Islanders News: First round is set, Game 1 tomorrow evening
Brock will have to be Brock to beat Carolina this time. | Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
Game 1 between the Isles and Canes will be the first game of the entire 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Every Eastern Conference team wrapped up the regular season by Wednesday, and the Western Conference wrapped up last night. The regular season is over, the first round is set, and the playoffs begin tomorrow.
The very first game of the entire postseason: Game 1 between the Carolina Hurricanes and our New York Islanders. That means the whole hockey world will be watching and fawning over the Canes and tut-tutting about the Islanders. Just the way we like it.
Last year, some pundits gave the Islanders a chance to upset Carolina, who were without Andrei Svechnikov and Max Pacioretty and going up against Ilya Sorokin coming off a Vezina-caliber season. Svechnikov is back this year, and they’ve added Jake Guentzel to their arsenal. The Canes are a better and deeper team than last season. Sorokin hasn’t been his world-beating self, and Semyon Varlamov will probably start Game 1. Virtually no one is picking the Islanders.
But for all the Islanders’ struggles this season, they finally seemed to stabilize at the end of the year around Patrick Roy’s structure and got the goaltending to match from both Varlamov and Sorokin. They have looked and played more confidently. If they can keep that up and get some timely goals—this time around, Mathew Barzal and Bo Horvat have well-established chemistry—the Islanders can do this.
Plus, the Islanders live on spite; I’m sure they know no one thinks they’ll get past the finally-loaded-up Hurricanes. I’m excited about this series and to get another crack at those whiny losers.
Islanders News
Recaps from Wednesday’s regular-season finale against the Pittsburgh Penguins:
A nice game to end the year. Sorokin stopped a Sidney Crosby penalty shot in the final minute. [LHH]
Kyle Palmieri hit 30 goals for only the second time in his career, and Ruslan Iskhakov made his NHL debut. [3 Takeaways]
All four of Palmieri, Cal Clutterbuck, Brock Nelson, and J-G Pageau dressed for 82 games. But unfortunately, Pageau left the game midway through the first period. [Newsday] And his status remains uncertain. [NY Post]
It was a memorable debut for Iskhakov, who recorded his first NHL point and has remained with the club despite Bridgeport having two more games. [Islanders] The Islanders were aware of the skill level of their newest locker mate from training camp. [THN]
With an 8-0-1 finish, the Islanders ended the season on a nine-game point streak. The last time they closed out a season on a point streak that long was their 8-0-4 finish to the 1980 season after acquiring Butch Goring. Hmm... [NYI Skinny]
Islanders vs. Hurricanes
Once the last games concluded yesterday, the NHL released the series schedules. Islanders-Hurricanes is as follows: [Islanders]
Game 1, Sat. 4/20 at 5:00 p.m.
Game 2, Mon. 4/22 at 7:30 p.m.
Game 3, Thu. 4/25 at 7:30 p.m.
Game 4, Sat. 4/27 at 2:00 p.m.
Game 5, Tue. 4/30 at TBD (if necessary)
Game 6, Thu. 5/2 at TBD (if necessary)
Game 7, Sat. 5/4 at TBD (if necessary)
The Islanders practiced today on Long Island before flying down to Raleigh. Iskhakov was still there as an extra, but Pageau’s spot was taken by Kyle MacLean. Most importantly, Noah Dobson was a full participant.
#Isles lines at Friday's practice:Cizikas-Horvat-BarzalFasching-Nelson-PalmieriLee-MacLean-EngvallMartin-Clutterbuck-HolmstromRomanov-DobsonPelech-PulockReilly-Bortuzzo— Stefen Rosner (@stefen_rosner) April 19, 2024
A preview by the numbers. I don’t need to tell you what it says. [The Athletic]
The Canes are a familiar foe, so the Isles know what they’re up against. [Newsday]
5 Keys, including Patrick Roy as an x-factor and needing the stars to be stars. [Newsday]
There’s a Game 1 watch party at The Park at UBS Arena. [THN]
Like I said above, virtually no one is picking the Islanders. 15 NHL writers made predictions, and 15 NHL writers think it will be Carolina. Donald-Glover-”good”.pdf. [NHL]
Elsewhere
Last night’s NHL scores include the Golden Knights losing and the Kings winning, meaning the Kings finished third in the Pacific and the defending champs are the last wild card. Congratulations on winning the West, Dallas. There were no playoff implications, at least not in the Eastern Conference, on Wednesday night.
But Wednesday night was the final game of this iteration of the Arizona Coyotes. Longtime ‘Yotes beat writer Craig Morgan summed up 28 years and one special night perfectly. [PHNX]
I have to say, I watched that last game, and I was on the verge of tears seeing those fans crying. We didn’t lose our team, but the threat felt real for most of my fandom, and I could relate to what they were feeling. But I think the NHL will be back there. Just hopefully not with that scumbag of an owner.
Here’s how the move to Salt Lake City went down. [Sportsnet]
The Rangers-Capitals series will pit the Lindgren brothers against one another, and their parents are going to be nervy. [NHL]
Here is the entire first-round schedule. [NHL]
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