Islanders News: No reflection yet, but questions abound

Today is supposed to be locker clean-out and exit interview day for the Islanders, so there should be quite a bit of news to come out with that. Not too much here that hasn’t been said already, but I figured it might be nice to have something to blab about today.

There is an Islanders Anxiety set to drop later this morning about the elimination by the Hurricanes, so keep your ears peeled. Or your eyes.

Islanders News

• Right now, the Islanders are in pain from the way it all ended and aren’t ready to reflect on it. Which is understandable. [Newsday]
• They’re not likely to look the same next season, but hopefully that means they’ve brought in some scoring talent. [NY Post]
• As such, questions loom large for this team as the offseason descends upon them. [Newsday]
• But, that doesn’t mean we can’t bask in the glow that this season was. I’m pretty thankful for it. [LHH]
• I mean, check out some of the numbers from this season. Some of them, would you really have expected the 2018-19 Islanders to be responsible for them? [Islanders]
• Much like the Islanders, the Sound Tigers are experiencing disappointment from their exit from the playoffs, but there’s plenty to be excited about. [Sound Tigers]

Some Final Islanders-Hurricanes Tidbits

• The Hurricanes were able to advance on the backs of their stellar defense and impressive depth in the face of injuries. [NHL]
• Everybody is surprised Carolina is in the Conference Final except for Carolina. [NHL]
• The Islanders won’t use the long layoff between Rounds 1 and 2 as an excuse for their demise, though I imagine it didn’t help as much as we thought it could. [NHL]
• They should, however, bemoan their lack of scoring talent. I mean, the players probably shouldn’t say it out loud, but that’s pretty much why they lost an otherwise evenly played series. [NHL]
• Warren Foegele is having himself a nice playoffs after a pretty good first season, the definition of “late bloomer.” [NHL]
• And Dougie Hamilton made sure to tag Brock Nelson back in the handshake line after Nelson tagged Curtis McElhinney in Game 3. [NHL]

Elsewhere

Had the Islanders forced Game 5, it would have been yesterday. But, they did not, so there was only one game yesterday. The Blues were facing elimination in Game 6 in Dallas and went down there and shut down the Stars to force Game 7 in St. Louis on Tuesday night. I love how many close series there are in this year’s playoffs.

• The Blues validated new coach Craig Berube’s belief that they were going back home for Game 7, as he predicted they would ahead of Game 6. The team has bought into his no-fear approach. [NHL]
• The Stars, meanwhile, had a chance to clinch a series on home ice in Game 6 for the second straight series, but this time came out flat and seemingly unprepared for the St. Louis onslaught, and now have to be better on the road in Game 7. [NHL]
• Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic found his calling on the blueline, but he was inspired most growing up by the Russian Rocket, Pavel Bure. [The Athletic]