The Islanders had come to a conclusion well before Monday night that they were going to have a real, bona fide chance to win the Stanley Cup. Over the past week, it had gone from a distant and nebulous idea to something entirely concrete.
Yet the waiting game continued with the Hurricanes extending their first-round series, beating the Capitals, 5-2, in Game 6 on Monday night in Carolina, forcing a decisive Game 7 for Wednesday night in Washington. That is likely going to push back Game 1 for the Islanders second-round series until either Friday or Saturday, with the possibilities of starting in Washington or at home against Carolina.
It also meant one more game where those two teams beat up on each other while the Islanders sit at home and wait.
But even before the result, the Islanders knew the playoffs were wide open, even more so after the Presidents’ Trophy winner (Lightning), the No. 1-seed in the West (Flames), along with a western power (Jets), had all been bounced in relatively short first-round series.
“In the playoffs, as we’ve seen over the past few years — and especially this year — anyone can beat anyone,” goalie Robin Lehner told The Post after Monday’s practice on Long Island, the club’s third practice to go with three days off since his team swept the Penguins in the first round. “I feel like it really comes down to who sticks to their game and just really plays to their details during every single minute of every game.”
No matter who the Islanders were going to play, they had a full-on belief in themselves that had been galvanized throughout the surprising regular season and then multiplied during their suffocation of the Penguins in a tidy four-game entrance into the tournament. There were 31 teams that started the season on equal footing, and the Islanders were going to be one of just eight remaining.
Put it like that and it is easy to imagine where the confidence comes from.
“When you get to the second round, honestly, the eight teams that are here believe they can win the Stanley Cup. Every one of them. And we’re one of them,” coach Barry Trotz said. “You have to have that belief until you get knocked out. And once you get to the next round, you’re down to four, and then you really believe it — you’re going to win it.”
Belief is not something the Islanders are short on, and it’s only grown as they’ve sat and watched the rest of the league since ending the first round this past Tuesday in Pittsburgh.
The Lightning had tied for the most wins (62) in the history of the NHL, but they were swept by the second-wild-card Blue Jackets. The Flames had six more points than anyone else in the Western Conference and managed to win just one game against the Avalanche. And even the Jets, who bolstered at the trade deadline with the addition of Rangers center Kevin Hayes, never won on home ice and lost the series in Game 6 to a Blues team that was dead-in-the-water on Nov. 20 when it fired coach Mike Yeo and hired Craig Berube.
It shows that a team on a roll does not stop because the games start to mean more. Just as it shows how even perennial contenders like the Penguins can’t just flip a switch to playoff mode when needed.
“The NHL, over the years with the salary cap and all that, the parity is closer than the optics,” Trotz said. “That’s what sometimes people forget, or don’t know until you have to live it. There is a lot of parity in the league.”
Now, after a long break, the Islanders will get a chance to return to action soon. Every team going forward would have brought their own set of unique challenges, and the Isles were just relishing the chance to keep this thing going.
That could be seen in the practices and heard in the rising anticipation in the voices of players and coaches. Asked if the prospect of actually having an opponent set by Monday night made things feel a little bit more real, and Trotz wholeheartedly agreed.
“Urgent? Real? Yeah, it does,” Trotz said. “I do think there is a sense of expectation of that it’s around the corner.”