NEW YORK The Lightning won 46 games during the regular season, while the Islanders won 45. Tampa Bay had 97 points, while New York had 100. Through three games of their Eastern Conference semifinal, the aggregate score is 12-10 in favor of the Bolts after a 5-4 overtime win on Tuesday, secured by Brian Boyle at the 2:48 mark of the extra se sion. It is the kind of series that feels silly to try to explain, because there is no defining trend in it. The Islanders got out to a big lead in Game 1, nearly squandered it, but hung on. The Lightning responded with the kind of performance in Game 2 that you would expect from a team that lost the series opener on home ice. Then there was Game 3. MORE: It started with Boyle and Travis Hamonic exchanging le s-than-pleasantries at center ice during warmups, an incident Boyle had forgotten by the time the game was over because Jake Mccarthy Jersey the hours in between were so action-packed. The Islanders led 1-0, the Lightning led 2-1, the Islanders led 3-2 and 4-3, the Lightning got even with 39 seconds left and won it in overtime. The game-winning goal, from inside the net. (Getty Images) There was a Boyle goal that was waved off for a high stick, a penalty shot that should have been awarded to Shane Prince, a hit by Thomas Hickey that , a hit by Boyle that took Hickey out of the decisive play of the game. New York was better in the first period, which ended 1-1. Tampa Bay was better in the second period, which ended 2-2. The third period was pretty even, and it was a game that deserved to go to overtime. If the NHL played with NBA rules, with full overtime periods rather than sudden death, they might still be playing, because that was just the back-and-forth nature of the whole thing. You watch the game tonight, it swings back and forth so much, thats the way it goes, Boyle said. Weve got a couple days now until our next game, and weve just got to prepare. When the puck drops, everything starts over again. GENTILLE: There is nothing that should make anyone believe Friday night in Brooklyn will have any more rhyme or reason to it than Tuesday did. That is a terrifying prospect if you are a fan of either team, because no result is out of the realm of po sibility, but its highly entertaining for everyone else. That applies to the series as a whole, as well. You can easily see how it would go seven games between two evenly matched teams. You also can easily see how Tampa Bay might win the next two games and wrap it up quickly, if not at all easily because of how physical the Islanders are. Thats playoffs, said Lightning center Tyler Johnson, who helped show just how quickly a game can turn when he won a faceoff with a draw right back to defenseman Victor Hedman, who blasted home the 2-1 goal. A couple bounces here or there, it changes an entire series, changes games. I thought we learned that last year. There was a couple series where we had some bounces that couldve easily went the other way, and there was a couple of games where we felt like we competed and deserved to win, but a couple bounces went the other way. Youve just got to keep pushing, keep doing what youre doing, and you can never be on the roller coaster that the playoffs is you have to stay even keel, and I think our group does a good job of that. There are those who would say that you make your own bounces, which is a polite word to stand in for luck, but that only is true to an extent. When both teams are doing what it takes to win, and only one actually can win, the result is wildly entertaining hockey where you come away feeling that either team could have won. That certainly was the case Tuesday night, when three seconds after accurately describing his team as resilient for having come back from three deficits, Boyle termed the winning goaloff a bounce, which it was, following a Hedman drive that caromed to him off the end boards. It can go either way, Boyle said. Especially in OT like that. The series is a long way from over. Dylan Floro Jersey
NEW YORK The Lightning won 46 games during the regular season, while the Islanders won 45. Tampa Bay had 97 points, while New York had 100. Through three games of their Eastern Conference semifinal, the aggregate score is 12-10 in favor of the Bolts after a 5-4 overtime win on Tuesday, secured by Brian Boyle at the 2:48 mark of the extra se sion. It is the kind of series that feels silly to try to explain, because there is no defining trend in it. The Islanders got out to a big lead in Game 1, nearly squandered it, but hung on. The Lightning responded with the kind of performance in Game 2 that you would expect from a team that lost the series opener on home ice. Then there was Game 3. MORE: It started with Boyle and Travis Hamonic exchanging le s-than-pleasantries at center ice during warmups, an incident Boyle had forgotten by the time the game was over because Jake Mccarthy Jersey the hours in between were so action-packed. The Islanders led 1-0, the Lightning led 2-1, the Islanders led 3-2 and 4-3, the Lightning got even with 39 seconds left and won it in overtime. The game-winning goal, from inside the net. (Getty Images) There was a Boyle goal that was waved off for a high stick, a penalty shot that should have been awarded to Shane Prince, a hit by Thomas Hickey that , a hit by Boyle that took Hickey out of the decisive play of the game. New York was better in the first period, which ended 1-1. Tampa Bay was better in the second period, which ended 2-2. The third period was pretty even, and it was a game that deserved to go to overtime. If the NHL played with NBA rules, with full overtime periods rather than sudden death, they might still be playing, because that was just the back-and-forth nature of the whole thing. You watch the game tonight, it swings back and forth so much, thats the way it goes, Boyle said. Weve got a couple days now until our next game, and weve just got to prepare. When the puck drops, everything starts over again. GENTILLE: There is nothing that should make anyone believe Friday night in Brooklyn will have any more rhyme or reason to it than Tuesday did. That is a terrifying prospect if you are a fan of either team, because no result is out of the realm of po sibility, but its highly entertaining for everyone else. That applies to the series as a whole, as well. You can easily see how it would go seven games between two evenly matched teams. You also can easily see how Tampa Bay might win the next two games and wrap it up quickly, if not at all easily because of how physical the Islanders are. Thats playoffs, said Lightning center Tyler Johnson, who helped show just how quickly a game can turn when he won a faceoff with a draw right back to defenseman Victor Hedman, who blasted home the 2-1 goal. A couple bounces here or there, it changes an entire series, changes games. I thought we learned that last year. There was a couple series where we had some bounces that couldve easily went the other way, and there was a couple of games where we felt like we competed and deserved to win, but a couple bounces went the other way. Youve just got to keep pushing, keep doing what youre doing, and you can never be on the roller coaster that the playoffs is you have to stay even keel, and I think our group does a good job of that. There are those who would say that you make your own bounces, which is a polite word to stand in for luck, but that only is true to an extent. When both teams are doing what it takes to win, and only one actually can win, the result is wildly entertaining hockey where you come away feeling that either team could have won. That certainly was the case Tuesday night, when three seconds after accurately describing his team as resilient for having come back from three deficits, Boyle termed the winning goaloff a bounce, which it was, following a Hedman drive that caromed to him off the end boards. It can go either way, Boyle said. Especially in OT like that. The series is a long way from over. Dylan Floro Jersey