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NYHN Daily: Islanders Eliminated After Game 7 Loss to Lightning & More:

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The New York Islanders were unable to muster much as they fell 1-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Semi-Finals. It was a mistake with the man advantage that watched Tampa score their lone goal, the game-winning goal. This Islander group is a tight-knit one and this loss signals a new chapter. These stories and more in today’s daily links!



The Tampa Bay Lightning eliminated the New York Islanders from the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 1-0 win over New York in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals. It had been the first time the Islanders had been one win away from reaching the Stanley Cup Final since 1984. The Islanders were beat at their own game as their chances were limited. Semyon Varlamov gave his team a great effort but the offense, which had chances, could not come through. (NYI Hockey Now)

There was something poetically haunting about the way that the Tampa Bay Lightning scored the game-winning goal against the New York Islanders to end their season just short of a Stanley Cup Final appearance, again, in a 1-0 Game 7 loss. It came with the Islanders on the power play, which had been their Achilles heel all season long and into the postseason. The Islanders had a chance to swing the momentum in their favor and instead watched a golden chance turn into a heartbreaking nightmare. (NYI Hockey Now)

The sinking feeling in Mathew Barzal’s gut was palpable as he spoke with reporters Friday night. The New York Islanders star was trying to hold back the overwhelming emotions that were visible on his face after another heartbreaking 1-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, which kept the Isles from their first Stanley Cup appearance since 1984. The scene played out in some similar fashion or another among the four players that spoke to the media and tried to make some sense of what had just happened in a loss that seemed to hurt deeper than any they had felt before. Barzal was asked at one point if he could appreciate the steps the team had taken this year, but Barzal couldn’t stomach the thought at that moment. (NYI Hockey Now)

The Islanders have come so far. Yet it feels like there’s a long way still to go. So much progress. But still, not much to show for it but cracking voices and thousand-yard stares during a video news conference from the bowels of Amalie Arena late on Friday night after New York’s 1-0 loss in Game 7. Their pain from the Game 7 loss shows this team is no longer happy just to be there. (The Athletic)

Andrei Vasilevskiy made 18 saves for the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 1-0 win against the New York Islanders in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals at Amalie Arena in Tampa on Friday. It was Vasilevskiy’s second shutout in three games and helped the Lightning return to the Stanley Cup Final for a second straight season, where the defending champions will face the Montreal Canadiens. Game 1 is at Tampa Bay on Monday. (NHL)

The pain the New York Islanders were feeling was raw and evident in the tears in their eyes and their cracking voices. They battled and believed until the final horn of their 1-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Semifinals at Amalie Arena on Friday that it was their turn to break through this season. So it hurt even more that they came up one goal, one win short and the Lightning advanced to the Stanley Cup Final at their expense for the second straight season. (NHL)

If president and general manager Lou Lamoriello allowed such individual awards, Semyon Varlamov would be the Islanders’ MVP. The goalie certainly showed why even as the Islanders’ thrilling playoff run came to an unsatisfying conclusion with a 1-0 loss to the defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning in Game 7 of their NHL semifinal series on Friday night at Amalie Arena. (Newsday)

It was fun while it lasted for the Islanders. Three years of playoff successes under Lou Lamoriello and Barry Trotz, then this season’s deepest run yet. The Nassau Coliseum farewell, capped by the chaos that followed Anthony Beauvillier’s overtime game-winner against Tampa Bay on Wednesday. But such memories will be a consolation for the Islanders and their fans only in retrospect. Late Friday night, it was difficult to look beyond the cold, hard, immediate reality: It’s over. (NYI Hockey Now)

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