The New York Islanders returned from a nine-day break against the very not-rusty Eastern Conference leading Tampa Bay Lightning and managed to continue their seven-game points streak yet suffer their second consecutive shootout loss.
For a game that was scoreless through 65 minutes, you might think it was a sloggy, dreary trap-fest initiated by Barry Trotz’s troops. But actually it was both a well-played and fairly eventful contest, with both Thomas Greiss and Andrei Vasilevskiy required to turn in some outstanding work to keep both teams off the board.
Greiss stopped 41 Lightning shots while Vasilevskiy stopped 36 by the home team; no skater was credited with a goal, since the margin for the bonus standings point was a Victor Hedman shootout conversion — the only puck to get over the line behind either goalie.