Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech (3) levels Philadelphia Flyers center Derek Grant (38) during first-period NHL Stanley Cup Eastern Conference playoff hockey game action in Toronto, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. Credit: AP/Frank Gunn
The Islanders are low in star wattage, often an afterthought among fans and journalists who follow the NHL and not a reliable ratings draw for NBC.
That was the case when the playoffs began and even after their first-round victory over the Capitals, in part because they reached the conference semifinals as the lowest seed among the eight survivors.
But game by game, shift by suffocating shift, they are beginning to demand the attention of the hockey world.