Stamkos, Lightning defeat Islanders, will play Maple Leafs in first round

The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the New York Islanders 6-4 at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on Friday, and will face the Toronto Maple Leafs in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Steven Stamkos scored his 10th NHL hat trick for the Lightning (51-23-8) and set a team record with his ninth straight multipoint game. He has 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists) during the streak.
Andrei Vasilevskiy made 33 saves for Tampa Bay (51-23-8), which won the Stanley Cup each of the past two seasons. The Lightning visit the Maple Leafs in Game 1 of the best-of-7 Eastern Conference Round on Monday.
"Anytime you can finish the season on a high...we talked about going out and playing a good third period and trying to gain some momentum heading into the playoffs," Stamkos said. "That was a good response by our group and it's always nice to feel good heading into the fun part of the season."

Zdeno Chara and Josh Bailey scored for the Islanders (37-35-10), who will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2018. Ilya Sorokin made 28 saves.
"Obviously we didn't have the third period that we wanted," Islanders coach Barry Trotz said. "I think we stopped moving the puck. We stopped skating and I think we got a little stunned by their power play and how that puck was moving."
Corey Perry scored a power-play goal to make it 3-2 at 1:21 of the third period. Ryan McDonagh tied it 3-3 at 10:10.
"I think we kind of simplified things a little bit in the O-zone," McDonagh said. "We shot a lot of pucks and just created some chaos. Keep some sustained pressure in there by just putting pucks down to the net. In the end, we clawed our way back into it and found a way."
Stamkos gave Tampa Bay a 4-3 lead with a shot from the slot at 11:13 and completed his 10th NHL hat trick at 17:50 to make it 5-3.
"We skated and we pressured and we forechecked, I thought we got away from that in the second period," Stamkos said. "If we're engaged physically and using our speed, we create turnovers and we can create some scrambles in the offensive zone."

Chara scored his second goal of the season to make it 5-4 at 19:16.
"That's a special moment," New York forward Anders Lee said. "It says a lot about 'Z' and everything he's done in his career. He is one of the greatest leaders this game has seen. Over the last 20-plus years he's given it everything he has to this game. It's awesome to see him get a goal there at the end."
Brandon Hagel scored an empty-net goal at 19:35 for the 6-4 final.
"This team won 51 games and it's a [heck] of an accomplishment, but it's going to be long forgotten once we get to Toronto," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "It's a whole different season now."

Jean-Gabriel Pageau gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead 32 seconds into the first period.
Stamkos tied it 1-1 at 11:57 with a tip in off a shot from Erik Cernak.
Kieffer Bellows put New York ahead 2-1 at 9:35 of the second period, and Bailey extended the lead to 3-1 with a power-play goal at 18:48.
"I don't think it's ever a success when you're not in the playoffs," Bellows said. "So I would like to personally step up my game and help the team push for that."
NOTES: Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov had his eight-game goal streak end, but had two assists and finished the regular season with 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists) during a nine-game point streak. ...Bailey had seven points (three goals, four assists) in his final six games. ...Tampa Bay forward Brayden Point was a late scratch with an undisclosed injury.