KoC: 2016 Islanders Playoff Preview, Round 2

Our New York Islanders eliminated the Florida Panthers in 6 games of an exciting and competitive first round match up.  It saw 3 overtimes (2 double overtimes) and the kind resilience that made Isles’ fans proud.  My Grail Knights of the series blazed the way for New York.   John Tavares (3^rd playoff ranked .83 goals per game avg.) had 9 points (5 & 4) and led by example the whole way through.  Tavares took the team on his back and, at times, controlled the flow and momentum of the entire series. His refusal to lose was infectious and was awesome to watch as it flowed through the entire bench.  Thomas Griess was thrust into the role of starter after Jaro Halak went down towards the end of the season.  Griess shattered his record for games played (41) and impressed everyone with his routine calmness to the pressures of the role.  Greiss was 4-2, using solid rebound control and a stingy 1.79 GAA and a .944 SV% to help New York win round 1.  The Islanders will need more of the same against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Due to some apparent arena scheduling conflicts, the NHL has the 1st round finish on the same day that the 2nd will start.

G1: Wednesday, April 27 – Islanders at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m. -  NBCSN

G2: Saturday, April 30 – Islanders at Tampa Bay, 3 p.m. - NBC

G3: Tuesday, May 3 – Tampa Bay at Islanders, 7 p.m. - NBCSN

G4: Friday, May 6 – Tampa Bay at Islanders, 7 p.m. - NBCSN

G5: Sunday, May 8, if nec

G6: Tuesday, May 10, if nec

G7: Thursday, May 12, if nec

The Isles just learned that Josh Bailey (upper body) will be out, but haven’t revealed their guess as to how long.  This should get Ryan Strome (1 & 1 for 2pts and a +3 in 4 playoff games) out of the dog house with the motivation to become an impact player for the Isles offense.  The Islanders placed Ryan Pulock on the IR (upper body), retroactive to April 20th.  However, his return is possible around the game 3 mark if all goes well.  Pulock’s IR placement allowed the Isles to recall James Wright from Bridgeport to get a look with the big club.  We all know what kind of an impact Alan Quine has made.  He had a goal in two regular season games and 1 huge OT winning goal (in game 5) and 2 assists for New York in 6 playoff games so far.  Other recent call ups of Bracken Kearns, Ross Johnston and Scott Mayfield have seen the prospects play well.

Tampa Bay dispatched the Detroit Redwings in 5 games without a couple of guys named Steven Stamkos (blood clots) and Anton Stralman (broken leg). The 2015 eastern conference champions have been resting since last Friday and that should help some of their banged up players (J.T. Brown-upper body, Tyler Johnson-undisclosed) as well as cure them of any residual flu that might still be hanging around their locker room.  They will have Ben Bishop guarding the net.  The 6’7, 214# net minder was 4-1 vs Detroit with a 1.61gaa and a .950Sv% and 1 shut out.  Bishop has a 17-12 career post season record and will be a major factor for the Lightning.  Tampa Bay has seen huge contributions from Nikita Kucherov’s playoff leading, goal-a-game average (5 & 3 for 8pts) in round 1 and is pleased with Johnathan Drouin (4 assist in 5 games) fighting back to redeem himself after an awkward refusal to report to the AHL in the regular season.

The Islanders have the season series edge at 2-1-0 behind John Tavares (2 & 3 for 5 points in regular season vs TBL) and have averaged 4 goals a game against Ben Bishop.  The Isles also have the edge (.947 vs .942) in 5 on 5 goals against, while Tampa Bay boasts the best PK (96.0%) to New York’s 5^th best unit at 86.7%.  Their keys to winning will be pretty obvious.  Will John Tavares and Thomas Greiss be able to continue their high level contributions in the next round?  Will the Isles struggling PP (6^th at 23.8%) ever find consistency when it matters most against the best PK in the playoffs so far?  Will the secondary scoring be able to contribute enough goals against the strong play of Victor Hedman and the TBL defense?  Will their impressive PK be able to negate the struggling PP of the TBL?

Yes. But they will have to account for a refreshed, veteran team who is eager to avenge last year’s painful loss of the cup to Chicago.  The Islanders need to resume their agitation of Ben Bishop and keep him out of his comfort zone.  They will have to use what they’ve learned, over the past few seasons, to overcome their own inexperience in navigating the later rounds of this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs.  The coaching, special teams, squad depth and top players will need to perform at an ever higher level.  But most importantly, the Islanders need to explode from the opening faceoff and play their fast paced, hard hitting game.  They cannot continue to play from behind and expect to win another playoff series.  

But if they can accomplish these things while mounting a successful defense against a dangerous opponent like Tampa Bay, they will win the next round in 6 games.

Isles Notes:

Jaroslav Halak and Ryan Pulock were skating earlier today per Arthur Staple.

Per Eric Hornick, “The Dynasty Isles won 15 series in defense of their 1980 championships (19 in all). All Cup champs since 2000 have won 13 series in defense.”

Joshua Ho-Sang is enjoying OHL playoff success.


With their round 1 win, the Islanders ended their drought dating back to 1993 when they lost to Montreal in the eastern conference finals.