Lightning Beat Islanders to Advance to NHL Eastern Conference Finals

The defending NHL Eastern Conference champion Tampa Bay Lightning advanced to the conference finals on May 8th after shutting out the New York Islanders 4-0 in Tampa. Tampa Bay won four straight after losing the series opener to the Islanders. Victor Hedman had two goals for the Lightning; Brian Boyle and Nikita Kucherov rounded out the scoring. Kucherov has nine goals and three assists in 10 postseason games. Ben Bishop had 28 saves.

The Islanders had a strong finish in the regular season and dispatched the Atlantic Division winning Florida Panthers in six games. Tampa Bay beat the Detroit Red Wings in the first round.

Tampa Bay will play the winner of the Washington Capitals–Pittsburgh Penguins series in the Eastern Conference finals. Pittsburgh leads the series 3-2, which resumes in Pittsburgh on May 10th. Of course, the players and coaches will say they are happy to advance and don’t care who it is they will face in the next round, but behind that standard line, the Lightning would probably prefer to play the Penguins. The Lightning beat the Penguins in all three regular season games versus Pittsburgh, but lost all three of their games against Washington.