Stamkos scores 3, Lightning rally to beat Islanders 6-4
By SCOTT CHARLES
Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Steven Stamkos scored three goals for his first hat trick of the season, and the Tampa Bay Lightning rallied to beat the New York Islanders 6-4. Corey Perry, Ryan McDonagh and Brandon Hagel also scored for Tampa Bay, which trailed by two before scoring five times in the third period. Ondrej Palat added three assists and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 33 shots as the Lightning (51-23-8) secured third place in the Atlantic Division. Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Kieffer Bellows, Josh Bailey and Zdeno Chara scored for the Islanders, who will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2018. New York (37-35-10) reached the Stanley Cup semifinals the last two years before losing to the Lightning, who went on to win the finals each time. Ilya Sorokin had 28 saves.