Islanders make power play count

Tampa Bay Lightning center Steven Stamkos, right, reaches for the…

After Saturday’s 0-for-4 performance in a 3-2 loss to the New York Islanders, the power play was singled out as the main reason Tampa Bay was not able to get any points out of the game after failing to hold a 2-0 lead.

Alex Ovechkin and T.J. Oshie also scored against Tampa Bay’s usually reliable penalty kill.

When the Lightning look back at Saturday’s game, it will be disappointed in its missed opportunities, especially in the second period. “Even with a lot of guys out of the lineup, we’ve been doing well”.

In 10 career National Hockey League games, all with Tampa Bay, the 30-year-old has scored one goal. The Islanders, however, scored three unanswered goals to rally, the Lightning blowing a two-goal lead for the first time this season.

The New York Islanders had struggled to score on road power plays so far this season. Tampa Bay outshot the Islanders 17-7 in the period but netted just one goal, when Stralman made it 2-0 by converting a pretty backhand pass from Stamkos 1:39 into the second.

Before it did, however, we experienced the rare sight of a mid-power play fight when Ryan Callahan two-hand slashed and then crosschecked Kyle Okposo as the Isles winger lost the puck at the blueline in the Lightning zone. Saturday “it boils down to the power play being bad. Fortunately, tonight we got the bounces that we needed”. The lack of execution on the power play is frustrating.

Chimera now has three goals and two assists on the power play in the eight games since coach Barry Trotz added him to a second line that includes Kuznetsov.

The Islanders cut the lead in half on a power-play goal by wing Josh Bailey a little more than two minutes later. Bailey sent a hard wrist shot past Bishop to complete a two-on-one rush with Brock Nelson. “We’re going to do the right things and be a resilient hockey team”. “I think we identified it and took advantage of that”. Obviously, our goalie bailed us out here. “And that’s the mentality, we can’t let it creep in”, Stamkos said. Bishop finished with 19 saves for the Lightning. “Yeah, it’s frustrating, it’s not good enough”. “We have to take charge and make sure we get the points”. For teams like the Chicago Blackhawks, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins and Los Angeles Kings, that means a high percentage chance of playing into the spring.