Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel ripped a tiebreaking goal with 1:44 remaining and competed his fourth career hat trick with an empty-netter as the Lightning claimed their fourth straight victory, beating the host New York Islanders 5-3 on Saturday night.
Tied 3-all, Hagel rifled a shot past Ilya Sorokin (21 saves) with a long wrister for his second goal and added his third into an empty net as Tampa Bay won the first of its two-game set in New York. He added an assist for a four-point night.
Jake Guentzel tallied twice, and Nikita Kucherov and Max Crozier each had two assists. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 shots.
Defenseman Tony DeAngelo recorded a goal and an assist, and Matthew Schaefer and Brayden Schenn scored as the Islanders lost for the first time in three games on home ice this season.
New York forward Matias Maccelli had his 121st career assist in his 300th NHL game.
A turnover led to the first goal as New York’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau flipped a puck from the end boards out near the right circle in his defensive end. Guentzel gained possession and sent in an unassisted tally at 5:45 of the first period.
Vasilevskiy kept the Islanders off the scoreboard by denying Bo Horvat on a breakaway after Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman gave away the puck. Horvat fired a shot on the one-on-one try, but the Vezina Trophy winner turned it away at 11:14.
A 36-goal scorer last season, Hagel watched Hedman backhand a long flip down the ice and used his speed to run it down. He beat defenseman Ryan Pulock to the puck and tallied at 15:42 for a two-goal lead through the opening period.
Despite being banged up, New York’s blue line put the club on the board in the second period when DeAngelo took a feed from Ondrej Palat and fired home his first goal from the deep slot at 6:27.
Guentzel netted his second with his team on the power play. Kucherov found him to the left of Sorokin, and the winger made an inside move and beat the goalie for his third marker at 7:54 for a 3-1 advantage.
Another Islanders defenseman scored a beauty to make it 3-2. Schaefer skated parallel to the blue line, faked out Anthony Cirelli and netted a deep shot for his first goal at 11:41.
In the final moments of the second, Horvat helped tie it when his pass through the crease went in around a tangle of players near Vasilevskiy. Schenn was credited with his second score of the season.
Hagel broke the tie with 1:44 remaining in regulation, then completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal 21 seconds later to seal the victory.
–Field Level Media
