There’s little the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning haven’t encountered during deep postseason runs five of the past seven years. The New York Islanders haven’t achieved as much but have progressed enough in three seasons under Barry Trotz to not feel like heavy underdogs in the Stanley Cup semifinals.
“We believe we’re a good team. We expected to be here. We knew it wasn’t going to be easy ... but coming into the season, we expected to be here,” New York’s Matt Martin said. “We’re proud and happy with what we’ve accomplished to this point, but the job is still not done and we have our sights set on going all the way.