The New York Islanders advanced to the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 5-1 win against the Florida Panthers in Game 4 of the best-of-5 Stanley Cup Qualifiers series at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Friday.
Anthony Beauvillier scored two goals and Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves for the Islanders, the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference.
“I liked our focus today,” New York coach Barry Trotz said. “There was only one end goal, [it] was to be the better team today and win a hockey game. There was no ‘me’ in anybody, it was all ‘we.’ Everybody was, as I use the term, pulling on the rope. I didn’t have any passengers, and our bench would not allow anybody to be a passenger, which is a great sign.”
New York will play the Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals or Boston Bruins in the Eastern Conference First Round in Toronto, the Eastern Conference hub city. The Lightning (2-0-0), Flyers (2-0-0), Capitals (0-1-1) and Bruins (0-2-0) are playing in the round-robin portion of the Qualifiers to determine the top four seeds in the East.
Game Break 