In Edmonton, the New York Islanders pushed back against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night to grab a 2-1 win in double overtime.
The victory keeps the Isles in the Eastern Conference Final for at least one more game as they trimmed the Bolts’ advantage to 3-2 in the series.
Jordan Eberle struck for the game-winner at 12:30 of the second overtime.
“The boys battled hard tonight,” Eberle said. “We had some moments in the [defensive] zone, and especially in overtime, where we had a broken stick, collapsed and just held on. Just waited for our chance. Obviously, to score that, continue to move on and give ourselves another chance in a couple days, it’s huge.”
Ryan Pulock scored the Isles in the latter minutes of the opening frame for a 1-0 lead.
“Our guys didn’t waver,” New York head coach Barry Trotz said. “They just kept grinding. We kept grinding and grinding. You can get some energy from it, there’s no question.”
Victor Hedman had the Bolts’ lone goal of the game when he scored in the second period.
“I know how this team reacts to adversity,” Hedman said. “We’ve been through this before, a lot of us in this room. There’s a lot of ups and downs in the playoffs. … It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, you’ve got to have your focus on the next one. That’s the only way you can get through a playoff run.”
The Lightning did score once more in the second period, but the goal was waved off for an offside after a challenge.
The Lightning squandered a four-minute penalty that spanned the end of the third and into the first extra session.
“You can’t sit here and say we didn’t get looks,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said of that power play. “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.”
Game 6 is set for Thursday night, in Edmonton.
“You’d do anything to get the win, and we did,” the Islanders’ Johnny Boychuk said. “We’ve just got to put it behind us and look forward to the next one.”
[WATCH: All Islanders vs. Lightning highlights]
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves in the loss.
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