"I couldn't be in a better place, competing for the Stanley Cup,"
said the 23-year-old, who was acquired by the Islanders at the trade
deadline.
"I think it's as good as it gets in hockey. I'm beyond excited to be
here, grateful. We have a great group of guys, great coaches, and I
think we can see that in the first round and the first game of this
series."
New York led 4-1 in the third, but the Lightning got goals from
Nikita Kucherov and Valtteri Filppula to pull within a goal with
2:32 left in a furious comeback.
After Tampa Bay pulled their goalie in the final two minutes, New
York got an empty-net goal from Cal Clutterbuck to seal the win.
Prince scored twice from just in front of the Lightning goal, taking
passes from Ryan Strome and getting the puck past Lightning goalie
Ben Bishop, who left after a fourth goal midway through the second
period.
 The Islanders came in with much less rest after eliminating the
Florida Panthers with back-to-back double-overtime wins, but now
have a 1-0 series lead ahead of Game 2 in Tampa on Saturday.
"We made bad decisions. I don't know what to say," Tampa Bay forward
Tyler Johnson said of the loss. "We've got to be better for the full
60, that's all it is. It's a seven-game series and we've been down
before. We've been here."
Tampa Bay got a goal in the third period from Kucherov -- his
team-best sixth of the playoffs -- to cut the lead to 4-2 with
12:19, but New York had the game in hand at that point.
New York goalie Thomas Greiss gave up a goal just three minutes into
the game, but shut out the Lightning for the next 45 minutes, facing
a slew of shots in the third period and finishing with 33 saves.
Filppula's goal made it a one-score game with 2:32 left, but Greiss
held on, with 15 saves in the third.
Bishop, who had not allowed more than two goals in any of five
first-round games against Detroit, gave way to backup Andrei
Vasilevskiy.
After briefly trailing 1-0, the Islanders set the tone for the
series with three goals in the first period, then chased Bishop with
a fourth goal midway through the second period.
Tampa Bay had jumped out early, with Ondrej Palat scoring his second
goal of the postseason on a spin pass from Jonathan Drouin for a 1-0
lead just 3:05 into the game.
Shortly after, the Islanders' Casey Cizikas sent Lightning forward
Erik Condra flying into the boards with a hit that left him
motionless on his back on the ice for a minute before he was helped
off by trainers.

[to top of second column] |

Not even three minutes after the Lightning goal, the Islanders
answered, with Travis Hamonic firing a long shot that went through
Bishop's legs to tie the score at one with 14:16 left in the first
period.
Tampa Bay killed off two New York power plays in a span of five
minutes, but Prince scored twice in the final 2:32 of the period for
a 3-1 lead.
Prince was open on the far side of the net on a pass Strome for the
go-ahead goal, and then with just 2.1 seconds left in the period,
Strome was behind the net and found Prince in the same spot to beat
Bishop for a 3-1 lead.
"What hurt us was giving up two goals in the last two and a half
minutes," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "That's what killed us.
The game's plugging along, it's 1-1, you walk out and it's 3-1. We
gave up a goal with three seconds left.
"We were way too soft in that last few minutes of the period and it
burned us."
Tampa Bay outshot New York early in the second period, but a hooking
penalty on Jonathan Marchessault -- who had been a healthy scratch
in all five games against Detroit -- gave the Islanders a power
play.
With 11:01 left in the period, John Tavares went top shelf to beat
Bishop for a 4-1 lead for his sixth goal of the playoffs.
Islanders coach Jack Capuano missed part of the third period after
he was hit in the face with a puck.
Capuano was back on the bench with a cut on his nose for the final
two minutes of the game, after a pass from Lightning center Alex
Killorn went into the Islanders bench, catching the coach in the
face.

He was helped off the bench with a towel covering his face.
Assistant Doug Weight stepped in while he was sidelined.
"I'm good. A little bit of a headache," said Capuano.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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