Isles seek more magic in Game 6 vs. Lightning
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[September 17, 2020]
As fast as Semyon Varlamov
darted up the ice late Tuesday night, all that goalie equipment made
it impossible for the New York Islanders netminder to join the
celebration as quickly as he wanted.
So at center ice, Varlamov channeled his inner Pete Rose -- or maybe
his inner teenager atop a snowy hill -- by diving, extending his
arms and sliding into the gaggle of teammates mobbing one another
along the boards.
The celebratory moment of the NHL's postseason means the Islanders
still have a chance to complete the comeback of the postseason.
Down 3-2, the Islanders will look to push the Eastern Conference
finals to the limit Thursday night when they face the Tampa Bay
Lightning in Game 6 in Edmonton.
The Islanders staved off elimination in dramatic fashion in Game 5,
when Jordan Eberle scored with 7:30 left in the second overtime to
lift New York to a 2-1 win.
"I was just so excited for us," a grinning Varlamov said. "Our
season was on the line today (in) this game. When we scored that
goal, it was just a lot of emotions going through in that moment. I
was just so happy for the guys and so happy for us. We extended the
series and we have a chance to continue to play."
Eberle's tie-breaking goal capped a game that embodied the grind of
playoff hockey and the task of closing out a series. The two teams
combined for 61 shots, including just 20 in the 32-plus minutes of
overtime, and went 68:30 without a goal before Eberle's game-winner.
The Islanders dodged disaster at least twice in the extra sessions,
first by killing off Anthony Beauvillier's four-minute penalty that
began late in regulation and then during a minute-plus span deep in
their own zone in the first overtime after Scott Mayfield's stick
broke. New York blocked three shots during the subsequent flurry by
the Lightning -- including one by Anders Lee, who handed his stick
to Mayfield.
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"The boys battled hard tonight," Eberle said. "We had some moments
in the D zone, especially in overtime where we had a broken stick,
collapsed and just held on. To score that, continue to move on and
give ourselves another chance in a couple days is huge."
The Lightning, who lost in overtime for the first time in five tries
in the postseason, nearly punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup
Finals against the Dallas Stars twice more. Islanders defenseman
Ryan Pulock smothered a puck near the crease in the waning seconds
of the first overtime and Nikita Kucherov fired wide of the open
corner of the net fewer than four minutes into the second overtime.
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"Winning and losing, it's razor thin in this league," Lightning
coach Jon Cooper said Tuesday night. "I just watched that team over
there lose three (overtime games) in a row to Philly (in the
conference semifinals). At some point, they're probably bound to win
one and we're probably bound to lose one."
The Lightning may once again be without center Brayden Point, who
missed his second game of the series with an undisclosed injury.
Cooper said Wednesday he didn't know if Point, who was hurt in Game
2 and returned for Game 4, would be available Thursday.
--Field Level Media
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