TAMPA, Fla. — So it was with a whimper that the Islanders’ season ended. And in the wake of disappointment, they’re left with big questions to address this summer.
The 4-0 loss to the Lightning in Game 5 of this second-round series on Sunday afternoon at Amalie Arena was the end of a season that did represent a step in the right direction. The franchise had not been this far in 23 years.
But for as well as the Islanders played through large portions of this series, it was never good enough. They weren’t as opportunistic as they needed to be, and the biggest difference was the Lightning’s top-end players out-performing their Islanders’ counterparts.