ELMONT, N.Y. - Brandon Hagel scored a hat trick, including the game-winning goal with 1 minute, 44 seconds remaining, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 of 23 shots to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning past the New York Islanders 5-3 Saturday night at UBS Arena, the team’s fourth consecutive victory and first road win of the season.
Hagel finished with four points on the night, entering the zone late in the third period and using Anthony Cirelli as a screen before burying the puck inside the left post to break a 3-3 tie. He added an empty-net goal 21 seconds later to seal it. “I just saw Tony coming across and there were a couple screens, so I knew if I got it through it had a chance,” Hagel said. “Did I know where it was going? No, but I knew if I got it through it had a chance.”
The Lightning had led 3-1 before the Islanders rallied with three second-period goals - a Tony DeAngelo point shot at 6:27, a Matthew Schaefer individual effort at 11:41 that made it 3-2, and a Brayden Schenn power-play goal in the dying seconds of the middle frame to tie it. Vasilevskiy then denied all nine Islanders shots in the third period, including a toe save on an Anthony Duclair wraparound, to keep Tampa Bay alive for Hagel’s heroics. “You want to learn this stuff early and know that we’re able to do it,” Hagel said. “I think the goalie stood on his head. Was it perfect? No, but we found a way to win on the road, and that’s what you need to do in this league.”
Vasilevskiy’s performance earned him his 373rd career win, breaking a tie with Andy Moog for 20th place in NHL history among goaltenders. Jake Guentzel scored twice - the opener at 5:45 of the first period and a power-play goal just over a minute after DeAngelo’s tally - and credited Vasilevskiy for keeping the Lightning in contention. “They pushed in the second, kind of let them back in there. But that’s what good hockey teams do,” Guentzel said. “You just find a way when sometimes you don’t have your best, and Vasy played unbelievable. He kept us in there in the second and third, and whenever you get a late one it helps the team.”
Captain Victor Hedman recorded an assist on Hagel’s first goal - a play where Hedman flipped a puck from below the goal line and Hagel outpaced two Islanders defensemen to roof a shot past Ilya Sorokin. The assist was Hedman’s 812th career point, moving him past Sergei Gonchar for third-most by a defenseman born outside of North America in NHL history. Nikita Kucherov and Max Crozier each added two assists.
Head coach Jon Cooper acknowledged the second period but praised his team’s resilience. “Good road game for us,” Cooper said. “We came out, got the lead. Didn’t love our second obviously with giving up three, kind of the way we did it. Probably a little unlucky on the power-play goal against. A great block breaks the stick and they make a play, but now you’re going into the third period tied on the road, and I thought we bent but didn’t break. And then one of our playmakers made a play, and it was good for us.”
Tampa Bay, now 4-1-0, visits the New York Rangers on Tuesday for a 7:15 p.m. puck drop at Madison Square Garden.