Tampa Bay Lightning at New York Islanders 6/19/21 - NHL Picks & Predictions

The Tampa Bay Lightning hosts the New York Islanders on Saturday for Game 4 of their NHL semifinals best-of-seven series. Tampa Bay leads the series 2-1 following a 2-1 victory over New York on Thursday. Brayden Point scored the tie breaking goal in the second period for Tampa Bay and the Lightning’s blue line and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy came up big in the final period to hold off New York. Also scoring for Tampa Bay in the victory was Yanni Gourde.

Brayden Point is the leading goal scorer for Tampa Bay in the postseason with 11, while Nikita Kucherov is the leader in assists with 18 and the overall leader in points with 23. Pat Maroon has a team-high 35 minutes, while Ryan McDonagh has a team high 9 plus/minus. Andrei Vasilevskiy is 10-4-0 with a goals-against average of 2.13, save percentage of .935 and two shutouts during the postseason.

The New York Islanders look to level the series with a victory at home on Saturday in Game 4. Cal Clutterbuck scored New York’s only goal during the second period of Game 3. The Islanders out shot Tampa Bay 8-5 during the final period, but could not beat Tampa Bay goalie Vasilevskiy. Islanders’ goalie Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves in net. The Islanders have lost two straight after winning four straight.

During the postseason, Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri are the leading goal scorers for New York with seven apiece.  Jean-Gabriel Pageau is the leader in assists for the Islanders with 10 and the center is also the leader in overall points for New York with 13, while Josh Bailey has 12. Matt Martin has a team-high 24 penalty minutes and Scott Mayfield has a team best 12 plus/minus. In goal, Semyon Varlamov is 5-5-0 with 80 goals against average of 2.58 and save percentage of .923.