2016 Playoff Predictions

Atlantic Division Finals

Tampa Bay Lightning (2) vs. New York Islanders (WC1)

The Story So Far: Tampa Bay beat Detroit for the second straight year, this time in just five games. However, it was no cakewalk, as a break or two and this series might still be playing. The Islanders pulled off an upset as they needed six games to finish off the Florida Panthers. However that, too, could have gone seven.

The Lightning Will Win If: They continue to get superb goaltending from Ben Bishop. Slowly but surely, Ben is building up a strong playoff reputation. So far these playoffs, he's 4-1, 1.61 and .950. Combine that with taking the Lightning to within two games of the Stanley Cup last year, and he could be on his way to a terrific career in the playoffs. Nikita Kucherov, Tyler Johnson and Alex Killborn have picked up the slack from Steven Stamkos' absence. If they keep this up, watch out on the island.

The Islanders Will Win If: Jonathan Tavares keeps up what he's doing. So far, he's tops in the 16-team tournament in goals with five (Not to mention his nine points!). And Thomas Greiss is playing some amazing goal in Jaroslav Halak's absence. He's just back of Bishop with a 4-2 record, 1.79 GAA, and a save percentage of .944. He'll need to match Bishop save-for-save in this series. The Islanders got a nice performance from Kyle Okposo. Look for him to make a contribution in this second round matchup. And they'll need to.

My Pick: Lightning in six games!


References

Official Site of the National Hockey League | NHL.com. National Hockey League. Web. 27 Apr. 2016. <https://www.nhl.com>.

Sports Reference LLC. Hockey-Reference.com - Hockey Statistics and History. http://www.hockey-reference.com/. Web. 27 Apr. 2016.