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 (3rd 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 5th 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 (6th
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.
With their round 1 win, the Islanders ended their drought dating back to 1993 when they lost to Montreal in the eastern conference finals.
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