UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Victor Hedman scored the only goal in the shootout Friday night to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning past the New York Islanders 1-0 after both goaltenders put on a spectacular display through 65 minutes.
Hedman beat Thomas Greiss on the first attempt for the league-best Lightning.
The Islanders had a power play at 3:23 of overtime when Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov was called for cross-checking but couldn’t convert.
Greiss and Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy put on a save-for-save clinic before the shootout. Greiss made 41 saves while Vasilevskiy stopped 36 shots. Vasilevskiy turned away three more during the shootout.
The first-place Islanders came in having won of 15 of their last 19 games, including five of six heading into the All-Star break and their subsequent bye week. They hadn’t played since losing at Chicago in a shootout on Jan. 22.
The Lightning were coming off their first game back, a 4-2 loss at Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
Tampa Bay outshot the Islanders 14-11 in the scoreless first period.
Greiss made a number of strong saves, denying Lightning captain Steven Stamkos from in close on the power play and stopping Yanni Gourde from the doorstep.
Greiss also was in goal for the Islanders when they swamped the Lightning 5-1 in Brooklyn on Jan. 13.
In the second period, the Islanders had two power-play chances but couldn’t convert.
The chippy contest continued with the goaltenders on top of their games as each team registered 10 shots in the middle stanza.
Vasilevskiy made a spectacular save on Valtteri Filppula midway through the second period, sprawling to his left to deny the Finnish forward.
In the third, the Lightning came out flying with 10 shots on Greiss in the first five minutes.
Greiss denied Brayden Point with a left pad save off a tic-tac-toe setup from linemates Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov.
He made stops on Mathieu Joseph and Ryan McDonagh to keep the game scoreless.
Vasilevskiy was equally stellar, robbing Mathew Barzal from in front and stopping Josh Bailey on a follow-up.
He also made a sharp glove save on Islanders captain Anders Lee with 2:11 left in regulation.
The Lightning had a 40-32 shots advantage heading into overtime.
NOTES: The Islanders scratched Fs Tom Kuhnhackl and Ross Johnston plus D Luca Sbisa and continued to be without injured F Andrew Ladd and D Thomas Hickey. … Tampa Bay scratched Fs Ryan Callahan and Danick Martel and D Anton Stralman. … The Islanders were 8-2-1 in January and have a winning record each month this season.
UP NEXT
Islanders: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.
Lightning: Visit the New York Rangers on Saturday night.
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Allan Kreda, The Associated Press