It's time for Round 2 of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs as the Islanders and Lightning get set to go head-to-head in Game 1 action on Wednesday.
New York won its first playoff series since 1993 in Round 1 in thrilling fashion, toppling the Florida Panthers in double overtime to advance in six games. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, had its way with the Detroit Red Wings, dropping them in five games and will now look to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second straight season.
Both of these teams have two potent goal-scorers thus far in John Tavares and Nikita Kucherov, who each have an NHL-best five goals entering the second round.
Kucherov's line with Tyler Johnson (2-5--7) and Alex Killorn (3-2--5) was a nightmare for the Red Wings, but the Lightning hope to get some more secondary scoring in this round since this trio generated most of the offense.
Tavares, who scored the game-tying goal with less than a minute left in Game 6 and then netted the double-overtime winner, finished second in the league with nine points in the opening round. His linemate Frans Nielsen had three goals and four points against the Panthers, while Kyle Okposo had five helpers and six points.
The battle in the crease should be interesting. Tampa Bay turns to Ben Bishop, who looked dominant in going 4-1 with a 1.61 goals-against average and a .950 save percentage against Detroit. New York's netminder will once again be Thomas Greiss, who had a sterling series against Florida, going 4-2 with a 1.79 GAA and a .944 save percentage.
Game Preview & Live Stream
Details: Islanders at Lightning Game 1
Venue: Amalie Arena, Tampa Bay, Fla.
Time: 7 p.m. ET
Radio: New York (WFAN 101.9); Tampa Bay (WDAE 620).
Prediction: Our predictions for this series can be found here.
Betting Odds: The latest betting odds can be found here.
Watch Online: This game can be live streamed for free here.
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