Brian Compton, who covers the Islanders for NHL.com, joined co-hosts Dan Rosen and Shawn P. Roarke to breakdown the Islanders and the Lightning, who will play Game 6 of their series at Nassau Coliseum on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
Tampa Bay won 8-0 win in Game 5 at Amalie Arena on Monday, and leads the best-of-7 series 3-2.
Compton, Rosen and Roarke all agreed that Game 5 was more of an aberration and they expect Game 6 to be tight and low scoring, as the series was through the first four games, when the Lightning held a 9-8 advantage in goals and each team split their home games.
But they also agreed that winning two in a row is a tall task for the Islanders considering the Lightning haven't lost consecutive postseason games since the 2019 Eastern Conference First Round, going 13-0 in games following a loss, the longest such run in NHL history.
They also discussed the Montreal Canadiens and the intrigue they have created in the playoffs, being tied 2-2 against the Vegas Golden Knights going into Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS), despite coach Dominique Ducharme being away from the team quarantining because of a positive COVID-19 test.
The podcast also covered other playoff topics such as the Golden Knights' goaltending decisions between Robin Lehner and Marc-Andre Fleury, the resurgence of Montreal veteran forwards Corey Perry and Eric Staal, and why Canadiens goalie Carey Price gets in the heads of shooters.
Rosen and Roarke also touched on the New York Rangers' future under new coach Gerard Gallant and paid tribute to former NHL defenseman and long-time League executive Tom Kurvers, who died of lung cancer Monday at 58 years old.
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