EDMONTON, Alberta – Brayden Point scored twice and added three assists, and the well-rested Tampa Bay Lightning romped to a 8-2 win over the travel- and game-weary New York Islanders to open the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night.
The Lightning showed no signs of rust following a near week-long break after eliminating the Boston Bruins in their second-round series on Aug. 31. It instead resembled a refreshed team by scoring three times on nine shots to build a 3-1 lead by the 10:46 mark of the first period, and matched a franchise record for goals scored in a playoff game.
Nikita Kucherov had four assists, and his 34th career playoff goal moved him one ahead of Martin St. Louis for first on the franchise list. Yanni Gourde scored twice, Victor Hedman had three points and Ryan McDonagh and Ondrej Palat also scored for the second-seeded Lightning.
The Lightning has won five straight.
The Islanders, by comparison, came out flat, looking like a team that spent Sunday flying to Edmonton from Toronto, a day after a 4-0 win over Philadelphia in Game 7 of their second-round series. Thomas Greiss, who stopped 16 shots in earning his first postseason shutout on Saturday, was yanked after giving up three goals on nine shots. He was replaced by Semyon Varlamov, who gave up five goals on 25 shots.
Jordan Eberle briefly tied the game at 1 with a power-play goal for New York, the only remaining team that played a preliminary round elimination series. Nick Leddy's third-period goal briefly cut the Lightning lead to 6-2.
The opening goal reflected the disparity in rest between the two teams.
Point opened the scoring 74 seconds in by bursting up the left wing, getting a step a around Ryan Pulock, driving to the net and wrapping the puck around Greiss. After Eberle scored, the Lightning struck for two goals on consecutive shots, coming 2:34 apart.
