NHL Eastern Conference Finals Game 1- New York Islanders vs Tampa Bay Lightning

 Tonight is game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the New York Islanders and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The Islanders are the 6 seed and have had a pretty interesting journey to get to this point. They played in the qualifying round and beat the Florida Panthers in 4 games but dominated the whole series. They then faced the 3 seed Washington Capitals who allegedly treated the Toronto Bubble like a vacation and didn't worry as much about the hockey. This showed as the Islanders dominated with their defensive prowess upsetting the Caps in 5 games which feels generous. The second round had the Islanders matched up with the top-seeded Philadelphia Flyers who were coming off a 6 game series with the Montreal Canadiens. This showed as the Islanders dominated early and took a 3-1 lead as they looked in complete control. The Flyers then came back and won back-to-back overtime games to force a game 7 where the Islanders absolutely dominated. The Lightning got to play in the round-robin finishing second only losing to the Flyers. The first round was the Lightning beating their demons against the Columbus Blue Jackets in 4 games finishing out with a thrilling OT winner from Brayden Point. Which led them to a second-round series with the Boston Bruins in which they won in 5 games and seemed to catch the Bruins off the high of beating the Carolina Hurricanes and won that game 5 in overtime again with a winner from Victor Hedman. This series is a potent offense and stingy defense facing off. The Lightning are still without captain Steven Stamkos for the series but at this point, they've made it to this point without him. They also hold the goaltending advantage with Andrei Vasilevskiy against either Thomas Greiss or Semon Varlamov. The Islanders are such a great defensive team but also have scoring outbursts from forwards like Mat Barzal, Anders Lee, Josh Bailey, Anthony Beauvillier, Derrick Brassard, Jordan Eberle, and the always important 4th line in Matt Martin, Casey Cizikas, and Cal Clutterbuck. The Lightning are -155 favourites in game 1 and I'm going to take the Lightning to win but this whole series will be tight-checking games.

Record: 57-56