Lightning to face off against New York Islanders in semifinals – again

TAMPA, Fla. - For the second year in a row, the Tampa Bay Lightning will square off against the New York Islanders in the third round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Last year, the Lightning defeated the Islanders in the Eastern Conference final in six games while playing in the bubble in Edmonton, Alberta.

The semifinal series schedule has not been released, but the Bolts will host the first two games of the series.

The Isles beat the Boston Bruins 6-2 during Wednesday night’s Game 6. As the game was coming to an end, New York's fans were chanting, "We Want Tampa," reports Joe Smith with The Athletic. 

"If you want to win it all you got to beat the best," Brock Nelson said. "I don’t think anybody has been sitting here thinking about revenge on Tampa. Just trying to take it each game, each series, one at a time. Now we can kind of turn the page and turn our focus to them. They’re obviously a great team, the defending champs here again. It’ll be a good battle."

Josh Bailey, who had two assists, agreed with the sentiment.

"We feel we have some unfinished business," he said. "We’ll enjoy tonight and we’ll start getting ready.

The Associated Press contributed to this report