Jason Garrison scored 1:34 into overtime to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Friday night and a 3-1 series lead.
Garrison took a pass from Andrej Sustr and fired a slapshot from the right faceoff circle past goalie Thomas Greiss to give the Lightning their second straight overtime win and move them one win away from reaching the conference finals for the second straight year.
Nikita Kucherov scored his NHL-leading eighth of the playoffs for Tampa Bay, and Ben Bishop made 27 saves.
Kucherov, who tied the score with 38.4 seconds left in regulation in Game 3 on Tuesday night, evened this one at 7:49 of the third. He took a pass from Tyler Johnson and fired a slapshot from the left faceoff dot past Greiss' blocker.
Kyle Okposo scored early in the first period for the Islanders, and Greiss stopped 20 shots.
Game 5 of this best-of-seven series is Sunday in Tampa, Florida.
There was a delay at the start of the third period to repair boards damaged by the Zamboni during the second intermission. When play resumed, 31 minutes had elapsed since the end of the second period.
The Islanders turned the puck over in their end with just over a minute left in regulation, and Alex Killorn skated in, but Greiss stopped his wrist shot.
The Islanders came out aggressive from the start and were outshooting the Lightning 9-3 over the first six minutes and finished the opening period with a 16-6 advantage while 11 others were blocked by the Lightning. The pace slowed in the second as Tampa Bay outshot New York 4-2 over the first 10 minutes and finished with a 10-7 edge.
Greiss left the game about 1½ minutes into the second due to an issue with his skate. Jean-Francois Berube came on for his playoff debut and stopped both shots he faced over 4:47 before Greiss returned with 13:40 remaining in the period.
Okposo had a chance for a second goal as he was in close on Bishop but the Lightning goalie stopped his wrist shot midway through the second.
Tampa Bay had three power plays in the second, but totalled just four shots on goal.
Okposo got the Islanders on the scoreboard less than five minutes into the game. With Tampa Bay's Mike Blunden off for roughing, Okposo took a pass from Nikolay Kulemin from behind the net, settled it just to the right of the left faceoff circle and fired it past Bishop at 4:20. It was Okposo's second goal of the playoffs — first since Game 1 of the first round against Florida.
Ryan Strome thought he had doubled New York's lead at the 9:11 mark as he deflected a pass from Steve Bernier, but it was smothered by Bishop. Strome raised his stick in celebration, but the officials never signalled a goal and the call was upheld after a video review.
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