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Isles rally late to top Bolts

Dec 21, 2014 - 5:17 AM Uniondale, NY (SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Islanders scored a pair of goals in a 12-second span late in the third period to lift them to a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.

John Tavares whistled a wrister from the slot past Andrei Vasilevskiy with 3:09 remaining to tie the game at 1-1. Travis Hamonic then put a wrister on net from the right point, which was re-directed by Anders Lee into the top left corner to put the Islanders in front.

"We knew what we were doing with the control of the game," Lee said. "We were playing the way we wanted."

Nikolay Kulemin added an empty-net goal for New York, which outshot Tampa Bay 48-21 and improved to 12-2-1 in its last 15 home matchups against the Lightning.

Jaroslav Halak made 20 saves for the Islanders, who have won four straight games on the heels of a three-game losing streak.

Vasilevskiy stopped 45 shots for Tampa Bay, which has dropped six of its last eight contests. Brett Connolly netted the lone goal for the Lightning in defeat.

"We know we haven't played our best on this road trip," Connolly said. "There are no excuses."

The Islanders had a 29-9 disparity in shots taken over the first two periods, but the game was scoreless heading into the third until Tampa Bay opened the scoring midway through the frame.

Tyler Johnson drove down the left wing, stopped and sent a sharp-angle pass to the front of the net, which was poked home by Connolly at the 9:16 mark.

Game Notes

New York, which has won 10 of its last 11 at home, improved to 13-3 at the Nassau Coliseum this season ... Tampa Bay finished its five-game road trip at 1-3-1 ... Tavares has 15 points in 11 career home games against the Lightning.