The Tampa Bay Lightning are on the doorstep of their second straight Stanley Cup Final, but the New York Islanders aren't far behind.

The Bolts lead the Isles 1-0 after two periods in Game 7 on a shorthanded goal from Yanni Gourde, his fifth of the playoffs. 

With the Lightning on the penalty kill, forward Blake Coleman picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone and delivered a nifty cross-ice pass to Gourde in the slot, who beat Semyon Varlamov for the first goal of the game.

In the other crease, Andrei Vasilevskiy has stopped all 11 shots New York has fired his way.

The Lightning got forward Nikita Kucherov back after he left Game 6 in the first period and did not return to action. Kucherov took a hard cross-check from defenceman Scott Mayfield and left for the locker room shortly later after delivering a hit on forward Mathew Barzal.

Head coach Jon Cooper said after the morning skate he was not sure if Kucherov would be able to suit up for the decider.

On Thursday, the Canadiens defeated the Vegas Golden Knights in overtime of Game 6 to punch their ticket to the Cup Final for the first time since they defeated Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings in five games.