The great author William Goldman once wrote: “What could have happened, what should have happened, it did happen.”
Only, maybe not for the Islanders this week in Brooklyn.
Despite an entirely admirable effort in Friday’s Game 4, through which the Islanders dictated the pace and for the most part eliminated the speedy and skilled Lightning’s time and space, what could have happened and what (seemingly) should have happened — that being a victory to knot this Round 2 series at 2-all — it did not happen that way.
“I don’t really think we deserve to be down in this series 3-1 with the things we did, especially in this game, but we can’t worry about that now,” John Tavares told The Post following Tampa Bay’s second straight overtime victory in Brooklyn, this one 2-1 on Jason Garrison’s goal 94 seconds into extra time.