Islanders stay alive in East finals

EDMONTON, Alberta — Islanders forward Jordan Eberle knew exactly what to do upon seeing teammate and captain Anders Lee pounce on the loose puck once the Lightning’s Kevin Shattenkirk whiffed on his shot from the right point.

Eberle raced up the middle, drove to the net and converted Lee’s pass to cap a two-on-one break and keep the Islanders’ playoff hopes alive. The goal, scored 12:30 into the second OT, sealed a 2-1 win over the Lightning in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference finals Tuesday night.

“Things happen quick out there. You’ve got to react. You see the fanned shot. You see Leesy poke it by,” said Eberle, who scored his second winner of the postseason. “You’ve played this game a long time, you know when you have odd-man rushes and an opportunity is about to come. Leesy made a heck of a play to get the puck over to me.”

The sixth-seeded Islanders cut the second-seeded Lightning series lead to 3-2, with Game 6 scheduled for Thursday night. The winner will advance to the Stanley Cup Final and face West champion Stars, who eliminated the top-seeded Knights in five games Monday night.

Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock also scored and Semyon Varlamov capped a 36-save outing by skating the length of the ice and making a head-first dive into the pile of players mobbing Eberle.

“I don’t know. I just jumped because I was so excited for us,” Varlamov said of his celebration. “When we scored that goal, it was just a lot of emotions going through in that moment. I was just happy for the guys, so happy for us. We have a chance to continue to play.”

The Lightning were minus coleading playoff scorer Brayden Point, who had a goal and assist in a 4-1 win in Game 4 after missing a 5-3 loss in Game 3 with an undisclosed injury.

Cooper called it “hard to tell right now” as to whether Point will be able to play Thursday.