Lightning score 8 goals in Game 5 thrashing of Islanders

Alex Killorn and Steven Stamkos both netted two goals and an assist and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy collected the shutout to lead the host Tampa Bay Lightning to a 8-0 whitewashing of the New York Islanders on Monday that puts them one win away from advancing to the Stanley Cup Final.

Yanni Gourde,Ondrej Palat, Brayden Point and Luke Schenn also scored for the defending champions, who set a franchise record for goals in a game, while Vasilevskiy made 21 saves for his third shutout of this year’s playoffs. Tampa Bay has a 3-2 lead in the semifinal series and will look to close it out Wednesday in Uniondale, N.Y.

Islanders starting goalie Semyon Varlamov surrendered three goals on 16 shots before being pulled. Ilya Sorokin stopped 19 of 24 shots in relief. The loss was the most one-sided defeat in the playoffs in Islanders history.

The Lightning were looking for a quick start and received it when Stamkos opened the scoring just 45 seconds into the clash when he pounced on a loose puck in the left circle to snap a five-game drought.

Gourde doubled the lead at the 11:04 mark when he stole the puck in the offensive zone and his cross-ice pass banked into the net off defender Andy Greene. Killorn’s first of the game, a redirect of David Savard’s point shot, spelled the end of the game for Varlamov at 15:27 of the one-sided opening frame.

The goalie switch didn’t turn the tide. Stamkos potted his second of the game with a one-timer’s from the left faceoff dot for the power-play goal at 5:42 of the middle frame, and then Palat extended the lead to 5-0 when he deflected Savard’s point shot 10 minutes later. Killorn’s second of the game was another power-play marker and another deflected point shot with 2:07 remaining in the middle period.

The onslaught didn’t end there. Point extend his goal-scoring streak to eight games when he scored Tampa Bay’s 20th power-play goal of the playoffs 119 seconds into the third period.

His streak is the second longest in a single year in Stanley Cup history, two back of the mark set by Reggie Leach of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1976.

Schenn rounded out the scoring when his point shot ricocheted off the skate of Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock and into the net. Schenn, who played in place of the injured Erik Cernak, scored his first playoff goal since 2016.

New York’s top goal scorer Mat Barzal was given a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct for cross-checking Jan Rutta at the end of the second period.

–Field Level Media