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Isles already are winners, in a way

In a way, the Islanders already are the last team remaining.

They opened the Eastern Conference finals against the Lightning on Monday night at Rogers Place in Edmonton and were the only one of the 16 teams to participate in a playoff qualifying series to reach the NHL’s final four.

The West’s finalists, the Stars and the Golden Knights, along with the Lightning, were all among the top four seeds in their conference and played in a round-robin for seeding rather than a best-of-five elimination series to earn a berth in the 16-team playoffs.

“You can take some personal pride, we had to go through an extra round,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said.