NEW YORK

Being that they are halfway to a second consecutive berth in the Eastern Conference final, it may be time to start taking the Tampa Bay Lightning a touch more seriously again.

With all the hype and love being heaped on Sidney Crosby vs. Alex Ovechkin (and the occasional mention of their Penguins and Capitals teammates, too), there has been a tendency to dismiss the Lightning these playoffs.

Of the eight remaining teams in the post season, only Nashville had fewer regular-season points (97 to 96) and even in their home state of Florida, the Bolts were being overshadowed.

Then there was the rash of late-season injuries, most notably to defenceman Anton Stralman and captain Steven Stamkos that figured to conspire against them.

But as the Lightning showed on Tuesday night here -- three times coming back from a one-goal deficit, scoring in the last minute of regulation, then winning 5-4 in overtime -- they’re playoff clutch right now.

“We always like to say we never quit,” Lightning centre Tyler Johnson said. “We learned a lot last year. We’ve been in a lot of different situations we know we can come back from.”

Those lessons were gathered throughout that lengthy playoff run in 2015, starting with an opening-round series against Detroit. Trailing two games to one and playing Game 4 in the Motor City, the Wings had a two-goal lead late in the third and seemingly a series stranglehold.

But after two goals in a span of just over a minute, the Bolts forced overtime, won the game and eventually prevailed over the Wings in seven.

Feel free to draw similarities to Tuesday’s contest at Barclays Center. It was a game that New York Islanders coach Jack Capuano described as his team’s best of the season. A last-minute goal -- Brian Boyle’s controversial play after he nearly KOed Thomas Hickey with a hard hit moments earlier -- was the clincher.

The fact that the Lightning have a share of the best record these playoffs at 6-2 (tied with San Jose and Pittsburgh prior to the Pens game on Wednesday) is a continuation of some of those lessons learned last year. The Bolts lost the Stanley Cup final to the Chicago Blackhawks in six games last spring, but the series was a tight one, a confidence and experience builder to take forward.

Sure, they may have got lucky with a first-round draw against Detroit again this year, but the Lightning didn’t waste any time, disposing of them in five games.

And now, after dropping the opener of the second-round series against the Isles, they have momentum and could take a stifling 3-1 lead in Game 4 on Friday. They’re getting strong play from Ben Bishop in net, outstanding work on the blueline from Victor Hedman, who had his second goal in as many games on Tuesday and an upstart performance from Jonathan Drouin, who was all but concussed in the second period before coming back in the third to set up the equalizer in the final minute of regulation.

With another two-day break between games thanks to Canadian pop star Justin Beiber taking over the Brooklyn rink, neither team practised on Wednesday. Which leads to our next and potentially most crucial point in building a case for the Lightning: the longer this series drags out, odds increase that Stralman (broken foot) and Stamkos (recovery from surgery to remove a blood clot) may return to the lineup.

The Lightning are mostly playing down the possibility, but Stralman skated in full gear on Tuesday, indicating he is at least nearing a return.

Stamkos, meanwhile, is here with the team and is basically waiting for medical clearance to ditch his blood-thinning medication and getting back in action. Wednesday marked a month since his surgery and doctors predicted he would be sidelined 4-6 weeks.

“We can’t really worry about it right now, to be honest with you,” Capuano said of the possible infusion of that pair into the Tampa lineup. “We’re preparing our guys for what we think is going to be their lineup. If they do get in there, we think we have seen Tampa enough over the last few years to know what Stralman and Stamkos can bring to the table.

“They’re a different element. They’re good players, we’re just going to have to play them hard. But we know their tendencies. We’ve seen them enough.”

But can they stop both of them? A fresh Stamkos and the welcome boost of Stralman on the blueline could be enough to continue the Lightning playoff prowess.

“It’s kind of the staple of how this team has come together the last couple of years,” Lightning head coach Jon Cooper said of the confidence it has regardless of situation. “Come playoff time, it’s amazing. There is a quiet calm about the team.”

And with all the noise being made in the other Eastern confidence series, a quiet confidence that another long spring run awaits.

ISLES COACH LIKES OVERALL PLAY

Other than the final result and a few plays here and there, New York Islanders head coach Jack Capuano doesn’t want his team to do anything different on Friday night.

Capuano believes his team has the right mix of grit and emotion to battle the Tampa Bay Lightning and that they showed it in Tuesday’s 5-4 overtime loss in Game 3 of the best-of-seven series.

“That’s probably one of the best games we played all year,” Capuano said Wednesday after having a night and morning to digest the thriller at Barclays Center. “There’s a lot of positives we can take. We had chances to put the game away, but (Tampa goaltender) Ben Bishop stood tall, especially in the first period.

“That was Islanders hockey. We played to our identity. That’s the way we’re going to have to play if we’re going to have success in this series.”

Meanwhile, despite Capuano’s pointed criticism following Tuesday’s game that the winning Lightning goal was set up by a head-shot hit from Brian Boyle on Thomas Hickey, there will be no supplementary discipline from the league.

“I’m going to stand by what I said,” Capuano said. “The hit was high and it led to a good scoring chance.”

rlongley@postmedia.com

twitter.com/longleysunsport