“You don’t always do it your first crack at it, that’s why you have to go back,” Trotz said. “And you have to do it again until you climb that mountain. We got fairly close. We can see the mountain top, but we never got to the mountain top.”
Lightning Defeat Islanders 2-1, Advance to Stanley Cup
A magical postseason run has come to an end. The Tampa Bay Lightning won the Eastern Conference Final Thursday night at Rogers Place when they defeated the Islanders 2-1 in overtime of Game 6. The Lightning will battle the Dallas Stars in the 2020 Stanley Cup Final.
2015 third-round pick Anthony Cirelli scored the game-winner 13:18 into overtime, ending the Islanders best season since 1984. He snapped a wrist-shot off the post and Semyon Varlamov froze as the puck deflected in behind him.
“We just fell a little bit short,” said Islanders head coach Barry Trotz. “I don’t think there’s anything negative except for the result tonight.”
The Islanders were without Casey Cizikas (detached retina) and Adam Pelech (broken wrist) in this elimination game. As the regular season concluded, the Islanders plummeted in the standings without Cizikas and Pelech in the lineup, and their season ended without without Cizikas and Pelech in the lineup as well.
“This team, as I said to them, is the most resilient team I’ve coached and I’ve coached for a long time,” Trotz said. “We had that next-man-up mentality throughout this whole playoffs, and we had guys contribute, and it’s great to see that.”
The Eastern Conference Final ended in six games, but New York was a Brock Nelson breakaway from sending it to seven. For the second consecutive game, the Islanders took a double-minor at the end of regulation and survived. This time, Nelson snuck past the Lightning defense on the kill, but was stopped by Andrei Vasilevskiy.
“With that penalty, we knew we were going to kill it,” said Islanders captain Anders Lee. “We did it two nights ago. You kill it and you go and you get it, and tonight we just didn’t get it.”
The Islanders trailed for a total of eight seconds in Games 2, 3, 5 and 6 combined.
“We have a lot of pride, character and resiliency,” Lee said. “There is a special group in our room. Until that very last minute, every single one of us believed in each other, what we were doing and the road we were on. Obviously we came up short, but there is a huge sense of pride right now in every single one of us.”
Varlamov made 46 saves in the contest, giving New York a chance to win. Tampa Bay was penalized for having too many men on the ice late in overtime, but New York did not record a shot on the ensuing power-play. They finished the series 2-for-19 with 34 shots on goal.
Devon Toews opened up the scoring Thursday evening on a wraparound goal that fooled Vasilevskiy. But two minutes later, Victor Hedman cut to the slot and tied the game at one. Hedman recorded four goals and two assists in this series, playing more than 29 minutes in Games 4, 5 and 6. The game went to overtime tied at one and Cirelli’s goal sent Tampa Bay to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2015.
While New York’s dreams came up short, the future is bright on Long Island.
The Ilya Sorokin era is here. The 25-year-old top-goaltending prospect went 26-10-3 last season, recording nine shutouts in 40 games with CSKA Moscow of the Kontinental Hockey League.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau is extended for six more seasons, creating arguably the deepest center core in hockey with Mat Barzal, Brock Nelson and Casey Cizikas.
Adam Pelech will return, stabilizing a defensive unit that needs him on one of the best contracts in the National Hockey League.
And yes, Scott Malkin, Jon Ledecky, Lou Lamoriello, Barry Trotz, Lane Lambert, Mitch Korn and Piero Greco are still here.
So, do not cry because it is over. Smile because it happened. And there sure is a ton to smile about.
