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EXACTLY What Will Happen in The Eastern Conference Finals. Rumors to Come |
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Happy Labor Day Hockey World!
I truly hope you are all getting a chance today to enjoy family time and if you are fans of the Lightning or the Islanders, I truly hope you are ready to enjoy more bubble hockey!...One quick word to the fans of the Islanders, and this is from a lifelong Flyers fan...I am so excited for you. Being an Islanders fan has NOT been a walk in the park for these past few years...as you know...And yet, on this website at least, Island4ers fans are among the most passionate and come in numbers that puts them in the top ten of hockey fanbases. I am 100% pulling for you all here. Now onto the games..
Just to brag for a sec.. In the playoffs when it comes to predicting winners of series this year...I am 10-2..The two I missed.. Montreal beating Pittsburgh and Dallas beating Colorado...
In case you missed my west pick yesterday...It was Vegas over Dallas..
On Tampa vs. NYI...
On the Lightning...
This Tampa Lightning team is stacked. Even without the mysterious Steven Stamkos they are crazy stacked. And what's more they are seasoned. I am a big believer of the concept that later playoff success is often derived from what teams learn from the kinds of teams that they play in the earlier rounds. The Jackets and the Bruins were two serious tests, but even more than the level those teams are is the way they play. To beat Columbus you need to be able to outwork them and be able to withstand an intense 5 man forecheck. You also need to learn how to score ugly goals....Beyond that the Lightning were exorcising demons with Columbus. The Jackets were the ultimate test for Tampa, and in many ways similar to the NY Islanders.
The Isles also are also defense-first team.. They don't have the talent level on defense that Columbus has, almost no one in the NHL does, but the Islanders play the best 5 man defense in the league. Both the Jackets and the Islanders love to counter attack and can all get and hold leads. The Lightning HATE to play against counter attack teams, but this team has gotten considerably better at dealing with the counter. They are ready to face the Islanders..
The Bruins taught the Lightning how to deal with a power line as well, and the Islanders have a serious power line right now led of Barzal,Lee, and Eberle are ridiculous right now. They are EVERY bit as tough as any perfection line Boston could put together...This amount of confidence that the BEL line has right now will test the Lightning. The only true way to stop them will be in goal...and the Lightning have the perfect goalie to do that. Andrei Vasilevskiy is probably the best goalie in the world right now, and what matters the most in this series is his ability to moce side to side...the Isles score a ton of goals that way.
On the Islanders...
Barry Trotz and Lou Lamoriello have proven to be a killer combo..and shouldn't we all have expected as much? The Islanders had a bizarre year, starting off like gangbusters, before falling apart after the trade deadline...leading the world to believe that Lou's pickup of Pageau was a HUGE mistake.
Where are those critics now? Pageau right now looks like the best Islanders deadine pickup since Butch Goring..He has been the PERFECT fit and the kind of player that Stanley Cup Winners find and are carried by.
The Islanders do two things amazingly well.
They forecheck with 5 guys and no team's D is better at pinching in than any team mayve since Lou's Cup winning Devils team...Andy Green has brought that to the team in a huge way.
The other thing the islanders do well is breakout of their own zone. Not since the LA Kings Cup teams have I seen a team that is harder to forecheck against.
The goaltending is an issue. Greiss appears to be better on point shots, whle Varly is quicker side to side. The Lighnting are able to score both ways and which goalie Trotz goes with will probably stay game to game...Varly is there longterm, Greiss is a UFA who I am hearing may be extended becasue Trotz LOVES the combination and how these two compliment each other...
The two teams the Isles have played to get to this point probably don't prepare them for the Lightning as well as Columbus and Boston prepared Tampa....but then again, there is no on in Tampa's league except for maybe Colorado. Losing three OT games agaisnt Philly is something that the Isles need to get better at..
So what happens?
Special Teams and Goaltending...
Whenever a series feels this close, I usually turn to these two factors.
Tampa has the better goaltending, but the Islanders have the better special teams and take very few penalties.. Philly didn't score a powerplay goal in seven games...Tampa's power play has really struggled. It looks like Kucherov will play tonight. That of course helps, but whoever wins this series will do so by playing the better team game...
My pick... NY Islanders in 7..
ENJOY THE GAMES!
I will be back with a rumor update later...
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