#Believe

For my younger son and his friends, this is the Isles first trip to the playoffs that they are old enough to remember. Zach H believes -- as this piece of original art work shows!

It's May and the Islanders are still playing.  Tonight's game will be the Isles' first game in May since May 2, 1995 -- the final game of the other 48-game lockout shortened season.  The Isles finished that season 15-28-5 and then cleaned house.  Some guy named Milbury arrived a couple of months later.

The Isles' last "real" May game was on May 24, 1993 -- the thirteenth anniversary of the first Cup.  Montreal defeated the Islanders that night 5-2 to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Tonight -- the first playoff game of the Tavares era.  MSG+ is the ONLY place to see the game in the metro-NY area. NBCSN will have the game for out-of-towners; TSN has the exclusive telecast in Canada.  (OK, Root Sports will have the game in the Pittsburgh area)

Pre-game on MSG+ is at 7:00.  Howie and Butch arrive at 7:30 for the Islanders' first playoff game since April 20, 2007.