The New York Islanders are in the Eastern Conference final of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in nearly 30 years. The 8-2 beatdown the club received at the hands of the Tampa Bay Lightning in Monday's series opener provided a big-time reminder that the pace of play elevates each round.
Now, the onus is on the Islanders to regroup from that debacle and even the series when it resumes Wednesday in Edmonton, with the memory of that crushing rout serving as motivation without fretting about what happened.
"It's a long series, it's Game 1," Islanders captain Anders Lee said.