Islanders put up a fight against Lightning but fall short

TAMPA, Fla. — The Islanders stood toe-to-toe with the Eastern Conference’s best Thursday night, but in the end the Lightning — and especially their goalie — proved too strong.

Andrei Vasilveksiy made 35 saves, Tyler Johnson broke a tie with 1:26 left, and the Lightning won 4-2, ending the Islanders’ seven-game points streak (5-0-2). Vasilevskiy has allowed two or fewer goals in nine of 12 games.

Josh Bailey scored twice and Robin Lehner stopped 23 shots for the Islanders, who pulled even at 2 on Bailey’s in-close goal at 8:43 of the third.

“I felt we should have got a point,” said Islanders coach Barry Trotz, whose team leads the Metropolitan Division at 8-5-2. “When you’re into the last minute against a very good team, you’ve got make sure, let’s get the point for sure, maybe two.”

Johnson scored from just outside the crease off a pass from Nikita Kucherov. Steven Stamkos added an empty-netter. Tampa Bay, with the NHL’s best record at 12-3-1, also got goals from Mathieu Joseph and J.T. Miller.

The Islanders, who lead the Metropolitan Division at 8-5-2, went 0-for-5 on the power play, including a two-man advantage for just under a minute to start the third. Tampa Bay didn’t score on four power-play chances.

Center Mathew Barzal assisted on Bailey’s second goal and needs two points in his next game to reach 100 in his first 100 NHL games. The only players to achieve the feat when starting their career with the Islanders are Mike Bossy (79 games) and Bryan Trottier (93 games).