New York Islanders vs Tampa Bay Lightning Match Player Stats On Dec 09, 2019

Brock Nelson scored twice in New York's three-goal third period, carrying the Islanders to a 5-1 win over the host Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night.

Ross Johnston and Josh Bailey scored goals less than two minutes apart in the second period, and Anders Lee added a late power-play marker as the Islanders won for the fourth time in six games.

New York stymied all three power plays by Tampa Bay, which led the NHL with 36.5 percent efficiency with the man advantage on home ice.

Bailey and Lee added assists for two-point nights, and New York goalie Semyon Varlamov registered 31 saves to improve to 10-3-2.

The visitors played without defenseman Nick Leddy (lower body), who was hurt in Dallas on Saturday.

Steven Stamkos notched his 10th goal for the Lightning, who are 2-4-1 in their past seven.

With the Lightning set to visit the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, Tampa Bay sat No. 1 goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy and put Curtis McElhinney in net. The backup made 19 saves.

Tampa Bay played without Tyler Johnson (lower body). Mitchell Stephens was called up from AHL Syracuse and finished with a minus-2 rating in his NHL debut.

Stephens made his presence known early by drawing a penalty against the Islanders' Adam Pelech at 7:17 of the first period, but New York killed off the power play in a scoreless 20 minutes.

The teams went end to end early in the second stanza with two great scoring chances.

Cory Conacher skated in alone on Varlamov after a stretch pass, but his backhander was denied. New York sprung out and rushed the other way, and Johnston ripped home his second tally off the far post at 6:44.

On a power play less than a minute later, Tampa Bay dashed out on a four-on-two, but Casey Cizikas lunged to the ice and chipped the puck out to Bailey, who raced in on a breakaway.

Bailey deked McElhinney for his eighth goal -- the Islanders' fourth short-handed marker -- at 8:37 for a two-goal lead.

Stamkos whipped in a blind backhander past a diving Varlamov at 15:35 of the middle period for his third goal in two games.

Nelson scored his 10th at 7:31 of the third for a 3-1 lead, but Victor Hedman appeared to make it 3-2 just over two minutes later. However, New York challenged the play for offside, which it clearly was, and the goal was overturned.

Nelson added his 11th with a wrister from the high slot at 14:41, and Lee found the net at 16:05 to round out the scoring.

--Field Level Media