Tampa, FL (Best E Casino) - Martin St. Louis scored 4:07 into overtime to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-2 victory, eliminating the New York Islanders from the playoffs in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at the St. Pete Times Forum.

St. Louis grabbed a loose puck at the blue line and unleashed a slap shot from the left circle past the glove of Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro, and into the top corner of the net to hand Tampa Bay a 4-1 series win. Fredrik Modin had the primary assist on all three Lightning goals.

"It was a total team effort," said St. Louis. "The crowd was electric. Wow!"

Tim Taylor and Ruslan Fedotenko also tallied for the top-seeded Lightning, who moved into the second round of the playoffs for the second straight season by securing three straight wins.

Nikolai Khabibulin, coming off back-to-back shutouts, made 24 saves for the win, but saw his shutout streak come to an end after 145-plus minutes. The Russian netminder had not allowed a goal since the 3:36 mark of the third period in New York's 3-0 Game 2 triumph.

Oleg Kvasha did the honors, scoring just past the midway point of the first period to get the Isles on the board first. After Tampa grabbed a 2-1 lead late in the second, Mark Parrish found the back of the net 7:28 into the third to even the score at two apiece.

DiPietro was strong in net but just couldn't hold up against the overbearing Lightning attack. He stopped 33-of-36 shots before the 37th got behind him to end New York's season in the first round of the postseason for the third consecutive year.

"The sad reality of it is that we're done, and there is so much we can say that we regret," said Islanders captain Michael Peca.

The shot by St. Louis was Tampa Bay's first of the extra session. It came after the Isles' Cliff Ronning was stoned by Khabibulin on a wrister from the slot in the first minute.

Then, New York blueliner Kenny Jonsson lost the puck in the neutral zone, and St. Louis raced to down the left wing for the game-winner.

Four minutes into the third frame and trailing 2-1, the New York bench came to its feet as Khabibulin stuck his right pad out at the last second to rob a point-blank opportunity by Yashin.

But Khabibulin could not deny Parrish's equalizer 3 1/2 minutes after -- a slick re-direction of a point shot by Niinimaa. Parrish had his back to the net when he gently tipped Niinimaa's soft wrister through Khabibulin.

The Islanders escaped a wild first period with a 1-0 edge. In the first 20 minutes alone, a goal was scored that didn't become official for about three minutes of game action, another was disallowed, and the team that held the lead spent almost half the session in the penalty box.

Just past the midway point of the opening stanza, Kvasha was celebrating what he thought was New York's first goal against Khabibulin in three games. Skating with a man advantage, Alexei Yashin was at the right post below the goal line when he backhanded the puck toward the slot with Kvasha at the receiving end. Kvasha slammed the puck in and out of the net so quickly that play continued for some three minutes before the next whistle halted play.

Finally, the play was reviewed and the video replay confirmed Kvasha's suspicion, and the Isles were awarded the first goal of the contest. It was the first of the playoffs for Kvasha, ending Khabibulin's shutout streak after 145 minutes, nine seconds. Yashin picked up an assist for his first point of the series.

It looked like the Lightning had broke even just 1 1/2 minutes later. Brad Richards was skating in on DiPietro from the left circle when Parrish poked the puck away in the direction of the New York cage. Unfortunately for the Isles, it caught DiPietro off guard and the disc crept at the goal line right as the netminder looked to smother it.

Referee Don Koharski adamantly signaled that the puck went across the goal line to the delight of the Tampa Bay faithful. The play was immediately reviewed and the replay officials felt they saw enough evidence to overturn Koharski's ruling, claiming that puck could not be seen across the line from any angle.

With under four minutes to play in the first, Peca missed a wide-open net for the Isles on the power play, one of their two chances in the period with the extra skater.

Tampa Bay, which had 10 shots in the first, came up empty on five power-play opportunities in the period, including a late penalty on Peca that handed the Lightning a two-man advantage heading into the second.

The Lightning failed again on the power play early in the second, but still managed a few good scoring chances on DiPietro. Then, after nine more shots, they finally got one past DiPietro on Taylor's first career playoff goal.

Modin rushed up the ice and went around Niinimaa and DiPietro before his unsuccessful backhand shot landed on the doorstep. Taylor trailed the play and easily put the puck into the vacated net.

Fedotenko scored just 2:04 later to stake Tampa Bay to a 2-1 edge heading into the final stanza. DiPietro was peppered with a series of shots and eventually lost his goal stick. Fedotenko took advantage and fired the puck home with 1:38 left in the period for his second in as many games.