The Islanders faced their first significant challenge of the season against the Lightning on Saturday night at UBS Arena, losing 5-3 despite some bright spots. Brandon Hagel scored a hat trick for Tampa Bay, who played a more complete game over 60 minutes compared to the Islanders. The Islanders showed improvement as the game progressed but struggled with penalty killing and defensive play, particularly against Hagel and Jake Guentzel.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-11,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
The New York Islanders faced their first significant challenge against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night at UBS Arena, losing 5-3. Despite some bright spots, particularly in the second half of the game, the Lightning were superior overall, with Brandon Hagel scoring a hat trick to lead them. The Islanders struggled early, with Hagel and Jake Guentzel capitalizing on defensive lapses to establish a 3-1 lead late in the first period. However, the Islanders rallied with goals from Tony DeAngelo and Matthew Schaefer, showing resilience despite spending over seven minutes in penalty-killing mode. This game highlights the importance of early-season performances against tougher opponents like the Lightning for setting the team's trajectory moving forward.
Written for “Nhl Playoff Game Analysis” on 2026-10-11,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
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No political leaning scored for article 71444 · logged 2026-10-11
The Islanders liked the direction in which they were trending over the season’s first four games.
asserted
they → like → games
Until Saturday, though, they had not been tested against a true contender.
asserted
they → test → contender
Now they have, and while the Islanders can be happy with pieces of their game, the overall results won’t be to their liking.
asserted
results → have → liking
Mostly, Tampa Bay played a more complete 60 minutes than the Islanders in beating them 5-3 on Saturday night at UBS Arena on the back of Brandon Hagel’s hat trick.
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Bay → play → trick
Want to know why it’s so important to take care of business on nights like Thursday against Chicago or this coming Tuesday against Vancouver?
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it → want → Vancouver
It is a testament to their resilience as well as their penalty-killing on a night when the Islanders spent more than seven minutes in the box that they entered the late stages of the game still very much in it.
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they → spend → it
As has been the case a few times early this season, the Islanders grew into the game as it went on, finally starting to apply pressure and take away Andrei Vasilevskiy’s eyes in the second period.
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it → grow → period
That resulted in Tony DeAngelo’s goal that made it 2-1, while Matthew Schaefer’s that made it 3-2 at 11:41 of the period may have been more about the 19-year-old’s supreme skill.
uncertain
it → result → skill
Schaefer’s first of his second season was one for the highlight reels as he walked the line, deked Anthony Cirelli clean and beat Vasilevskiy before an emphatic celebration.
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he → walk → celebration
At that point, Schaefer started to take over the game.
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Schaefer → start → game
His skill on the puck helped set up the game-tying goal with seven seconds left in the second period, as a juggling keep-in led to Brayden Schenn getting to Kyle Palmieri’s pass across, with Erik Cernak’s stick giving a last touch on the way into the net.
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stick → set → net
That gave way to a rollicking third, by far the most entertaining hockey the Islanders have played this season: end-to-end, physical, breathless.
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Islanders → give → end
With under two minutes to go, it was still deadlocked at 3-3, but the Lightning again had started to tilt the ice.
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Lightning → go → ice
It didn’t take a long offensive-zone shift to take the lead, though: Hagel beat Ilya Sorokin clean on an innocuous-looking shot from the right circle with 1:44 to go and then completed his hat trick into an empty net just 21 seconds later.
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Hagel → take → net
The details and ethic that head coach Pete DeBoer is trying, bit by bit, to instill in this team have long since been perfected by Jon Cooper’s squad.
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DeBoer → try → squad
There were stretches during which the Islanders looked on Tampa’s level, but also, over 60 minutes, too many when they did not.
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they → be → minutes
Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock, once a shutdown top pair in back-to-back conference finals against this team, epitomized it more than anyone.
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Pelech → epitomize → anyone
The duo, reunited in the wake of Alexander Romanov’s ACL tear, was badly victimized by Hagel, who skated through both of them to make it 2-0 Tampa late in the first, then a second time by Jake Guentzel, who was left free near the crease to score the Lightning’s third on the power play.
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who → reunite → play
The puck management, an issue on which DeBoer has harped over the last few days, was an issue too, particularly early in the game as the Islanders’ breakouts consistently were stymied by their own decision-making.
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breakouts → harp → making
Two things that seem contradictory but are not: It is an unequivocal positive that the Islanders got better throughout the game, and it is unacceptable — perhaps game-losing — that they took 25 or so minutes to look like they were in it.
asserted
they → seem → it
The Aporia
