The sweep of the HL from Friday night starts in Tampa where the Lightning scored four times in the third period to swamp the New York Islanders, 7-4.
The win pushed the Bolts back into first place in the Atlantic Division over idle Florida.
What had been a back-and-forth affair was finally broken open when Tyler Johnson scored the eventual game-winner midway through the final frame to give the Bolts a 5-4 lead.
Steven Stamkos was not entirely pleased with Bolts effort Friday night – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
The final dagger was Jason Garrison scoring just 23 seconds after Johnson to take the wind out of the Isles sails.
Tampa lost Anton Stralman to a fractured leg in the first period.
“Nobody’s going to replace him,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “He is one of the top defenseman in this league, and he’s an extremely important part on our team not only on the ice but off the ice.”
Nikita Kucherov, Vladislav Namestnikov, Steven Stamkos and Andrej Sustr also had goals for Tampa.
“We have to turn the page real quick,” Islanders captain John Tavares said. “We’ve got a lot of hockey coming up and it starts [Saturday]. Every game matters and it’s important that we bounce back.
“You’re not gonna win many games in this league giving up seven goals. Obviously we got some big goals and battled back a few times, but the back-to-back goals are what hurt us.”
Brock Nelson, Shane Prince, Johnny Boychuk and Nikolay Kulemin scored for the Islanders.
“It’s good to see Kulemin get on the board,” Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. “He has been getting some chances but hasn’t scored. It is good to see us come back right off the bat there and answer. But we’ve still got some guys that have to do a little better job playing away from the puck.”
The Lightning were not happy with their own game despite the win and clinching of a playoff berth.
“Two times tonight we score and the next shift they come back and score,” Stamkos said. “That’s unacceptable. In a group like ours who prides themselves in playing the right way defensively, we have to be aware of situations and moments in a game that can turn the tide. I mean, that could have easily went the other way. We obviously had a response with the two goals in the one shift there, but [we] can’t make a habit of that.”
Ben Bishop made 27 saves in the win and Thomas Greiss took the loss for the Isles.
In St Louis, the Blues faced the Vancouver Canucks and won 4-0 on the strength of a 15-save effort from Brian Elliott.
For Elliot, it was his third straight shutout.
Brian Elliott pitched third straight shutout in win over Canucks – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“We talked about it before the game; you work so hard during the season to lock that up,” Elliott said. “These last few games, we’ve definitely done a great job of playing our style of hockey. We want to be playing going into the playoffs and to solidify it tonight in front of our home fans, it puts icing on the cake. We’ve still got work to do and it’s just a first step in a mountain climb here.
“I think the guys are feeling it. I’m kind of the beneficiary on the back end with how they’re playing and putting pucks in the net.”
Joel Edmundson, Kyle Brodziak, Robby Fabbri, and Carl Gunnarsson all scored for St Louis.
The win pushed the Blues into a tie with the Dallas Stars at the top of the Central Division.
“It’s been that way all year,” Elliott said. “At the start, [the Stars] were kind of out of reach and we’ve slowly kind of climbed back. That’s where we want to be, at the top of the mountain in the regular season and take it in the playoffs.
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