ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The Tampa Bay Lightning secured their place in the Eastern Conference Final with a win over Boston on Monday.
In the days since, it remained to be seen who their opponent would be. That changed Saturday night when the New York Islanders defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0 in Game 7 of their series.
No. 6 New York will now take on No. 2 Tampa Bay in the best-of-seven series to determine who will advance to the coveted Stanley Cup Final.
That Bolts and Islanders will face off in Game 1 Monday in Edmonton. The puck drops at 8 p.m. ET on NBCSN.
Here's the full schedule:
- Game 1: 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 7
- Game 2: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9
- Game 3: 8 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11
- Game 4: 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 13
- *Game 5: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15
- *Game 6: 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 17
- *Game 7: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19
During the regular season, the Lightning and Islanders matched up three times. New York emerged victorious twice:
- Nov. 1 | NYI 5, TBL 2
- Dec. 9 | NYI 5, TBL 1
- Feb. 8 | TBL 3, NYI 1
Heading into the Eastern Conference Final, Tampa Bay is on a 4-game win streak and hasn't lost since its series opener with Boston on Aug. 23. During the streak, the Lightning outscored their opponents 17-7, often winning in thrilling fashion.
In Game 2 against Boston, Tampa Bay left the ice with a 4-3 overtime victory on an Ondrej Palat goal. During the series clincher, Boston, facing elimination, threw everything it had at Tampa Bay. It took two overtimes to decide, but the Lightning eventually came out on top with a heroic goal from Victor Hedman.
Brayden Point, Nikita Kucherov and Andrei Vasilevskiy have been exceptional in their own right during the playoffs.
Vasilevskiy has a superb 10-3 playoff record and a 1.91 GAA.
Point and Kucherov have been Tampa Bay's top point-scorers this postseason, Point with 18 and Kucherov with 16.
This will be Tampa Bay's fourth Eastern Conference Final appearance in the last six seasons. A win sends them to the Stanley Cup Final, where the team is looking for the first championship since 2004.
In the western conference, No. 1 Vegas takes on No. 3 Dallas.
Here's the full schedule:
- Game 1: 8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 6
- Game 2: 8 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 8
- Game 3: 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 10
- Game 4: 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 12
- *Game 5: 8 p.m. Monday, Sept. 14
- *Game 6, 8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16
- *Game 7: 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18
