Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield celebrates his goal against the Flyers with teammates during first-period NHL Stanley Cup Eastern Conference playoff action in Toronto on Saturday. Credit: AP/Frank Gunn
None of the four remaining teams in the Stanley Cup playoffs has taken a more circuitous path than the Islanders to the conference finals in Edmonton.
Back in normal times, they still were playing home games in two arenas, Barclays Center and Nassau Coliseum.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic pause, which hit when they were about 2,500 miles from home in Calgary.
Then they entered the Toronto bubble, outlasted the other low seeds as the only qualifying-round survivor and had to change hotels during their stay.