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Islanders goalkeeper Semyon Varlamov kept his goal clean for more than 59 minutes, on the offensive they punished the mistakes of the “Bolts”.
Tampa Bay Lightning – New York Islanders 1:2
Series status: 0: 1
For the first time in these finals, Master Tampa Bay Lightning is behind in a series. The New York Islanders turned out to be the expected unpleasant opponent. With a very solid defense, a strong goalkeeper Varlamov and an offensive that is able to punish small mistakes, they have won Isle’s Game 1 of the semi-final series against the Blitzers from Florida.
The reigning champion came into the game better at first and worked out some chances, including Brayden Point narrowly missed out on a solo effort. The longer the game lasted, the better the guests found the game. Again and again they used the home side’s disc losses to set pinpricks. They had the best chance when Josh Bailey won the disc in the Lightning Zone and ran up to Andrej Vasilevskiy alone. But his shot ricocheted off the crossbar. A short time later, however, the time had come.
In their own zone, the Islanders intercepted a cross pass. The disc landed on Josh Bailey, who immediately matched it to the blue line of bolts to Matt Barzal. He shook his opponent and pushed the puck through Vasilevskiy’s legs into the goal of the hosts for the lead. Tampa Bay then intensified its offensive efforts, but the Islanders remained dangerous at all times, also because as the game progressed it became clear that it would be difficult to get past Semyon Varlamov.
So it was Ryan Pulock who decided the game in favor of the Islanders after a good 45 minutes: With his slap shot from the blue line through friend and foe, he surprised Vasilevskiy and scored his fourth goal in these play-offs. Three of them were the game winners in the respective game. He had previously scored two goals in the main round. The Bolts increased the pressure again, but came through Brayden Point with a 6: 4 majority in the final minute only to the connection goal. It was the third shot on goal in the top row Point – Palat – Kucherov in the entire game.
Neither team wanted to overestimate the result at the beginning of this series, but it is a statistical hint: Almost 69 percent of the teams that won game 1 of a “Best of Seven” series emerged from this series as winners (497: 226 ). In this final round, the value is exactly two thirds (8: 4).
The other games in the series will now take place every two days. Game 2 takes place in Florida before games 3 and 4 go to the glorious Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, around 45 kilometers east of central Manhattan.
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