Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders Move on to Second Round of Playoffs




The Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders will begin their second round matchup at Amalie Arena, on Wednesday night, as part of doubleheader action for the National Hockey League. 

The Lightning and Islanders will battle in the opening game of the second round of the 2016 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs, followed by a decisive, game seven matchup, between the Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators. 

The Lightning enter the second round for the second straight year, and third in the past six, while the Islanders last advanced out of the first round in 1993. The Lightning defeated the Detroit Red Wings in a hard fought five game battle, while the Islanders skated by the Florida Panthers in competitive six game series, which went to overtime three times, two of them needed double OT to decide a winner. 

Before outlasting the Panthers, the Islanders had lost seven straight first round series. Last season the Lightning came within two victories of their first Stanley Cup falling to the Chicago Blackhawks in six. 

The Lightning were the second place team in the Atlantic Division, while the Islanders won the top Wildcard spot to get into the postseason in 2016. The Islanders wound up with three more points in the standings than the Lightning though. 

The last time both these teams met in the playoffs, was back in 2004, when the Lightning dispatched the Islanders in the opening round. Tampa then marched all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, capturing their one and only championship in team history. 

The Lightning are led by young dynamic scorer, Nikita Kucherov, while Islanders captain, John Tavares leads them into battle for the second round. The “Triplets Line” of Alex Killorn, Tyler Johnson and Kucherov combined for 10 of the Lightning’s 12 goals against the Red Wings. 

The Lightning will hope their second line of Ondrej Palat, Valtteri Filppula and Jonathan Drouin can capitalize on their scoring chances more in the second round, complementing the top line. While captain Steven Stamkos, returned to practice, albeit a non-contact jersey, he is unlikely to make his return during the second round. Stamkos has been out since having surgery on April 4th to treat a blood clot near his right collarbone. 

The Islanders offense was carried by their captain, Tavares as he scored five goals and added four assists in their six game series with the Panthers. Tavares came on strong at the end of the season, and carried that success into the playoffs, even scoring the tying goal in game six with less than 50 seconds left in regulation and then the winner in double overtime as well on Sunday night.

Right wing, Kyle Okposo, who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, found some success playing alongside Taveres in the opening round. Okposo picked up a goal and five assists in the six games. 

After making his NHL debut in the final weekend of the regular season, rookie Alan Quine, made the most of his promotion from the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League. Quine scored the game winner in double overtime of game five, down in Sunrise, even seeing top minutes alongside Okposo and Tavares, those final two games. 

Between the pipes, the Lightning’s Ben Bishop may have the slight edge, due to his size, puck handling ability and post season success, over the Islanders Thomas Greiss. Greiss though is just starting his playoff resume and played well under pressure versus a good Panthers squad. 

Bishop finished his first round battle with the Red Wings with a .950 save percentage, while Greiss put up a .944 save percentage against Florida, after only having 28 minutes of post season action prior to this season. He overcame a slow start in the opening round, by only giving up four goals in the final three games, even turning away 88 of 90 shots through double overtime in the last two games of the series. 

Greiss may be better at tracking down the puck, but Bishop’s puck handling and ability to not leave himself susceptible wide of the crease give him a little more of an advantage in the matchup.  

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