By DAVE CALDWELL
APRIL 25, 2016
John Tavares, the Islanders ’ center
and captain, is still only 25, but he has
a pretty good knack of tracking things
— loose pucks in the crease, for one,
and landmark victories for his star-
crossed hockey team, for another.
Because Tavares was able to steady a
wobbly puck and wrap the rebound of
a shot past Florida Panthers
goaltender Roberto Luongo at 10
minutes 41 seconds of the second
overtime Sunday night, the Islanders
won their first N.H.L. playoff series
since 1993.
The Islanders will now face Tampa
Bay in the second round, and the
Islanders are likely to be viewed as
underdogs, even though the Lightning
do not have center Steven Stamkos or
defenseman Anton Stralman and
finished with fewer points in the
regular season than the Islanders. The
Lightning lost in the Stanley Cup finals
last year.
Hard as it may be to believe, Tavares
has been an Islander for seven
seasons, but that is just a portion of
the franchise’s 23-year wandering
through the desert for playoff success.
He understands what the fans have
endured. And now, he said, it is time
to move on.
When he played hockey as a child in
Ontario, he said, he dreamed of
winning the Stanley Cup, not just one
of four playoff rounds. “We want to enjoy tonight, but this
isn’t over,” Tavares said Sunday as he
sat at his dressing-room stall at
Barclays Center in Brooklyn. “We
want to keep this thing going. We have
a special group. We believe we can do
something special.”
In two of the past three seasons,
Tavares has been one of three finalists
for the Hart Trophy, awarded to the
N.H.L. player “most valuable to his
team.” Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, who
have each won the Hart Trophy
multiple times in recent years, have
received much more attention, in
large part because their teams have
been more successful.
But look again: Tavares, Crosby and
Ovechkin are still in the running for
the Stanley Cup, and with the
Penguins facing the Capitals in the
second round, no more than two will
make the conference finals.
The Islanders have come far since
Tavares joined the team in 2009 as the
No. 1 overall draft pick, in part
because the core of the team has
stayed together, and it has learned a
lot.
Last April 27, the Islanders had a
chance to advance to the second round
of the playoffs. They took all of 11
shots on goal — none by Tavares —
and lost to the Washington Capitals,
2-1 .
Two years earlier, they split the first
two games of a series against the top-
seeded Pittsburgh Penguins, but they
lost the last two games, the second in
overtime at home. These experiences
have served as building blocks.
“I think we put that to good use this
year,” said center Frans Nielsen, an
Islander since the 2006-7 season. “We
knew what we had to do. We knew it
was going to be a long series, and it
was going to be a grind. But we just
kept going at it.”
And they went at it for as long as it
took. Of the Islanders’ four victories
over the Panthers, the Atlantic
Division champions, three were in
overtime and the last two were in
double overtime.
APRIL 25, 2016
John Tavares, the Islanders ’ center
and captain, is still only 25, but he has
a pretty good knack of tracking things
— loose pucks in the crease, for one,
and landmark victories for his star-
crossed hockey team, for another.
Because Tavares was able to steady a
wobbly puck and wrap the rebound of
a shot past Florida Panthers
goaltender Roberto Luongo at 10
minutes 41 seconds of the second
overtime Sunday night, the Islanders
won their first N.H.L. playoff series
since 1993.
The Islanders will now face Tampa
Bay in the second round, and the
Islanders are likely to be viewed as
underdogs, even though the Lightning
do not have center Steven Stamkos or
defenseman Anton Stralman and
finished with fewer points in the
regular season than the Islanders. The
Lightning lost in the Stanley Cup finals
last year.
Hard as it may be to believe, Tavares
has been an Islander for seven
seasons, but that is just a portion of
the franchise’s 23-year wandering
through the desert for playoff success.
He understands what the fans have
endured. And now, he said, it is time
to move on.
When he played hockey as a child in
Ontario, he said, he dreamed of
winning the Stanley Cup, not just one
of four playoff rounds. “We want to enjoy tonight, but this
isn’t over,” Tavares said Sunday as he
sat at his dressing-room stall at
Barclays Center in Brooklyn. “We
want to keep this thing going. We have
a special group. We believe we can do
something special.”
In two of the past three seasons,
Tavares has been one of three finalists
for the Hart Trophy, awarded to the
N.H.L. player “most valuable to his
team.” Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby and
Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, who
have each won the Hart Trophy
multiple times in recent years, have
received much more attention, in
large part because their teams have
been more successful.
But look again: Tavares, Crosby and
Ovechkin are still in the running for
the Stanley Cup, and with the
Penguins facing the Capitals in the
second round, no more than two will
make the conference finals.
The Islanders have come far since
Tavares joined the team in 2009 as the
No. 1 overall draft pick, in part
because the core of the team has
stayed together, and it has learned a
lot.
Last April 27, the Islanders had a
chance to advance to the second round
of the playoffs. They took all of 11
shots on goal — none by Tavares —
and lost to the Washington Capitals,
2-1 .
Two years earlier, they split the first
two games of a series against the top-
seeded Pittsburgh Penguins, but they
lost the last two games, the second in
overtime at home. These experiences
have served as building blocks.
“I think we put that to good use this
year,” said center Frans Nielsen, an
Islander since the 2006-7 season. “We
knew what we had to do. We knew it
was going to be a long series, and it
was going to be a grind. But we just
kept going at it.”
And they went at it for as long as it
took. Of the Islanders’ four victories
over the Panthers, the Atlantic
Division champions, three were in
overtime and the last two were in
double overtime.
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