Before a packed and passionate Barclays Center, the New York Islanders played a great game, but came away empty when the Tampa Bay Lightening’s Brian Boyle delivered the game winning goal at 2:48 into overtime to give the visiting squad a 5-4 win.
The victory put the Lightening up 2-1 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series.
The Isles started the battle of the puck aggressively and were rewarded when Josh Bailey put them on the board early with a goal in the first period at 7:55. While the Lightning answered back quickly with a power play goal from Ryan Callahan, it seemed like the Isles were ready to fight back and take the lead.
However, Victor Hedman took charge in the second period and helped give Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead at 8:10. Then at 14:50 Nick Leddy tied things up as the game was all set to head into the third period.
The final frame started with Bailey scoring his second goal at 2:27. But the Lightening’s Vladislav Namestnikov answered with a goal at 3:25 to knot the game 3.
When Cal Clutterbuck gave the Isles a 4-3 lead atAt 11:23 the Barclays Center buzzed with electricity. But the Lightening’s Nikita Kucherov answered in the last minute at 19:21 to put the game into overtime.
Barclays Center Hosts Game 4 in Brooklyn on Friday night.
