NHL Three Stars: Lightning take series control with another OT win

No. 1 Star: Ben Bishop, Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa’s goaltender gave up an early goal to New York Islanders forward Kyle Okposo. After that, Bishop kept the Islanders off the scoreboard, stopping 27 of 28 shots on goal in the Lightning’s 2-1 overtime win in Game 4. Bishop moved to 5-0 in overtime playoff games in his career. The Lightning have a 3-1 series lead and can clinch a trip to the Eastern Conference Final at home Sunday.   

No. 2 Star: Jason Garrison, Tampa Bay Lightning

Garrison’s blast just 1:34 into overtime gave Tampa the stranglehold on the series. The Lightning are 2-0 in overtimes this postseason and 13-7 in their history. They are also 10-3 in overtime on the road in their postseason history. The goal was Garrison’s first of the playoffs.

No. 3 Star: Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay Lightning  

The forward continued his clutch ways with a third period goal at the 7:49 mark to tie the game at 1-1. Kucherov also scored the game-tying goal for the Lightning in Game 3 of their series, before the team won that contest in overtime. Kucherov leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs with eight goals.

Honorable Mention: Okposo’s goal was the only score for the Islanders. Nikolay Kulemin and Frans Nielsen each notched assists … Lightning defenseman Andrej Sustr and forward Ondrej Palat assisted on Garrison’s goal … With an assist, Tampa’s Tyler Johnson picked up his 12th point in nine playoff games. He’s a plus-9.

Did You Know? The Islanders have needed overtime in four of their five playoff games at Barcalys Center this spring. This is their first year playing in the building. 

Dishonorable Mention: Islanders goaltender Thomas Greiss stopped 20 of 22 shots on goal in the loss … Islanders captain John Tavares fired one shot on goal and was a minus-1. He hasn’t picked up a point his last three games this series. All those games have been Lightning wins.

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