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 The shootout went 13 rounds — the Islanders made shots in the
bottom of the third, seventh and 11th frames to keep the game alive.
But Salo made a nifty flick past Isles goalie Evgeni Nabokov, and
Bishop closed out the win with the save.
"First and foremost, we got two points ... we've played much better.
We've played better and lost games," Lightning coach Jon Cooper
said. "They're not all Picasso, but we're going to have to be
better."
The Lightning (40-24-9), piling up points as the playoffs near,
earned at least a point for the 10th game in a row, going to
overtime for their third game in a row. Tampa Bay trailed in the
third period and survived 67 seconds of 5-on-3 hockey in the third
period.
Tampa Bay had a power play for the final 1:09 of overtime but
couldn't avoid going to shootout for a second straight game. The
Islanders (28-35-10) saw a two-game win streak come to an end.
"You don't score on a 5-on-3, most times, you're not going to win
many hockey games," Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. "Down the
stretch, all I'm looking for is work ethic ... 8-10 rookies,
whatever we have in our lineup, we're not worrying about the
outcome, but how we play and how we look."
Tampa Bay took a 1-0 lead in the opening minute of the second period
when right wing Ryan Callahan redirected a point shot by defenseman
Radko Gudas for his 14th goal of the season and his third since
joining the Lightning.
Just 64 seconds later, the Islanders answered when center Ryan
Strome found a loose puck behind the net and flicked a shot behind
the back of Lightning goalie Ben Bishop for his fifth goal of the
season and a 1-1 tie with 18:27 left in the period.
The Islanders nearly caught a break, scoring an empty-net goal when
Bishop cleared a puck poorly, but it was waved off by an offsides
call. New York did take the lead with 11:43 left in the second — again from behind the net — as center Frans Nielsen fed a pass to
defenseman Matt Donovan, who scored on a diving shot for his second
goal of the season and a 2-1 lead.
The Lightning survived a 5-on-3 power play early for more than a
minute in the third — Tampa Bay center Steven Stamkos was called
for hooking with 19 seconds left in the second, then Callahan was
called for tripping 34 seconds into the third. The Lightning's
penalty-kill unit held off the siege, giving momentum back to the
home team.
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Callahan struck again to tie the game with 14:10 left — his two
goals Thursday matching his total from his first 10 games with Tampa
Bay — on a rebound in front of the net after a shot by defenseman
Eric Brewer.
After overtime, a 13-round shootout — two frames shy of the NHL
record — tested the depth of both teams. Four Lightning players had
connected in shootout all season, and five did so Thursday. Cooper
noted that defensemen scored three of his team's five shootout goals — the last from Salo, who savored the rare chance to close out a
win himself.
"You've got to tie up your skates," Salo joked. "It's not often you
get a chance to shoot like that. It's a nice feeling. It's a league
that has the best goalies in the world, so it's not easy to go down
and beat those guys."
NOTES: ... Tampa Bay is back on the road Saturday at the Buffalo
Sabres, while the Islanders return home Saturday to face the New
Jersey Devils. ... The Lightning are enjoying two of the best three
rookie seasons in team history in terms of scoring. LW Ondrej Palat
(51 points) and C Tyler Johnson (47) trailed only Brad Richards, who
set the franchise rookie record with 62 points in 2001-02. ... Tampa
Bay has played it close lately, with seven of its previous nine
games decided by a goal, including the last three. The two previous
meetings with the Islanders were decided by shootouts, with each
team winning one. ... The Islanders continue to hover close to a
.500 record in their history, with 1,399 wins and 1,398 losses. They
also have 347 ties and 102 overtime losses. ... New York has the
league's best comeback unit, with an NHL-best eight wins this season
in games it trailed entering the third period, as well as nine games
in which it rallied from a deficit of at least two goals.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
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