Daily Links

The Islanders Advance to the Semi-Finals For Second Straight Season & More

Published

3 years ago

June 10, 2021

The New York Islanders got the job done at home as they defeated the Boston Bruins by a score of 5-1 to take the series four games to two. For the second straight season, they will face the Tampa Bay Lightning in the semi-finals. Islanders forward Brock Nelson lit the lamp twice in the Game 6 win. The Islanders played lockdown defense in the third period to ensure the victory. These stories and more in today’s daily links!

The last time the New York Islanders hosted a Stanley Cup Semifinals game at the Nassau Coliseum, the New York Saints still existed and called the Coliseum home. After Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy invoked the memory of the defunct professional lacrosse team two days prior, the Islanders put on a heavenly performance on Wednesday night to defeat Boston 6-2 to clinch the series and return to the semifinals. Brock Nelson had two goals in the second period to put the Islanders up two, a lead they would never give up. (NYI Hockey Now)

After the Boston Bruins erased third-period deficits in Games 2 and 5, New York Islanders fans could be forgiven for being a little nervous when Brad Marchand scored five minutes into the third period. Facing elimination, Boston would surely be the hungrier, desperate team. After the goal, the Islanders led 4-2, but the next 13 minutes told an amazing tale. Boston didn’t get another shot on goal until the final 82 seconds of the game. Zero shots for nearly 13 minutes. (NYI Hockey Now)

What better way to celebrate the birth of a new child than by helping your team advance to the Stanley Cup Semifinals. That’s exactly what Brock Nelson did during the New York Islanders series with the Boston Bruins. Nelson’s two goals in the second period helped lead the Islanders to a 6-2 win over Boston to clinch the series in six games and advance to the next round to face the Tampa Bay Lightning. All of this happening just days after the 29-year-old welcomed his third child to the world the day of Game 4. (NYI Hockey Now)

One would have to imagine Boston Bruins head coach Bruce Cassidy wouldn’t have envisioned his comment about the New York Islanders trying to pass themselves off as the New York Saints would have led to this. As both fanbases rallied around the Boston coach’s comments, an unlikely party jumped into the fray. The New Orleans Saints. (NYI Hockey Now)

Another Game 6 in front of another loud Nassau Coliseum crowd. The Islanders faced this moment a couple of weeks ago against the Penguins and didn’t flinch. Neither did they flinch on Wednesday. In fact, this 6-2 series closeout over the Bruins was more dominating than the clincher over Pittsburgh. (The Athletic)

Islanders fans celebrate the team’s series-ending victory over the Boston Bruins, and their ascent to the NHL semifinals to face the Tampa Bay Lightning, following Game 6 at Nassau Coliseum on June 9, 2021. Watch the celebration in the parking lot. (Newsday)

Barry Trotz spoke to his players about seizing the moment and making it something they would remember for the rest of their lives. That they did, blowing out the Bruins, 6-2, on Wednesday night to secure a return trip to the NHL semifinals, and a rematch with the Stanley Cup champion Lightning. But beyond the immediate gratification of another wild evening at Nassau Coliseum, the events of Game 6 were part of a larger story arc: The second-greatest era in the franchise’s nearly half-century history. (Newsday)

Brock Nelson scored two goals, and the New York Islanders eliminated the Boston Bruins with a 6-2 win in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Second Round at Nassau Coliseum on Wednesday. Josh Bailey and Jean-Gabriel Pageau each had two assists for the Islanders, the No. 4 seed in the MassMutual East Division. Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves and won four of five starts in the best-of-7 series to help New York advance to the Stanley Cup Semifinals. (NHL)

Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask confirmed what everybody pretty much already knew postgame when he admitted he may need surgery for whatever was bugging him physically during the Stanley Cup playoffs. The 33-year-old Rask said he wouldn’t go into specifics after the 6-2 loss in Game 6 that eliminated the Boston Bruins from the playoffs, but the suspicion is that hip and back issues plagued him throughout this season. (Boston Hockey Now)

You’ve been telling me, but not in so many words. Some of you have been yelling it, actually, but the words belied the meaning. Most fanbases in the NHL would kick you for the sentiment, but the heart wants what the heart wants, and everything comes to an end. Even the Pittsburgh Penguins run with the most talented players on the planet comes to an end. (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)

It’s been a whirlwind few days for the Lehigh Valley Phantoms and their goalie, Felix Sandstrom. On Monday, Sandstrom –– then a pending restricted free agent –– reportedly signed a one-year contract with TPS in Finland. However, those reports were inaccurate. The Philadelphia Flyers announced on Tuesday that they re-signed goaltender Felix Sandstrom to a one-year, two-way contract with a cap hit of $750,000. (Philly Hockey Now)

Anton Lundell could have been part of the Florida Panthers this past season but the team had no desire to rush his development especially with the uncertainty of what exactly a Covid-19 NHL season was going to look like. (Florida Hockey Now)

Rightly or wrongly, Sean Avery is never a man without opinions. The latest target to be caught in the sights of the former Detroit Red Wings center are the sad-sack fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs. As they suffer through their latest heartbreaking first-round playoff series loss, Avery didn’t offer an olive branch to long-suffering fans of Toronto’s NHL team. Instead, he took a figurative stick and sought to smack so common sense into the be-Leaf-ers. (Detroit Hockey Now)

Marc-Andre Fleury allowed a very soft goal to kick off Game 5, but he rebounded nicely as he made history in the Vegas Golden Knights overtime winner. (Vegas Hockey Now)

Really, the Avs shouldn’t change a thing from Game 5. That’s the only way I think the Avs can beat that team, is to just outwork ’em. Work is what’s going to beat that team, not “talent.” I can’t stand that word anymore, by the way. Talent. For me, it’s becoming a cursed word to the Avs. Everybody always raves about their “talent”, their “talented core”, their “talented roster.” The way I want to be labeled as a hockey team is “hard-working”, “gritty”, “tough”, “playoff tough.” (Colorado Hockey Now)

How do you get rid of a contract? That’s something we began exploring yesterday because the San Jose Sharks have five contracts seven years or longer: Evander Kane, Logan Couture, Brent Burns, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, and Erik Karlsson’s. (San Jose Hockey Now)

The Tampa Bay Lightning will play the New York Islanders in the Stanley Cup Semifinals. New York eliminated the Boston Bruins with a 6-2 win in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Second Round on Wednesday. The Islanders defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games in the first round. “We’ve talked zero about Tampa Bay, zero,” New York coach Barry Trotz said. “We started out this journey to beat Pittsburgh. We were able to do that and then we focused in on Boston. We will get a shot to go against the champs again.” (NHL)

Mark Stone is proving to be everything the Vegas Golden Knights need in a leader during the Stanley Cup Second Round against the Colorado Avalanche. At no time was that more evident than a 3-2 win in Game 5 at the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, when the captain blocked his third shot of the game before scoring his first overtime goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, 50 seconds into the extra period to give Golden Knights the lead in the best-of-7 series. (NHL)

The Winnipeg Jets already have discarded their disappointment from being swept by the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Second Round and are focusing on what they think is a bright future. “We are very close to being able to make runs and be a dynasty,” Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck said Wednesday. “It’s just going to take a few more pieces and we will be there.” (NHL)

Adam Fox, Victor Hedman and Cale Makar were named finalists for the Norris Trophy on Wednesday. The award is given annually to the defenseman voted to have demonstrated throughout the season the greatest all-around ability at the position as voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. The winner will be announced as part of the 2021 NHL Awards presented by Bridgestone during the Stanley Cup Semifinals or Stanley Cup Final. (NHL)

Tuukka Rask’s future is uncertain after the Boston Bruins season ended Wednesday with a 6-2 loss to the New York Islanders in Game 6 of the best-of-7 Stanley Cup Second Round at Nassau Coliseum. The goalie said he does not know what comes next. Or he’s not yet willing to share the answers publicly. For Rask, the uncertainty is twofold. (NHL)

This is what Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri were hoping for when they were traded to the New York Islanders on April 7. It’s also what the Islanders were hoping for when the forwards were acquired from the New Jersey Devils. Zajac and Palmieri each scored a goal in a 6-2 series-ending win against the Boston Bruins in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Second Round at Nassau Coliseum on Wednesday. (NHL)

Gaeten Haas is heading back to Switzerland. Scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, the Edmonton Oilers forward signed a five-year deal with EHC Biel on Thursday. (TSN)

Winnipeg Jets forward Mark Scheifele made it clear Wednesday he still does not agree with the four-game suspension he received for charging Jake Evans of the Montreal Canadiens in Game 1 of the team’s second-round series. Scheifele, who called the suspension “pretty excessive” last week, missed the remainder of the Jets postseason as they were swept in four games by Montreal and will still have one game to serve at the start of next season. “I thought I was going to be tried to be shut down by Phillip Danault,” Scheifele said Wednesday. “Instead it was the Department of Player Safety that shut me down.” (TSN)