Barry Trotz's Game 7 advice to Islanders: Embrace the moment

Game 7. Do you even really need to say anything else?

"No, I don't think so,’’ Islanders coach Barry Trotz said Thursday, before he and his team boarded a flight to Tampa for Friday’s deciding game between the Isles and Tampa Bay Lightning that will determine the winner of the teams’ semifinal series and send the winner to the Stanley Cup Final.

"You get to a Game 7, you know what's at stake,’’ Trotz said. "You play all year to get to this point. You know you get one opportunity, and it will be there. So just stay in the moment. Enjoy it. Embrace it. And don't get small.’’

The Islanders reached this point because they rallied from a two-goal deficit in Game 6 Wednesday night at Nassau Coliseum, winning 3-2 on Anthony Beauvillier’s goal at 1:08 of overtime, which tied the best-of-seven series at 3-3. At stake for the Islanders is the chance to get back to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1984. And a chance to win their first Cup since 1983.

To do so, the Islanders will have to win on the road, in Amalie Arena, where they lost, 8-0, in Game 5 Monday. Trotz called that game "a disaster,’’ but quickly added that result would mean nothing as far as the Islanders’ chances on Friday.

"I think [on Friday], you're gonna have two focused teams,’’ he said. "Game 7, and there's a chance to go to a Stanley Cup. I mean, it doesn't get much better than that for either organization, and all the players and all the coaches. It just doesn't.’’

The status of Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov for Friday's game is unknown. Kucherov, the scoring leader in the playoffs with five goals and 22 assists for 27 points, left Game 6 after one shift during which he was cross-checked in the ribs by Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield, who was not penalized for the hit. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper had no update on Kucherov’s availability when he spoke to the media Thursday morning.

The Lightning did score two goals after Kucherov left the game, but their power play, which entered Game 6 hitting at 39.2% in the playoffs and which had gone 3-for-6 in Game 5, was 0-for-2 without him.

"Obviously with Kucherov, a lot of stuff runs through him,’’ Trotz said of the Lightning power play.

The defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning have not lost two playoff games in a row since they were swept by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round in 2019. They are 12-0 after playoff losses over the past two seasons.

But before Game 6 they were 11-1 this postseason in games in which they scored the first goal, including 3-0 in this series, and 11-1 in games in which they took a lead into the third period.

Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck said the comeback win in Game 6 wouldn’t give the Isles more confidence than they already had in their ability to beat the Lightning.

"No, I think that our mentality is the same all the time,’’ Clutterbuck said. "It's about narrowing your window of focus and just focusing on what's in front of you. When it's during a game, it's just the next shift; it's the next puck. And if you get down a couple [goals] in a game, what can you really do but just continue to be yourself and really just keep going? And if you get it, you get it, if you don't, you don't. Obviously you'd like to get up early in a game, but we've had a lot of situations in the playoffs where that hasn't been the case, and we won those games, too.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.