The Islanders head back to the sunshine state as they are set to take on the defending Eastern Conference Champion Tampa Bay Lightning. The best of seven game series starts tonight at 7PM. Due to scheduling issues at both arenas, game two will not be until Saturday afternoon and game three will not be until Tuesday at Barclays.

Josh Bailey did not make the trip to Florida and although lineups have not been announced we should see Ryan Strome back in tonight. If the lines look like they did in practice we will see Alan Quine with John Tavares and Kyle Okposo. Frans Nielsen will center Nikolay Kulemin and Brock Nelson. Strome will center Steve Bernier and Shane Prince and the fourth line will remain the same with Matt Martin, Case Cizikas and Cal Clitterbuck

Ryan Pulock is traveling with the team and it is believed he should be ready for game three. Jaroslav Halak is also practicing with the team but he is not close to returning and unless Thomas Greiss falters, Halak will be wearing a cap on the bench.

As for the series, Tampa presents a whole new set of challenges for the Islanders. They are faster, have more balanced scoring and even better in goal with Ben Bishop. I do think the Isles fourth line will have a much bigger impact in this series. I think the Isles special teams will continue to shine and if New York improves their even strength play, they will win this series.

I do believe that the Islanders can and will matchup well with the Bolts and if New York mistakes don't end up in the back of the net, I do think New York will win this series. Noel and I both correctly picked the Islanders to beat the Panthers in six and we are staying with that for this series. Islanders in six.

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