Islanders defeat Lightning in 3-2 shootout

Eduardo A. Encina, Tampa Bay Times on Dec 13, 2025

Published in Hockey

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ELMONT, N.Y. — The Tampa Bay Lightning’s third meeting with the New York Islanders in 12 days was a lot like the first two and reminiscent of the hard-fought postseason wars these teams had during the Lightning’s recent Stanley Cup runs.

Every scoring chance was earned, the space was tight, and it seemed like the games would be decided by whichever team made a mistake late.

And for most of the afternoon Saturday at UBS Arena, it seemed like no matter what they did, the Lightning couldn’t penetrate the brick wall that’s been Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin.

Persistence paid off for the Lightning, who rallied from a two-goal first-period deficit. Defenseman J.J. Moser tied the score 3:20 into the third period, forcing a scoreless 3-on-3 overtime before the Lightning lost 3-2 in a shootout.

Still, the Lightning salvaged a point and ended their four-game road trip with five out of a possible eight points. Though the Islanders prevailed in all three matchups this season.

Sorokin, who entered the day having stopped 62 of 63 shots in the previous two meetings, protected a second-period Lightning surge in which Tampa Bay outshot the Islanders 17-1.

The Lightning managed just one goal — coming on a 5-on-3 power play — in that period, with Sorokin doing his best to be Tampa Bay’s kryptonite.

Moser tied it following Jake Guentzel’s offensive-zone faceoff win. Nikita Kucherov found Moser wide open jumping up for a wrister at the left dot that beat Sorokin.

And defenseman Darren Raddysh, who scored in the second period, kept the Lightning alive with his skate in the third in traffic after the puck had gotten behind Lightning goaltender Jonas Johansson. Raddysh threw out his leg to stop it from going over the goal line.

The Lightning pressured through a second period that included 6:25 of power-play time. Raddysh had scored on the 5-on-3 with 9:47 left in the third to cut the lead to 2-1.

But Sorokin clamped down from there, making two remarkable saves in the remaining 54 seconds of 5-on-4 power-play time, implementing a lunging blocker save on Oliver Bjorkstrand’s one-timer from the left circle and swatting Yanni Gourde’s rebound attempt out of the air in front.

The Lightning found themselves under pressure early, having to defend a 4-on-3 Islanders power play that ended with rookie sensation Matthew Schaefer opening scoring 3:05 into the game.

Tampa Bay already was outmanned on the penalty kill, Moser’s stick broke, and center Anthony Cirelli gave Moser his stick. That allowed the Islanders to work in closer with Cirelli unable to interrupt plays, and he couldn’t interrupt Schaefer’s shot from just inside the right dot.

An offensive-zone turnover by Nick Paul gave former Lightning forward Anthony Duclair a rush going the other way, and he was able to separate himself when defenseman Max Crozier stumbled in the neutral zone trying to retreat and found Cal Ritchie unmarked trailing for an open shot near the left hash.

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