The New York Islanders will face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Final for the second consecutive season.
Finishing the regular season in fourth place in the East Division, the Islanders have been the underdogs in each of their playoff series. This one will be no different.
So many different players on the team have stepped up massively on different occasions and the Islanders have done a great job of exploiting the weaknesses and mistakes of their opponents. That’s how they’ve gotten this far.
This will be their toughest task yet. This will mark the first round of the playoffs in which teams will be facing opponents that they did not play during the regular season, making things even more difficult.