BROOKLYN, N.Y. — For the better part of three days, you could sense that hard-nosed Islanders coach Jack Capuano wanted his team to land a knockout punch to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Little did he know, the reigning Eastern Conference champions could take a hit and more and that they didn’t have anything close to a glass jaw.
The best place to start to describe the Lightning’s riveting, 5-4 overtime win Tuesday at the Barclays Center is with the ending.
About 2:35 into the extra period, big Bolts forward Brian Boyle levelled the Islanders’ Thomas Hickey at the blueline with a hit Capuano insisted should result in a suspension.