*Photo from The Athletic*
Tampa Bay leads series 3-2
The early goal by Steven Stamkos just seemed like a precursor for how this game was going to go. For the New York Islanders, that was very poorly. Stamkos scored two goals, Alex Killorn scored two goals, and the Tampa Bay Lightning flew right past the Islanders for a commanding 8-0 win in game 5 on Monday night.
Stamkos said "It's certainly a response and a mindset, and it starts with our goalie. Vasy just has an amazing ability to bounce back, whether he plays great or he doesn't play great. Most of the time he plays great, but if we lose, he takes that personally. He was outstanding tonight. He made some big saves early, settles us into a game, we get some goals, we get some confidence."
Stamkos got the Lightning on the board with his 6th goal of the playoffs 45 seconds into the game. After Yanni Gourde and Killorn scored, it was 3-0 Lightning after the first period. In the second, Stamkos and Killorn each scored on the power play, and Ondrej Palat also scored, giving Tampa Bay a 6-0 lead after two periods. In the 3rd, Brayden Point continued his goal streak, and Luke Schenn scored, making it a 8-0 final score.
Point's power play goal 1:59 into the 3rd period continued an incredible goal streak he is on. He has now scored a goal in 8 straight playoff games, as well as 10 goals in his last 11 games. His 8 game goal streak is the second longest in NHL playoff history, trailing Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Flyers, who scored in 10 straight games in the 1975-1976 postseason.
When asked about his goal streak, Point said "I'm not thinking about it. It's playoff time, and personal stats don't mean anything. It's about wins. Our group played solid tonight and we got a big win. It doesn't happen without teammates. I've had a lot of goals these playoffs that have been great setups or tap-ins, so it's been a group effort."
It wasn't just the Lighting offense that helped them to a 3-2 series lead with the game 5 win, it was also Vezina trophy finalist Andrei Vasilevskiy in goal. Vasilevskiy was perfect for the Lightning, stopping all 21 shots he faced from the Islanders, as the Lightning now move to one win from advancing to the Stanley cup final.
For the Islanders, it was a rotating door of goalie changes in this one. Semyon Varlamov was the original starting goalie, but was quickly pulled after giving up 3 goals in the first period. Ilya Sorokin then came in, but had to leave in the second period after an apparent injury. That sent Varlamov back in, but Sorokin quickly returned after being deemed ok.
After all of that, Varlamov saved 13 of 16 shots, for a dismal .812 save percentage. Sorokin was in for the majority of the game, and saved 21 out of 26 shots, for an even worse .808 save percentage. Now, there are questions as to who will start game 6 with the Islanders season on the line.
Islanders coach Barry Trotz said "We can fix a lot of things that we put ourselves into today, and we're going to have to have our best game. They've been here before, we've been here before, and we're going to have to have our best effort from every player on our team. And if we do that, we'll be back here for Game 7."
Game 6 will be on Wednesday night on Long Island, with the Lightning looking to move on to the Stanley cup final, and the Islanders looking to force a game 7 back in Tampa Bay.
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