By Friday, June 25, we’ll know whether the Islanders’ season will end in the Final Four for the second year in a row, or if they’ll get revenge on Tampa and advance to their first Stanley Cup Final in 37 years.
The NHL has released the full schedule for the Islanders-Lightning “Conference Finals,” with Game 1 set for Sunday at 3 p.m. The full slate:
The Lightning eliminated the Islanders in the Eastern Conference Finals last season, a series in which Tampa Bay led 2-0 and 3-1 before winning in six. The winner of this series will meet the winner of the Montreal-Vegas series for the Stanley Cup.
The NHL was guaranteed to not have the same Final Four as last season – with the way the divisions were set up, at least one Canadian team was guaranteed to make it – but came as close as possible; Tampa Bay-New York is a rematch after the two teams won the Central and East Division playoffs, respectively, and the Vegas Golden Knights, who fell to Dallas in last year’s Western Conference Finals, won this year’s West Division Playoffs.
The Stars did not qualify for the playoffs, finishing fifth in the Central Division.
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