Islanders 5, Lightning 2
Kyle Okposo and Matt Martin scored second-period goals as the visiting New York Islanders defeated the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 on Tuesday.
Al Montoya made 36 saves and Josh Bailey, Frans Nielsen and Michael Grabner also scored as the Islanders (29-33-12) improved to 3-1-0 against the Lightning this season.
Nate Thompson and Dominic Moore scored for the Lightning (39-23-11), who fell to 2-3-5 against the three worst teams in the Eastern Conference - Ottawa, Florida and the Islanders - and are 2-5-4 in March.
The Lightning fell seven points behind Washington in the Southeast Division after leading by five entering March.
Okposo's goal was a one-handed redirection of Milan Jurcina's shot that gave the Islanders a 2-1 lead at the 5:16 mark. Martin scored just over eight minutes later.
Nielsen scored shorthanded and unassisted at 8:08 of the third period to make it 4-1. Grabner's rookie-leading 31st goal was a shorthanded empty-netter.
The Lightning have allowed an NHL-worst 15 shorthanded goals.
Bailey's power-play goal at 10:22 of the first period came on a rebound of Jurcina's slap shot and tied the game 1-1 after Thompson scored 61 seconds into the contest. Tampa Bay had killed its previous 18 shorthanded situations.
Dwayne Roloson, acquired from the Islanders on New Year's Day, made 23 saves in his first game against his former team. He fell to 2-4-3 in March.