiss, who stopped 16 shots in earning his first postseason shutout Saturday, was yanked after giving up three goals on nine shots. He was replaced by Semyon Varlamov, who gave up five on 25 shots.

Jordan Eberle briefly tied the game at 1 with a power-play goal for the Islanders, the only remaining team that played a preliminary round elimination series. Nick Leddy’s third-period goal briefly cut the Lightning lead to 6-2.

The eight goals allowed matched a franchise low, following an 8-3 loss to the Rangers in the Islanders’ second playoff game April 10, 1975.

The Lightning matched their playoff goal-scoring record set in an 8-2 win over the Penguins in a 2011 first-round game