Islanders Play With Tons of Grit

The Lightning now know their opponent for round 2 and its not as favorable as their round 1 match up was. Lightning will open the best of 7 series at home against the New York Islanders likely on Wednesday. The good news for the Bolts is they were able to get some rest and might get a key defender back at some point during this series. Anton Stralman is looking likely to return at some point during this series which would be a big boost for the defense. The bad news is the Islanders have size and speed and play a full 60 minute game, playing with tons of grit and toughness. Islanders are coming off a tough series win over the Florida Panthers in which they displayed resiliency and made clutch plays throughout the series.

Islanders are led by John Tarvares, who is one of the top centers in the league and can take over games at times, Lightning need to watch him every time he is on the ice. Islanders have one of the better checking lines led by center Anders Lee, who is just a pest on the forecheck and makes life miserable for the opponent. Their blue line is led by Johnny Boychuck and Nick Leddy whom both are solid two way players and are dangerous on the powerplay. The biggest surprise for the Islanders has been the play of their goalie Thomas Griess who has been very consistent and was outstanding in the last couple of games against the Panthers.

Keys for the Lightning against Islanders will be to play to their strengths which is using their speed. Bolts must play a north and south game and get Griess moving east and west which should open holes on the net. Good news is the Lightning have Ben Bishop who is the surperior goalie and should give the Lightning a chance to win every night. If the Lightning can find consistency on the powerplay, they can dominate this series, but I have a feeling its going to be a 6 or 7 game series. Islanders will present many challenges, but the Lightning have the experience and the better goaltender. Lightning will have to do a better job at staying out of the penatly box and must be better offensivley 5 on 5. Game 1 is Wednesday, this is going to be a dog fight and should be an entertaining series.