"I said he's the best player in the League earlier in the series; I stand by what I say." https://t.co/yrQImLy6oj pic.twitter.com/DwodmfSY2f
— NHL (@NHL) April 26, 2016
The New York Islanders will need contributions from forwards not named John Tavares if they wish to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning.
- New York Islanders (0-0)
- Tampa Bay Lightning (0-0)
- Game 1, Today, 7:00 PM on CBC, TVA, NBCS
- Amalie Arena, Tampa, FLA
The Tampa Bay Lightning score a lot of goals.
If the New York Islanders wish to counteract a high-octane opponent in round two, they’ll need to receive secondary scoring from players not named John Tavares.
While Tavares was absolutely brilliant against the Florida Panthers in round one, the Isles were plagued by their inability to find the back of the net.
Of course, some of this has to do with the outstanding play of Rink Rats netminder Roberto Luongo. But it also stems from a lack of contributions from forwards such as Ryan Strome, Josh Bailey, Brock Nelson, Nikolai Kulemin and Shane Prince.
The team’s highly acclaimed fourth line also failed to find their way onto the statsheet.
The Isles, who have advanced past the first round for the first time since 1993, could have easily lost every single game that they came out on top. Good teams obviously light the lamp at the necessary times, but it will be hard for the team to ride on solely Tavares all the way to the Cup.
The Isles will need to receive contributions from somebody other than their captain if they wish to proceed to the Eastern Conference Championships.
Some candidates include: the team’s fourth line, which has been dubbed “the best ever” by Don Cherry, despite not registering a goal in their first round series; Brock Nelson, who has to play stronger and with more fire; Ryan Strome, who was on ? towards the end of the season after head coach Jack Capuano shifted him to his natural position; and Alan Quine, who has been real solid in his first couple of weeks in the big leagues.
All eyes will be on Ryan Strome this series.
In a tremendous article for Isles Talk, Gary Harding hopes that Strome’s character is enough to surmount the feeling of being unwanted.
From a performance perspective, Josh Bailey deserves your ire and wrath. But a Twitter user would like you to know that there’s a humane side to the kid that people should embrace:
Just saying. #Isles pic.twitter.com/UL1R3f6jSM
— sharon | 16 ? (@SammyxSeventeen) April 26, 2016
The second round schedule has been released, and for the first time since 1983, a second round matchup will take place on the same day as a first-round matchup.
Here’s the Isles’ schedule:
#isles 2nd round schedule vs #tampabaylightning pic.twitter.com/PHzYCzFwbf
— Andy Graziano (@AndyGraz_SNY) April 26, 2016
