lightning

One of the reasons they were defeated 2-1 by the Lightning at the Coliseum on Thursday to fall behind in the series, 2-1, is because of a poorly called penalty.

For the third time this postseason, the Isles face a 2-1 series deficit after falling to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.

Look, the sky did not fall in on the Islanders on this night.

TAMPA — The Islanders showed up the Lightning in Game 1, but the defending champions reminded them who they are in Game 2. Tampa Bay charged back into the Stanley Cup semifinal series with a 4-2...

If it is true that the Lightning represent a step up in class for the Islanders, the inverse is equally true, if not quite equally apparent.

The Islanders are off and running in the NHL semifinals.

The Islanders are about to take on a Lightning team that has a 20-man lineup nearly $8 million over the cap — at $89,329,116 — in the Stanley Cup semifinals.

And so it ends, six wins shy of the Stanley Cup for this Islanders team that went farther than their ancestors had over the last 27 years. It ends in disappointment, if not despair, with this 2-1 overtime defeat in Game 6 to the Lightning, who will face the Stars in the Cup final that …

Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli wristed one off the post and Islanders goalie Semyon Varlamov could barely move. The puck had deflected in behind him. And with it the Islanders’ longest playoff run since 1993 came to a screeching halt as the Lightning took a 2-1 win in overtime in Game 6 on Thursday in Edmonton, …

The Islanders would have played all night and all morning if that’s what it took, but they were not going to go away. They were not going to take the skate of shame out of the Edmonton bubble. Not after this night. Not after this game. Not yet. So yes, there will be a Game …