Islanders’ drought must end right here, right now

Isles to Battle Panthers in Quest to Win First Playoff Series Since 1993

April 13, 2016 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Team captain John Tavares, Kyle Okposo and Johnny Boychuk hope to keep the Islanders’ first season in Brooklyn going past the opening round of the playoffs, which begin Thursday night in Florida. AP photo

Share this:

Do you remember where you were the last time the New York Islanders won a playoff series?

I do.

On the night of May 14, 1993, I was packed into a car with five Rangers fans driving up Third Avenue in Bay Ridge on the way to who-knows-where when Volek’s Game 7 overtime goal sent home the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.

The memorable tally, which capped the Islanders’ second straight seven-game series triumph — they had also gone the distance in outlasting the Washington Capitals in the opening round — came crackling through the car radio, evoking groans from my Blueshirt-worshipping comrades as their beloved Rangers had failed to even reach the postseason that year.

It also sparked visions of a new Ice Age on Long Island.

Long gone were the days when Bryan Trottier, Mike Bossy, Billy Smith and Denis Potvin had circled the rink at Nassau Coliseum with Lord Stanley’s Cup on a yearly basis.

Four years in a row, from 1980-83, to be exact.

But on that night, some 23 years ago, it was easy to imagine Pierre Turgeon, Ray Ferraro, Darius Kasparaitis and Glenn Healy kicking off another run for the ages in Uniondale, N.Y.

As it turned out, Volek’s goal was the end of the run for that group, and every player that has donned the Orange-and-Blue ever since, as the Montreal Canadiens took the upstart Isles out in five games in the Eastern Conference finals on their way to hoisting their 24th Stanley Cup.

New York has lost each of its last eight playoff series since denying Mario Lemieux and a then-21-year-old Jaromir Jagr a shot at a third consecutive championship, including last year’s seven-game ousting at the hands of Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals during the franchise’s final season at “The Old Barn.”

And now, in their first season here in Downtown Brooklyn, the Isles will get their ninth shot, and third in four years, at ending the organization’s playoff drought beginning Thursday night in Sunrise, Florida, against a now-44-year-old Jaromir Jagr and the Florida Panthers.

Team captain John Tavares, the player designated to lead New York out of its postseason wasteland, is hoping Season One here at Barclays Center, which will host its first-ever NHL playoff game on Sunday night, doesn’t come to an abrupt end.

“I think a lot of us now have a really good sense of what playoff hockey is all about,” noted Tavares, who has registered five goals and six assists in 13 career playoff games.

“A lot of us have been able to play in physical playoff rounds in the last three years,” he added. “So hopefully that can pay off for us and we get over that hump and move on.”

That considerable hump will have to be navigated without Jaroslav Halak, the team’s No. 1 goalie for the majority of the season, giving Thomas Greiss the opportunity to backstop New York past Florida and into the second round against the winner of the Tampa Bay-Detroit series.

The 30-year-old netminder has never started a playoff game, much less been asked to end a drought of such epic proportions.

“I haven’t played that much [in the playoffs], but I’ve been around teams often enough that have made deep playoff runs,” admitted Greiss, who actually backed up Marc-Andre Fleury for Pittsburgh last postseason.

“I know the atmosphere and that kind of stuff, so it’s not going to be too surprising. It’s going to be fun. Both buildings are going to be loud, the fans are going to be into it and the teams are going to be excited with lots of energy.”

That energy will have to carry the Isles past a Panthers team looking to end a playoff skid of its own.

Florida, spearheaded by the seemingly ageless Jagr and former Islander goaltender Roberto Luongo, has gone 20 years without a postseason series triumph dating back to its lone Stanley Cup Finals appearance against Colorado in 1996.

That means one of these teams will get the proverbial monkey off its back over the next two weeks, forging deeper into the always-scintillating 16-team tournament.

For the Isles, it’s a chance to turn this first year here in Brooklyn into an instant success story, regardless of less-than-stellar attendance figures and occasional bouts with unsuitable ice conditions at the state-of-the-art arena.

“I think that we’re really confident in our group,” said Travis Hamonic, who expects to be back on the ice Thursday night after missing the final six games of the regular season with a knee injury.

“I think that certainly since I’ve been here, this is the deepest we’ve been at all three positions,” he added. “We’re excited about our chances. It’s a long year. It’s a grind. Everything restarts fresh and anything can happen. We’re just excited to get going and try to work day by day, game by game.”

Though it certainly won’t be easy, these Isles appear poised to give their fans, both old and new, the type of where-were-you moment Volek provided for those of us who have been following the franchise since its inception.

“Any time you lose out in playoffs you have to take the experience and learn from it,” insisted Isles defenseman Johnny Boychuk. “We didn’t put our best foot forward last year and we definitely learned from it, because you have to take it one game at a time. It came down to one game. We know we can do better and I think we will.”