Vasilevskiy shines, Lightning blank Islanders
New York can’t find a way to beat Lightning goaltender in Game 7
Andrei Vasilevskiy had 18 saves and Yanni Gourde scored a short-handed goal to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New York Islanders 1-0 in Game 7 of their NHL playoff semifinal series on Friday night.
The defending champions advanced to a Stanley Cup Final matchup against the surprising Montreal Canadiens, who upset the Vegas Golden Knights in the other semifinal.
Game 1 is Monday night in Tampa.
Gourde beat Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov off a pass from Anthony Cirelli at 1:49 of the second period. Vasilevskiy turned away seven shots in the final period to post his fifth career playoff shutout — and fourth this postseason. It marked the first time in NHL history a Game 7 ended 1-0 with a short-handed goal.
Vasilevskiy, vying for his second Vezina Trophy in three years, also beat the Islanders 8-0 in Game 5 and shut out Florida and Carolina to clinch series wins over Panthers and Hurricanes in the first two
rounds.
The Lightning improved to 14-0 in games following a playoff loss since beginning last year’s championship run. They also bounced back from losses to beat the Islanders in Games 2 and 5 and haven’t suffered consecutive playoff losses since being swept by Columbus in the first round in 2019.
The Islanders, who were aiming for their first Stanley Cup Final berth in 37 years, forced a winnertake-all showdown by rallying to win Game 6 on Anthony Beauvillier’s overtime goal.
But with the Lightning playing relentless defense, while also outshooting New York 31-18, opportunities were limited Friday night.
Tampa Bay reached the Cup Final for the fourth time in franchise history despite not getting big nights offensively from playoff scoring leader Nikita Kucherov and Brayden Point, whose streak of consecutive games with at least one goal ended at nine — one shy of the NHL playoff record.
Kucherov played despite missing most of Game 6 with an injury.
Point failed to score a goal for just the second time in the past 13 games.
Note: Liam Kirk has a knack for finding spaces to score. Turns out his timing is pretty good, too. The left winger was running out of opportunities to impress the Arizona Coyotes. They selected Kirk in the 2018 NHL draft, making him the first player born and trained in England to be drafted, but seventh-round picks usually don’t pan out. The 6-foot-1, 175-pound Kirk had developed for two years in juniors in the Ontario Hockey League. But the league canceled last season because of the coronavirus. The 21-year-old
Kirk then decided he needed a big tournament with Britain at the ice hockey world championship to show the Coyotes he deserved a rookie contract. “I knew that the worlds was a good chance — if it went ahead — to try to prove myself,” Kirk told The Associated Press in an interview. Against elite competition at the recent 16-team tournament in Latvia, Kirk proved himself as the tournament’s joint top goalscorer with Calgary Flames forward Andrew Mangiapane of Canada — both with seven in seven games — and was named to the all-star team. The Coyotes rewarded him with a three-year entry-level contract. He leaves for Arizona later this summer.