Islanders Fall Short Of Comeback, Lose 5-3 To Tampa In First Game Of Back-To-Back

New York Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said following Friday's practice in Tampa that Ilya Sorokin would start against the Lightning with Marcus Hogberg getting the Carolina Hurricanes. 

It was a big start for the Islanders, but especially for Sorokin, after he was pulled after allowing four goals on 19 shots in a 5-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

However, things went south and fast on Saturday afternoon for the Islanders and Sorokin. He allowed three goals on the first seven shots that came his way through the opening 20 minutes. 

The first goal beat him blocker side off the rush via Nikita Kucherov after Ryan Pulock and Alexander Romanov got confused at 2:02 of the first. 

Then, the one Sorokin is going to want back came after he could not hold on to a Kucherov wrister, leading to a few rebounds and an eventual goal from Nick Perbix at 7:31 of the first.  

And the last one, the Islanders' defensive-zone coverage was non-existent, leading to an easy finish for Brayden Point at 17:57. 

Roy had a decision to make after the opening frame, but chose to stay with Sorokin, saving Hogberg for Sunday night's game against the Carolina Hurricanes. 

The second period was a much better one for the Islanders, who, through 15 shots at Jonas Johansson, were the surprise starter for Tampa after Andrei Vasilevskiy had led the team out for warmups.

However, the Islanders could not get one past the backup netminder, failing to find the twine, with many of their looks coming off second and tertiary opportunities. 

But, after a scoreless 19 minutes, the Lightning added on to their 3-0 lead, with Point scoring with 21 seconds to play on a delayed penalty:

At X of the third after Ryan Pulock sent a 96 MPH laser off the blocker-side post and in on the power play to make it a 4-1 game:

Then it was Marc Gatcomb with a short-side snipe from the right circle just 1:49 later to make it a 4-2 game: 

And then it was Tony DeAngelo with a rebound tally to make it a 4-3 game at 8:47 of the third:

Guentzel scores on the empty net with 13.1 seconds to play in the third to stop the comeback. 

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