This one was over 45 seconds into the game. 
On Monday, Game 5 proved to be short-lived. Oh sure, the Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders played out the 60 minutes, but Steve Stamkos scored 45 seconds into the match and effectively deflated the Islanders.
By the time it was over, the Lightning were weary of celebrating, they posted an 8-0 decision and 3-2 series lead.
“In the end, it’s one win,” Tampa Bay head coach Jon Cooper said. “Regardless what you win by, it’s the win that matters, not by how much. It’s a clean slate in two nights and we’ve got to get after it again.”
Before the opening frame was over, the Lightning added goals from Yanni Gourde and Alex Killorn for a 3-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The Lightning outshot the Isles, 19-5 in the first period.
Game 6 is on Long Island on Wednesday, and the Islanders will need a better effort than they offered in Tampa.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 21 saves for the shutout win.
“It’s certainly a response and a mindset, and it starts with our goalie,” Stamkos said. “‘Vasy’ just has an amazing ability to bounce back, whether he plays great or he doesn’t play great. Most of the time he plays great, but if we lose, he takes that personally. He was outstanding tonight. He made some big saves early, settles us into a game, we get some goals, we get some confidence.
“The whole group, when we don’t play our game, from the coaching staff to the players, we have an ability to break down the tape, realize what we did wrong and then make the corrections. It comes with experience, which we certainly have at this time of the year, and it just comes with maturity as a group. It’s a fun group to be part of because we know when we don’t play our best, we’re going to bring it the next night. That’s what we’re going to expect from them next game, so we’re going to have to be prepared for that.”
The Lightning doubled the score in the middle frame with Stamkos and Killorn bookending a goal by Ondrej Palat for a 6-0 advantage.
Stamkos and Killorn scored off the power play in the second period.
“We weren’t managing the puck very well, whether it was at our blue line or through the neutral zone or their blue line,” New York’s Andy Greene said. “We turned a lot of pucks over, and obviously they’re a great transition team, and you start giving them chances like that, they’re going to make you pay.”
Brayden Point pushed the lead to 7-0 with a third power play goal at 1:59 of the third period.
New York did not get a shot on goal in the third period until more than 10 minutes had passed.
“At the end of the day, we’re going back home, it’s 3-2 and we’ve just got to focus on earning the right to keep playing,” Islanders head coach Barry Trotz said. “At the end of the day, we could’ve lost 1-0 tonight in double or triple overtime and it feels like it’s the same result.
“We can fix a lot of things that we put ourselves into today, and we’re going to have to have our best game. They’ve been here before, we’ve been here before, and we’re going to have to have our best effort from every player on our team. And if we do that, we’ll be back here for Game 7 (on Friday).”
Tampa’s Luke Schenn added a goal for the 8-0 final.
Semyon Varlamov was give the hook before the end of the first period. He made 13 saves on 16 shots.
Ilya Sorokin was put in the game as the target for the Lighting’s steady barrage of offense, he made 19 saves on 24 shots.
“I’m not thinking about it,” the Isles’ Ryan Point said. “It’s playoff time, and personal stats don’t mean anything. It’s about wins. Our group played solid tonight and we got a big win. It doesn’t happen without teammates. I’ve had a lot of goals these playoffs that have been great setups or tap-ins, so it’s been a group effort.”
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