Lightning 5, Islanders 3: Pageau gets the tipped goal, Hagel decides the game

Correction, October 11 at 11:44 a.m. Eastern: the Islanders' updated official recap credits JG Pageau with the goal initially assigned to Matthew Schaefer and lists Schaefer with eight shots, not nine. We have removed the claim that this game brought Schaefer to 24 career goals and a tie with Bobby Orr, and corrected the scoring sequence and graphic. The original URL is retained for continuity, not as a milestone claim.

Brandon Hagel made sure the Islanders did not leave with the win. Tampa Bay won 5-3 at UBS Arena after New York erased two separate two-goal deficits, only to concede the deciding goal with 1:35 remaining.

Schaefer played a game-high 27:07 and put eight shots on goal. Pageau tipped his second-period shot past Andrei Vasilevskiy. The assist gave Schaefer 63 points as a teenager, putting him in sole possession of third place in Islanders history in that age window, according to the updated team recap.

The comeback reached 3-3, then stopped

Jake Guentzel and Hagel gave Tampa Bay a 2-0 first-period lead. Tony DeAngelo answered, but Guentzel's second goal restored the two-goal gap on the power play. Pageau's tip cut it to 3-2. Brayden Schenn's power-play goal with seven seconds left in the second tied the game.

Hagel broke that tie late in the third, then scored into an empty net 21 seconds later to complete his hat trick. He finished with four points. Guentzel supplied Tampa Bay's other two goals. Ilya Sorokin made 21 saves, and the Islanders fell to 2-3-0.

Our read: Schaefer's workload and contribution give New York something real to build around. Coming back twice against Tampa Bay also showed the Islanders could compete after a poor start. Neither fact erases the cost of conceding the last lead so late.

New York next hosts Vancouver on Tuesday, October 13, at 7:45 p.m. Eastern. The useful test is whether the Islanders can bring the work from the middle of this game into the opening period, without needing another two-goal recovery.