But with their season teetering on the brink against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Islanders responded quickly. Jordan Eberle scored on a backhand from between the circles to pull the Islanders within 2-1 at 14:22 and give them hope heading into the third period.
"You're down 2-0 in Game 6, I don't think it takes much to mentally stay in it and be excited," Islanders center Mathew Barzal said. "Game 6 at home in a tough spot down 2-0, but we're obviously a resilient group. We knew we had a lot of time on the clock still, so we just stuck with it."
Barzal played a big role in the comeback, assisting on Eberle's goal and also setting up defenseman Scott Mayfield's goal from the bottom of the right face-off circle that tied the game 2-2 with 8:44 left in the third. New York had to survive a Tampa Bay power play after Matt Martin was called for a high-sticking minor with 5:57 remaining, with goalie Semyon Varlamov making five saves, before heading to overtime.
The Islanders were in the same situation against the Lightning in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Final last season. Cirelli scored 13:18 into overtime to give the Lightning a 2-1 series-clinching win.
No one had to remind the Islanders of that.
"We were just trying to give ourselves a chance in Game 7," Eberle said. "I think that's kind of the only thing we had in our minds tonight. We go down two, and you just want to keep pushing, and we found a way to get two and give ourselves a chance in overtime and ultimately did it."