Kucherov clutch for Lightning in Game 2 victory against Islanders

Nikita Kucherov stepped up for the Tampa Bay Lightning when they needed him most in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Final.

With the Lightning down to nine forwards and overtime looming, Kucherov scored with nine seconds left to lift Tampa Bay to a 2-1 win against the New York Islanders at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Wednesday.
The late goal allowed the Lightning to extend their lead in the best-of-7 series with Game 3 in Edmonton, the hub city for the conference finals and Stanley Cup Final, on Friday (8 p.m. ET; USA, CBC, SN, TVAS).
"In the end, if you want to go anywhere and you want to go deep, your best players need to be your best players," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "And I think that clearly was shown tonight."
RELATED: [Complete Lightning vs. Islanders series coverage]
After an 8-2 win in Game 1 on Monday, the Lightning had a far more challenging night in Game 2. They fell behind early when Matt Martin scored 1:24 into the game to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead.
Then Tampa Bay forward Alex Killorn received a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct for a hit on New York forward Brock Nelson 5:55 into the first period. The Lightning again began the game with 11 forwards and seven defensemen, so when center Brayden Point left in the second period with an apparent injury, they were down to nine forwards.
Like Kucherov (one goal, four assists), Point scored five points in Game 1 (two goals, three assists). Point is second in the NHL this postseason with 23 points (eight goals, 15 assists) in 15 games. And Killorn, another top-six forward, has seven points (four goals, three assist) in 15 games and entered Game 2 averaging 20:15 of ice time in the postseason.
So it was two significant losses for Tampa Bay.
"Did [Kucherov] hang his head and sit here?" Cooper said. "No, he put the team on his back. The goalie, the penalty kill, all those things (were in important), but in the end, you need to get the next one, and [Kucherov] did it, and a ton of credit to him for just being a part of this and leading us along the way."

With Anthony Cirelli taking Point's place at center on the top line with Kucherov and left wing Ondrej Palat, Kucherov led Tampa Bay forwards with 22:26 of ice time and had three shots on goal, eight shot attempts and four hits.
And one very big goal.
"With nine guys, you have to step up and play simple," said Kucherov, who is third in the postseason with 22 points (six goals, 16 assists) in 15 games. "It doesn't matter who scores the goals. We play as a team and we win as a team, and we'll take any goals at any time."
After the Lightning killed off Killorn's major penalty, with Andrei Vasilevskiy making five saves, defenseman Victor Hedman tied the game 1-1 with 1:35 remaining in the first.
Tampa Bay's penalty kill came through again in the third period after Ryan McDonagh was called for holding at 7:48 and Cedric Paquette was called for hooking at 9:10, giving New York a 5-on-3 for 38 seconds.
The Lightning held the Islanders without a shot on goal during the two-man advantage and limited them to three shots on goal during the overlapping penalties.
"Just a gutsy 5-on-3 there by the guys," McDonagh said. "You never want to put your team down, especially late in the game, and between [Vasilevskiy] and all the killers, it was definitely the difference in the game."

The game appeared headed to overtime until the Lightning put on a surge in the final 20 seconds. Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov made the save against Yanni Gourde's backhand on the rush with 19 seconds left before Kucherov set up Palat for a shot in front that went wide right with 14 seconds left.
The Lightning finally were rewarded when McDonagh pinched from the left point to intercept a pass by Islanders defenseman Andy Greene and fed Kucherov at the bottom of the right face-off circle for a one-timer past Varlamov.
"I made eye contact with [McDonagh]. I knew what he was going to do, and he probably knew what I was going to do," Kucherov said. "He made a nice pass across the ice, and all I had to do was hit the open net."
The Lightning bench erupted in celebration knowing they were about to move within two wins of reaching the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 2015.
"[Kucherov] was unbelievable," Hedman said. "He was all over the ice, and when you have your most skilled player do that, it rubs off on everyone else. So our forwards showed a lot of resiliency today and made a big play at the end, obviously."