from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

The great author William Goldman once wrote: “What could have happened, what should have happened, it did happen.”

Only, maybe not for the Islanders this week in Brooklyn.

Despite an entirely admirable effort in Friday’s Game 4, through which the Islanders dictated the pace and for the most part eliminated the speedy and skilled Lightning’s time and space, what could have happened and what (seemingly) should have happened — that being a victory to knot this Round 2 series at 2-all — it did not happen that way.

“I don’t really think we deserve to be down in this series 3-1 with the things we did, especially in this game, but we can’t worry about that now,” John Tavares told The Post following Tampa Bay’s second straight overtime victory in Brooklyn, this one 2-1 on Jason Garrison’s goal 94 seconds into extra time.

“We need to be aware of the mistakes we made, but I think we also have to acknowledge all the good things we accomplished,” said No. 91. “The thing is, this is a game of results, and we didn’t get the results we were looking for.

“So whether we ‘deserve’ to be behind 3-1 or not, that’s the reality.”

continued

Game highlights are below...