Last night the Islanders lost to Boston to settle the seeding in the East division. Due to their loss, NYI ends up in the fourth seed, giving them a date with the East division champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
“Styles make fights,” as the popular expression in boxing goes. The same is true in many respects for a seven game NHL series. The matchup has many angles and details of how the two teams matchup against one another, each trying to emphasize their strengths and avoid their relative weaknesses.
This week there will be a lot of previews and pixels spent on comparing, contrasting, overlaying the two opponents, but this Pens/Isles matchup is pretty much going to boil down to these three, key points.