TAMPA, Fla. – The Lightning are the defending Stanley Cup champions. But the Islanders were the better team on Sunday afternoon.
The Isles controlled five-on-five play and Semyon Varlamov outdueled Vezina Trophy finalist Andrei Vasilevskiy en route to a 2-1 win in Game 1 of the NHL semifinals – a rematch of last season’s Eastern Conference finals won by the Lightning in six games – 2-1 at Amalie Arena.
Varlamov made 30 saves but was denied his fifth career playoff shutout on Brayden Point’s power play goal with 53.7 seconds left in regulation as the Lightning skated six on four with Vasilevskiy (29 saves) off for an extra skater.
Game 2 is Tuesday night before the series returns to Nassau Coliseum for Game 3 on Thursday night.
The Islanders killed off the Lightning’s lone power play – the Lightning’s man-advantage entered Game 1 connecting at an NHL-best 41.7% - with just one shot after Kyle Palmieri’s offensive-zone interference at 19:23 of the second period.
And defenseman Ryan Pulock gave the Islanders a 2-0 lead at 5:36 of the third period with a hard shot from the right point that may have been Vasilevskiy’s only mistake of the game as he had a good look.
The Islanders started creating chances by forcing turnovers in the second period. Josh Bailey stole the puck and took it to the crease before lifting a backhander off the crossbar at 2:31. Anthony Beauvillier took the puck from Brayden Point and Vasilevskiy stopped his backhander at 5:56.
Finally, Bailey sprung Mathew Barzal off Steven Stamkos’ misplay in the neutral zone and Barzal got to the crease and beat Vasilevskiy through his pads to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 12:32.
Both goalies showed early that goals will likely be at a premium in this series.
Vasilevskiy stopped Jean-Gabriel Pageau at the left post and then Palmieri off the right post at 9:21 of the first period as part of his 14 saves in the period. Varlamov stopped 11 first-period shots, including sticking aside Alex Killorn’s slap shot from the slot at 16:44. The Lightning were up on shots, 7-1, early in the first period after outshooting the Islanders, 3-0, on the Islanders’ first power play. Killorn also hit Varlamov in the mask with a shorthanded backhander at 18:27 of the second period.
The teams set a chippy tone that is also likely to intensify over the series as Matt Martin caught defenseman David Savard with a heavy check eight seconds into the game and Cal Clutterbuck got involved with defenseman Mikhail Sergachev. Killorn then leveled Barzal in the neutral zone at 8:05.
