Quote:
Originally Posted by getbak
It will be interesting to see how much effort the Islanders put into winning on Sunday.
On the surface, it looks like a loss would be better for them. If they win, they overtake the Rangers and would have to face Pittsburgh in the first round, which would mean a likely match-up with the Capitals in the second round. If they lose, they'd stay in the Wild Card and take on Florida in the first round and the winner of Detroit-Tampa in the second round.
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Yeah, I'm big on Florida, but they aren't battle tested like the Penguins. However, the Penguins will be relying on Zatkoff in net (at least to start), and while he's decently talented, he's never had near that much pressure before. Malkin's on IR, and a bunch of players are banged up. Despite the Penguins being hot of late, I'd still take that matchup over a relatively healthy Florida team with Luongo in net.
You're absolutely right about facing the Capitals in the 2nd round though. That should be instant death for almost any Eastern team.