Islanders Fall to Lightning 6-1

Nikita Kucherov had two goals and two assists, Ben Bishop made 26 saves, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Islanders 6-1 Tuesday night.

Steven Stamkos, Brian Boyle, J.T. Brown, and Valtteri Filppula also scored, and Victor Hedman and Slater Koekkoek each had two assists to help the Lightning snap a three-game skid and finish a 3-3-0 road trip.

Dennis Seidenberg scored for the Islanders, giving them goals by defensemen in six straight games. Thomas Greiss started in goal and gave up three goals on 11 shots in the first 13:34. He was replaced by Jaroslav Halak, who allowed three goals in the second period and finished with 22 saves.

It was the teams' first meeting since the Lightning beat the Islanders in five games in the Eastern Conference semifinals last spring.

Tampa Bay, coming off a 6-1 loss at the New York Rangers on Sunday, got off to a strong start.

Kucherov took a beautiful cross-ice pass from Stamkos on the power play and beat Greiss on the short side to at 3:21.

Kucherov doubled the lead with 7:42 left in the first on a wrist shot from the left faceoff dot for another power-play score and his third of the season. Stamkos' tip-in 1:16 later made it 3-0 and chased Greiss.

Stamkos appeared to have tallied another power-play goal in the first but Islanders coach Jack Capuano challenged and the goal was disallowed for offside after a review.

The Lightning outshot the Islanders 14-4 in the first.

Boyle lifted a backhand past Halak at 6:17 of the second, Brown converted a short-handed breakaway for his first of the season at 9:30, and Filppula picked up his 149th career goal - and 49th with Tampa Bay - with 8:41 remaining in the period to make it 6-0.

Seidenberg got the Islanders on the board with a hard slap shot from inside the blue line beyond the right faceoff circle with 30 seconds left in the second.

Less than two minutes into the game, Islanders defenseman Calvin de Haan laid a big hit on the Lightning's Jonathan Drouin. Ryan Callahan - playing his second game since offseason surgery - felt the need to protect his teammate and dropped the gloves with de Haan. Drouin left the game and did not return.

Boyle and Travis Hamonic also fought later in the contest.

Islanders rookie Anthony Beauvillier played in his ninth career NHL game. Once the 19-year-old plays his 10th NHL game, it will accelerate his entry-level contract by one season. New York's other 19-year-old rookie, Mathew Barzal, has only played two games.

NOTES: The Islanders scratched C Barzal (illness), G Jean-Francois Berube and RW Alan Quine. ... Casey Cizikas skated in his 300th career NHL game. ... Tampa Bay scratched C Cedric Paquette and D Nikita Nesterov. . Lightning F Slater Koekkoek made his season debut after being recalled from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Monday.

UP NEXT

Lightning: Host Boston on Thursday night.

Islanders: Host Philadelphia on Thursday night.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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