NHL playoff results | Thursday

STANLEY CUP SEMIFINALS Golden Knights at Canadiens, late (OT) Montreal leads series 3-2

Confident Lightning, Islanders ready for Game 7 challenge

TAMPA, Fla — The Tampa Bay Lightning haven’t lost consecutive postseason games in over two years and haven’t faced a winnertake-all challenge since 2018.

That may speak to how difficult they’ve been to beat in the playoffs lately. Neither streak will mean anything when the defending Stanley Cup champions face the New York Islanders in Game 7 of the NHL semifinals on Friday night.

“You get to a Game 7, you know what’s at stake. You play all year to get to this point,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. “You get one opportunity.”

The Lightning is 13-0 in games following a playoff loss since beginning of last year’s title run, including an 8-0 rout of the Islanders in Game 5.

The Islanders evened the series at three games apiece by overcoming a two-goal deficit in a 3-2 overtime victory on Wednesday.

And while Tampa Bay has been as resilient as any team the last two postseasons, coach Jon Cooper and his players aren’t taking anything for granted in their bid to become the first repeat champions since the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017.

“I love the way our team has responded in the playoffs after losses. But you can’t hang your hat on that and say we haven’t lost in the playoffs in the last two years after a loss, or we’ve won every game in the last two years after a loss, so we’re going to win,” Cooper said. “That’s a faulty mindset.”

The Lightning ousted Florida in six games, then eliminated Carolina in five to reach the semifinals. They rebounded from losses in Games 1 and 4 to build a 3-2 lead over the Islanders, who are trying to reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1984.

Tampa Bay finds itself in a winner-take-all Game 7 for the first time since the 2018 Eastern Conference final, where they lost at home to the Trotz-led Washington Capitals.