Islanders Quickly Leave the League-Leading Lightning Behind

One day after a tough loss to their crosstown rivals, the Islanders bounced back with a big victory against the league-best Tampa Bay Lightning.

Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck each had a goal and an assist, Thomas Greiss stopped 38 shots, and the Islanders beat the Lightning, 5-1, on Sunday night at Barclays Center.

On Saturday, the Islanders lost, 2-1, at home to the Rangers.

“Yesterday, we left the rink with a bitter taste in our mouths, and today, we did a good job of rebounding and staying the course,” Cizikas said. “It just shows what type of team we are when we play the right way and how successful we can be.”

He added, “Tonight was a true test, and the guys answered.”

Brock Nelson, the rookie Devon Toews and Josh Bailey also scored as the Islanders had three goals in the opening five minutes on the way to their 11th win in 14 games. Matt Martin had two assists to give each player on the Islanders’ fourth line two points.

Tampa Bay was 18-1-1 in its previous 20 games. The Lightning — the N.H.L. leaders in wins (35), points (72) and road wins (16) — lost in regulation for just the ninth time this season, but second in the last five games.

“Going up against the No. 1 team in the league and to keep them to one goal is definitely big,” Cizikas said. “And it definitely speaks volumes to our defense, our goalies and our forwards. It’s definitely a huge win and something that we got to build momentum going into the next one.”

Ryan McDonagh had a goal and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 23 saves for Tampa Bay.

“It’s tough to spot a team a 3-0 lead in this league,” Lightning Coach Jon Cooper said. “You’re playing with fire. It cost us.”

BLUE JACKETS 7, RANGERS 5 Nick Foligno scored twice, Sergei Bobrovsky returned from a team suspension and stopped 22 shots, and host Columbus held on to give the Rangers their sixth loss in seven games.

Cam Atkinson and Artemi Panarin each had a goal and an assist, Ryan Murray had two assists, and nine other players picked up points in the offensive explosion for Columbus, which had a 6-3 lead before the Rangers scored two late goals to make it closer.

Rangers Coach David Quinn said his team “failed miserably tonight.”

“Miserably,” he added. “Our lack of determination on one-on-one battles, fishing for pucks. You do that in this league, that’s what happens.”

The Blue Jackets have won four of their last five despite struggling on the power play. They failed to score on five man-advantage situations against the Rangers.

Mats Zuccarello had two goals, and Ryan Stome, Chris Kreider and Jimmy Vesey also scored for the Rangers. Alexandar Georgiev, spelling Henrik Lundqvist on the second night of a back-to-back, had 33 saves.

Anthony Duclair, Lukas Sedlak and David Savard also scored for the Blue Jackets. Bobrovsky — who had been benched for Thursday’s game for violating a team policy and did not play in Saturday’s overtime win over Washington — was not terrific, but he held off the Rangers after they pulled Georgiev for a sixth skater late in the game.

Bobrovsky, the two-time Vezina Trophy winner, acknowledged that he let his emotions get the best of him. He said he spoke to the team and cleared the air.

“We’ll move ahead,” said Bobrovsky, who has not come to terms on a contract extension and may be traded. “I’ll get back to work and do my thing, try to do my best to help this team win.”

DUCKS LOSE 11TH IN ROW Bryan Little scored at 4:49 of overtime to give the host Winnipeg Jets a 4-3 victory over Anaheim, extending the Ducks’ losing streak to a franchise-record 11 games.

The Ducks’ general manager, Bob Murray, issued a statement after the game saying that he was not considering firing Coach Randy Carlyle. The team is 0-7-4 during its skid.

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