Brandon Hagel Scores Twice in Final Two Minutes for Hat Trick as Lightning Beat Islanders 5-3

Brandon Hagel scored twice in the final two minutes to complete a hat trick, and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the New York Islanders 5-3 at UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, on Saturday night for their fourth straight win. Hagel broke a 3-3 tie with 1:44 remaining and added an empty-net goal 21 seconds later as Tampa Bay improved to 4-1-0 and earned its first road win of the season.

Jake Guentzel scored twice and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 20 saves, including all nine shots he faced in the third period, as the Lightning recovered after the Islanders erased a two-goal deficit in the second period. The win moved Tampa Bay two points ahead of the Florida Panthers, who lost their home opener to Minnesota earlier Saturday.

Hagel's late flurry

With the game tied entering the final minutes, Hagel let center Anthony Cirelli skate into the slot to screen Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin and fired a long shot inside the left post, according to the Lightning's postgame report. Max Crozier and Ryan McDonagh assisted on the game-winner. After New York pulled Sorokin for an extra attacker, Hagel finished a sequence that started with McDonagh and went through Nikita Kucherov and Cirelli to seal the win with an empty-netter at 18:37.

"I knew if I got it through it had a chance," Hagel said of the go-ahead goal, according to the Lightning.

Hagel finished with three goals and an assist and was named the game's first star. He now has four goals this season. He had opened his scoring late in the first period, sprinting past the Islanders' defense on a breakaway after Victor Hedman flipped the puck out of the Lightning zone, and roofing a shot over Sorokin at 15:42 for a 2-0 lead.

Islanders rally in the second

Guentzel opened the scoring 5:45 into the game when he stopped a clearing attempt along the boards, walked to the right hash marks and beat Sorokin on the blocker side, according to the team. The Islanders managed only four shots on goal in the first period, Lightning radio broadcaster Dave Mishkin noted.

New York found its legs in the second. Defenseman Tony DeAngelo scored his first goal of the season at 6:27 with a point shot through traffic. Guentzel restored the two-goal lead on the power play at 7:54, spinning at the right post to convert a pass from Kucherov. Then defenseman Matthew Schaefer slipped past Cirelli at the blue line and beat Vasilevskiy through a screen at 11:41, and Brayden Schenn tied it on the power play with seven seconds left in the period when his cross-ice attempt deflected in off Lightning defenseman Erik Cernak, according to The Associated Press.

Two of the Islanders' second-period goals came shortly after the Lightning failed to clear the puck out of their own zone, according to Mishkin's analysis for the team. Pontus Holmberg and Islanders defenseman Logan Stanley also fought in the second period.

Vasilevskiy closes the door

Vasilevskiy shut out the Islanders in the third period, including an acrobatic skate save on an Anthony Duclair wraparound attempt, the Lightning reported. He stopped 20 of 23 shots overall. The win was the 373rd of his career, tying Andy Moog for 20th place on the NHL's all-time list for goaltenders, according to the team.

"You just find a way when sometimes you don't have your best," Guentzel said, crediting Vasilevskiy, according to the Lightning.

Coach Jon Cooper called it a "Good road game for us," and said his team bent in the second period but did not break, the team reported.

At the other end, Sorokin made 21 saves on 25 shots. He stopped two breakaways by Lightning forward Zemgus Girgensons, one shorthanded in the second period and one in the third. Schaefer, the 2025 No. 1 overall draft pick, put nine shots on goal and was named the second star by the Lightning radio broadcast.

Milestones and numbers

Hedman's assist on Hagel's first goal was the 812th point of his career, moving him past Sergei Gonchar for the third-most points by a defenseman born outside North America, according to the Lightning. Kucherov added two assists, setting up Guentzel's power-play goal and Hagel's empty-netter, and now has seven assists this season. Hagel's lone assist also came on Guentzel's power-play goal, and Crozier had two assists, including the primary helper on the game-winner. The Lightning took three penalties for nine minutes, while the Islanders were whistled five times for 13 minutes, according to the official game summary.

Tampa Bay went 1-for-4 on the power play and killed one of two Islanders power plays, according to the official game summary. The Lightning outshot New York 26-23, while the Islanders won 51 percent of faceoffs and were credited with 30 hits to Tampa Bay's 18. A crowd of 17,345 attended.

A four-game run after a rough start

The Lightning opened the season with a 5-1 loss at the New York Rangers on Oct. 1 and have not lost since. They swept a three-game homestand in Tampa and won Saturday on the road, according to the team's schedule:

The Lightning noted that they had grabbed early leads in each of their previous three wins and held them, while Saturday required a response after the Islanders tied the game. Backup goaltender Dennis Hildeby made 34 saves in Thursday's 3-2 win over Minnesota, the same Wild team that beat the Panthers in Sunrise on Saturday.

What's next

Tampa Bay completes its brief two-game New York trip with a rematch against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m., a chance to avenge its opening-night loss. The Lightning then return to Tampa for home games against the Seattle Kraken on Thursday at 7 p.m. and the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday at 4 p.m. before visiting the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 20.