A best-of-five series affords very little time for sluggish play.
Which is why Florida Panthers president and general manager Dale Tallon knows his team must be at its sharpest against the Islanders. The teams are pitted in a qualifying series into the NHL’s 16-team playoffs – not likely to begin until August – under the league’s return-to-play model. The season was paused on March 12 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There will be no secrets,” Tallon said Thursday on a Zoom teleconference with the media. “The Islanders are very well-coached, very well-prepared. They play their best every shift.