Kucherov, Lightning take out Islanders
Brayden Point and On- drej Palat delivered early goals and NHL playoff scoring leader Nikita Kucherov had three more assists to help the Tampa Bay Lightning rebound from a series-opening loss and beat the New York Islanders 4-2 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup semifinals on Tuesday night.
Kucherov had his fourth game with three or more points this postseason, assisting on goals by Point, Palat and Victor Hedman. The defending champions improved to 12-0 in games following a playoff loss since start of last year’s title run.
Point scored a goal for the fifth straight game, hiking his league-leading playoff total to 10. Palat put Tampa Bay ahead for good with a secondperiod goal that replays showed was scored with the Lightning having too many men on the ice.
Andrei Vasilevskiy, meanwhile, stopped 24 of 26 shots for the Lightning, who entered Tuesday night facing a series deficit for the first time since dropping Game 1 of last year’s Stanley Cup final against the Dallas Stars.
Hedman and Jan Rutta scored in the third period against Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov, who missed a portion of the opening period after a collision with Point a little over 13 minutes into the game.
Brock Nelson and Mathew Barzal scored unassisted goals for New York, which — despite the loss — will return home feeling good about itself heading into Game 3 Thursday night.
Point, pushed from behind by New York’s Adam Pelech, barreled into Varlamov at 6:50 of the first period. The Lightning star drew a penalty for interference on the goalie, and the Islanders wasted no time taking advantage of what Tampa Bay felt was a questionable call.
Nelson’s goal from in front of the net tied it 1-1 just 20 seconds into the power play.
Ilya Sorokin replaced Varlamov for the remainder of the first period. FLYERS’ LINDBLOM WINS MASTERTON TROPHY >> Cancer survivor Oskar Lindblom of the Philadelphia Flyers has won the Bill Masterton
Memorial Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.
The NHL announced Lindblom as the winner Tuesday night before Game 2 of the semifinals between the New York Islanders and Tampa Bay Lightning.
Lindblom returned to play in the NHL after undergoing treatment for a rare form of bone cancer. Lindblom was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in December 2019 and played two games for Philadelphia during the bubble playoffs in September 2020.
The 24-year-old Swede regained his regular spot in the Flyers’ lineup this season and played 50 of 56 games. He recorded 14 points averaging just over 13 minutes of ice time.
Lindblom completed treatment in July and was again declared cancer-free following another scan in March.