In Uniondale, the New York Islanders scored thre3e times in the second period on Saturday night and then held on for a 3-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 4, to even their series at 2-2.
Josh Bailey opened the scoring in Game 4 for the New York Islanders
Semyon Varlamov, who was questionable as a starter before the game, made 28 saves for the win.
The Islanders took a 3-0 lead in the second period before the Lightning staged a two-goal rally in the third.
Ryan Pulock made the stop of the game with 2/7 seconds left in the third, on a shot attempt by Tampa’s Ryan McDonagh.
“He made a heck of a play with the spin-o-rama, and the net was open,” Pulock said. “I just tried to make myself big and take it away and I was able to get it. Obviously you hear the sound of the clock go and all the boys jump on you, it’s a good feeling.”
Game 5 is set for Tampa on Monday.
“Our game was good,” New York head coach Barry Trotz said. “I know that we probably had more chances when I look at the game. … Our 60-minute game was pretty decent other than the seven or eight minutes where they surged on us, and we had a surge earlier.
“This is what we expected, 2-2 going back (to Tampa). It’s a best-of-3 now.”
Josh Bailey broke a scoreless tie with 5:30 gone in the middle frame for a 1-0 lead to the Isles.
“Different nights, different guys are stepping up,” Bailey said. “You need that in the postseason if you’re going to make a run.”
Martin Barzal upped the lead to 2-0.
“It’s something I’ve been contemplating each game,” Trotz said. “They’re going to be low-scoring games. I don’t think we can get into a track meet with this team, they finish so well. I just felt that I had last change and just there was more cadence in this game, if you will. I just felt that that would be an easier switch for me today. We’ll see what we do next game.”
The Islanders dominated the second period with 17-9Â shot advantage.
It was a big hitting affair with the Lighting dealing 42 hits to the Isles 36.
“The situation that we’re in and how deep we are in the playoffs and how important these games are, obviously there’s probably no situation like this that I’ve had before,” Pulock said. “Obviously it feels good to score goals, but when you can save a game like that and get the win like that, it’s a good feeling.”
Matt Martin pushed the lead to 3-0 with just over two minutes left in the second period.
New York was scoreless in three power play chances, the Lightning did not score on their lone man advantage.
“It was red rotten, that second period,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said. “These guys have given it their all for whatever it’s been now, a month and change, and sometimes you lay an egg, and we laid one in the second period. It was unfortunate because you don’t play well sometimes, the breaks don’t go your way.
“… You realize how precious every period is and every shift is and it’s one of those, if you do bend, you can’t break. And that second period, we broke. It was a little self-inflicted. I’m proud of the guys for the push in the third, and you know what? We’re one save away from probably still playing right now. But you can’t play 40 (minutes), you’ve got to play 60.”
Brayden Point scored his 12th of the playoffs to get the Bolts on the board in the third; the goal came at 3:45.
Tyler Johnson potted a goal three minutes later to make the back end of the third period far too tense for most Islanders fans.
New York settled down after a timeout was called following the Johnson goal. 
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves in the loss.1
“Now it’s a best-of-3,” Johnson said. “You have to look ahead, you have to move forward. This game, you can’t change anything now, so we’ve got to try to learn from mistakes, be ready to play a full 60 minutes. You get that home ice back, and we have to use it to our advantage.”
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