The New York Islanders live to fight another day, after defeating Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Tuesday.
Having previously led 3-1 on aggregate, Lightning would have secured their spot in the Stanley Cup Final had they defeated the Islanders. Instead, the Islanders bring the score to 3-2 on aggregate.
It was the Islanders who opened the scoring, with Ryan Pulock scoring a power-play goal at 15:41 in the first period. Lightning hit back fairly quickly, with Victor Hedman levelling the score at 4:00 in the second period.
The match proved to be particularly tight, with the Islanders emerging victorious in a particularly dramatic fashion. Jordan Eberle secured victory for the Islanders at 12:30 in the second overtime.
Islanders coach Barry Trotz had the following to say after the game, “Our guys didn’t waver. They just kept grinding. We kept grinding and grinding. You can get some energy from it, there’s no question.”
As for Lightning coach Jon Cooper, accepting defeat proved particularly difficult, “You can’t sit here and say we didn’t get looks. We had some looks. They didn’t go in. It’s hockey, sometimes it happens. … The way you win those games is to defend the way we’ve been defending. And if we keep doing that, I’ve got a lot of faith in this group.”
