ELMONT, N.Y. — The Lightning ended the toughest part of their schedule — that much-discussed 11 games in 11 cities stretch that included contests across two countries and four different time zones — with a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders on Sunday afternoon at UBS Arena.
The Lightning have struggled over this span, which included a pair of three-game losing streaks, but ended their latest four-game road trip with back-to-back wins. They return to Tampa for 12 of their final 17 regular-season games at home.
Tampa Bay knows the Islanders well, eliminating them the past two postseasons. And a Sunday afternoon full of hard hitting and jersey grabbing might have been a good tuneup for the physical play of the postseason.
While the Islanders are a long shot to make the playoffs this year, they were one of the league’s hottest teams coming in with a 7-2-1 record in their past 10 games.
Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman scored a tying goal in the second period, setting a career high with 18, to shift momentum.
Hedman’s goal came with six seconds remaining on a Lightning power play — Tampa Bay’s third man-advantage goal in the past two games after going 3-for-28 in the previous nine — and on Brayden Point’s seam pass through the neutral zone. Hedman has scored three of the Lightning’s last five power-play goals.
The Lightning took a 2-1 lead 9:47 into the second period when Alex Killorn finished a give-and-go with Anthony Cirelli.
Cirelli took the puck away high in the Lightning zone, flicking it into the neutral zone, where Killorn poked it forward back to Cirelli along the right wing. Cirelli corralled it off the boards and centered a back-handed saucer pass to the front of the paint, where Killorn beat Ilya Sorokin just above his right pad.
Killorn’s goal came at a point in the game when the Islanders were pushing. Mathew Barzal couldn’t convert on an open net, wristing a shot off the crossbar, and defenseman Cal Foote blocked Noah Dobson’s slap shot from the high slot.
The Islanders nearly tied the score late in the second when New York forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau beat Andrei Vasilevskiy near post with 14.8 seconds left. But the Lightning challenged that Kyle Palmieri was offsides before flicking the puck to Pageau; video review negated the goal.
Ross Colton gave the Lightning a cushion 9:10 into the third period, cleaning up his own rebound with a crowd in front of the net after Mikhail Sergachev zipped the puck toward the crease from the point. Sergachev got his own goal with 3:04 left to give Tampa Bay a 4-1 lead.
Both teams were looking to establish a physical tone early. Islanders defenseman Zdeno Chara, all 6-foot-9, 250 pounds of him, was looking for a fight, shoving Cirelli after the first whistle of the game and cross-checking Colton after another whistle.
Instead, Pat Maroon and Corey Perry obliged, tangling with Ross Johnston and Matt Martin early in the first period.
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