Winning beats losing, so the Islanders naturally were happier on Wednesday night than they would have been had the Penguins scored in overtime of Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
Still, in the two days between then and the start of Game 2 on Friday everyone involved took pains to remind anyone who asked – and perhaps themselves – that in the Stanley Cup playoffs, one game is but a blip.
One reason is the inherent unpredictably of the NHL playoffs, where the home team has less of an advantage than in the NBA and pucks tend to bounce in unpredictable directions and decide low-scoring games.