A Round Two Preview

Round two is underway and the New York Islanders found themselves squaring off against the Florida Panthers in a clash for the opportunity to play in the Eastern Conference Finals. Both teams have had plenty of time to rest and recover from bumps and bruises in the first round as the Islanders upset the Atlantic Division champion Buffalo Sabres and the Florida Panthers put the brooms to the Boston Bruins in a classic four game sweep. Don't let those rosters fool you folks. The Panthers may look like
the obvious favourites with a seemingly perfect blend of leadership (John Tavares, "Big Z" Zdeno Chara, "Jumbo" Joe Thronton, Zach Parise, Mark Giordano), superstars in their primes (Jonathon Huberdeau, Artemi Panarin, Victor Hedman), young stars ready to put their prints on the playoffs (Cale Makar, Trevor Zegras, Cole Caufield, Tim Stutzle, Nick Suzuki), and goalies with a proven winning pedigree (Carey Price and Freddy Anderson), but the Islanders finished the reular season with more points than their warm weather foe. One more point to be exact, and although that usually is enough to find your team with a home ice advantage, the Islanders find themselves flying to the sunny state of Florida to prepare for the second round opener. That's the cards dealt to a wildcard when travelling outside their stacked metropolitan division and it could prove vital in a series where both teams played much better at home than away in the regular season. The Islanders will have to find a way to lean on the experience of their veteran lineup and find a way to put this disadvantage behind them as for many of them this could be their last kick at the can. Its no secret the Islanders are not only battling their opponent on the ice, but also the ticking clock of father time with aging superstars Ryan Suter, Eric Staal, Paul Stastny, Dustin Brown, Corey Perry, Braydon Coburn, and Devan Dubnyk all in their late 30s in a sport rapidly becoming a young mans game. It seems reasonable to think, with Staal and Dubnyk already announcing their retirements at season end, and management obviously making moves to acquire younger players and draft picks, this may be the Islanders best chance for some time. With a contract extension looming, Jack "Soup" Campbell will no doubt be channelling his inner "Soup Nazi" and with any luck will be saying "no soup for you" to those seeking to get the missing bread from the stingy netminder. If not he could end up losing the trust of GM Pacman, but not likely his spot in the crease as backup goalie Devan Dubnyk has found himself almost cemented in the position of door opener as he hopes to ride the pine to glory. The sparks are bound to fly and with heavyweights on both sides this likely wont be a series for the feint at heart. With the likes of Ryan Reaves, Radko Gudas and Eric Cernak of the Panthers lining up against Pat Maroon, Dustin Brown, Corey Perry and Cal Clutterbuck of the Islanders, I'm sure the department of player safety will be watching this series as close as the refs themselves. Lets just hope theres still enough healthy players left standing to finish the series. Game one is scheduled for Tuesday night at FLA Live Arena. 

Go Islanders!!