Lightning vs. Islanders: Brandon Hagel's Late Hat Trick Extends Tampa Bay's Win Streak to Four

For 58 minutes, this was shaping up as the kind of night the New York Islanders could feel good about. They spotted Tampa Bay two goals, clawed all the way back and tied it with seven seconds left in the second period. Then Brandon Hagel took the last two minutes and made them his own.

Hagel beat Ilya Sorokin through a screen with 1:44 remaining, buried an empty-netter 21 seconds later to complete his hat trick, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Islanders 5-3 on Saturday night at UBS Arena. It was Tampa Bay's fourth straight win.

A Two-Goal Cushion, Then a Collapse

Tampa Bay struck first. Jean-Gabriel Pageau turned the puck over along the right boards, Jake Guentzel skated to the slot, and he beat Sorokin high on the blocker side at 5:45 for his second goal of the season.

Andrei Vasilevskiy kept it 1-0 at 11:14, getting his blocker on a Bo Horvat breakaway. Four and a half minutes later, Hagel doubled the lead. Victor Hedman floated the puck through the neutral zone, Hagel got behind Ryan Pulock, cut right to left across the crease and lifted it over Sorokin's blocker at 15:42.

Islanders coach Pete DeBoer did not sugarcoat it afterward. "It was self-inflicted with our start," he said.

The Islanders Punch Back

The second period was a different hockey game. Tony DeAngelo got New York on the board at 6:27 with Pageau screening Vasilevskiy, firing a wrist shot from the point over the goalie's glove for his first goal of the season.

Tampa Bay restored the two-goal margin almost immediately. Emil Heineman went off for tripping at 6:45, and at 7:54 Nikita Kucherov, stationed at the right dot, found Guentzel all alone in front for a power-play goal and a 3-1 lead. Hagel had the second assist.

Tempers rose at 10:44, when Scott Sabourin and Logan Stanley dropped the gloves. Fifty-seven seconds later, the Islanders were within one again. Matthew Schaefer fired from near the blue line, and Pageau deflected it past Vasilevskiy at 11:41.

Then came the tying goal, with a little luck mixed in. Charle-Edouard D'Astous was called for cross-checking Casey Cizikas at 18:12, and on the ensuing power play Schaefer's one-timer from the high slot was blocked. Matias Maccelli jumped on the loose puck and fed Horvat deep in the right circle, and Horvat slid a pass to Brayden Schenn in front. Schenn's redirection banked off the stick of Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak and past Vasilevskiy's right pad at 19:53. Tie game, 3-3, with seven seconds left in the period.

Lightning coach Jon Cooper was not thrilled with the middle 20. "I didn't love our second, obviously, giving up three kind of the way we did it," he said. "We were probably a little unlucky on the power-play goal against."

The Turning Point: Hagel's Final Two Minutes

The third period played out like a staring contest. Sorokin denied a Zemgus Girgensons backhand at 7:52, and Vasilevskiy got the tip of his left skate on an Anthony Duclair wraparound attempt at 12:02.

Then, at 18:16, Hagel won it. Max Crozier and Ryan McDonagh moved the puck to him, and he fired a wrist shot past Sorokin's blocker through a screen for a 4-3 lead. Twenty-one seconds later, with the Islanders' net empty, Hagel finished off the hat trick with assists from Anthony Cirelli and Kucherov.

"I thought we bent but didn't break. And then one of our playmakers made a play," Cooper said.

Who Delivered

Brandon Hagel: Three goals and an assist in 21:32, plus four blocked shots and three hits. His goals were his second, third and fourth of the season. NHL.com noted it was his fourth NHL hat trick and his third with the Lightning, and the franchise's 18th since his first full season with Tampa Bay in 2022-23. Only four teams have more in that span: Edmonton (23), Buffalo (20), Colorado (19) and Carolina (19). Hagel framed it as a team thing. "It's a good feeling for the group," he said. "We've got new players, and you want to be able to build some confidence within the team, within the group."

Jake Guentzel: Two goals, one at even strength and one on the power play, in 19:29.

Nikita Kucherov and Max Crozier: Two assists apiece. Kucherov set up the power-play goal and the empty-netter.

Victor Hedman: One assist, and a meaningful one. Per NHL.com, it was the 812th point of his career, moving him past Sergei Gonchar (811) for the third-most by a defenseman born outside North America in NHL history. Only Nicklas Lidstrom (1,142) and Erik Karlsson (941) have more.

Matthew Schaefer: An assist in a whopping 27:01 of ice time for New York. Guentzel offered the scouting report: "Schaefer is a generational player, and he's up in the ice a lot."

The goalies: Vasilevskiy made 20 saves on 23 shots. Sorokin made 21 saves on 25.

Stats That Matter

• 21 seconds: The gap between Hagel's go-ahead goal and his empty-netter.
• 30-18: The Islanders' edge in hits. They won the physical battle and lost the scoreboard.
• 26-23: Tampa Bay's edge in shots, a slim margin for a two-goal win.
• 1 for 4 vs. 1 for 2: The power plays. Both teams scored once, and both goals mattered.
• 812: Hedman's career points total after Saturday.

What It Means

Tampa Bay is 4-1-0 with eight points, and the winning streak has covered every game since a 5-1 loss to the Rangers in their season opener. The Lightning took the first half of a brief two-game New York swing and visit the Rangers on Tuesday night.

The Islanders are 2-3-0 and have alternated wins and losses through five games. They are 2-1-0 at home and host Vancouver on Tuesday night. DeBoer saw progress even in defeat. "It was a good measuring stick game for us. We passed quite a few of the tests in my mind of how we have to play. We just have to do it for 60 minutes. You can't spot a team like that two goals," he said.

Closing Take

The Islanders did nearly everything a team needs to do to beat a contender after a bad start: they hit, they scrapped and they erased a two-goal hole. But like a Marvel post-credits scene, the part everybody will remember came after you thought the story was over. Hagel waited until the final two minutes to steal the show, and in a league where so many games are decided by one shot, Tampa Bay has a winger who keeps taking it.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and notes as reported by NHL.com.