TAMPA, Fla. — Steven Stamkos’ tip-in goal 21 seconds into the third period of Saturday’s game all but ended any chance the Islanders could pull off a comeback against the Lightning.
After losing 4-1, the Islanders went from wondering if they should count to believing Stamkos’ stick was definitely high when he caught Emil Lilberg’s shot from the basket. .
“I didn’t agree with that,” Kyle Palmieri said. “That’s all I’ll say.”
This goal was rated good on the ice and was confirmed in the review. That means the replay wasn’t just inconclusive, it was conclusive.
This was surprising considering Stamkos’ stick appeared to be over the crossbar, or at least too close to see.
“I would leave it to the referee,” Semyon Varlamov said. “I don’t want to speculate. I watched the replay and I thought it was about 50/50. So I don’t know. Of course I’m not going to give that up. This was a high stick and the game was 2-1. I wish I had had a better chance to get back into the game.”
Increasing the lead to 3-1 could have set the tone for the rest of the period, but the Islanders couldn’t solve Lightning netminder Andrei Vasilevskiy for the final 20 minutes. The goal was ultimately inconclusive.
It’s a cold comfort at best.
“Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter,” coach Patrick Roy said. “We needed to find a way. Do you agree with the call? No, but we need to score goals. At least to get back in that game we needed to score goals but we couldn’t do it. There wasn’t.”
When Nikita Kucherov first came to North America from Russia in 2012, he spent six games with the Quebec Remparts, where Roy was the coach, before moving on to the Lewin-Noranda Huskies and eventually the Lightning.
When he came to Quebec, he had just come back from shoulder surgery,” Roy recalled of Kucherov. “But I was very impressed with how smart he was. The IQ he had, that was the first thing I saw, the passes he made, the plays he made, the way he looked on the ice, I loved him. I was very impressed.
“I think the reason I continue to be that way is because of him and how impressive he is.” [Brayden] Points have been made so far [the Lightning]. They are team leaders and have led this team.yes they have [Victor] Hedman at the back, Vasilevskiy at goalkeeper. [Steven] Stamkos. But these two were the key to success, and Kuchy was truly phenomenal. ”
Mike Riley’s assist in the first period was his 100th career assist.
