EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — Few people would have predicted six months ago that the Islanders would be in this position: needing to wait more than a week for their next opponent because they had easily won a first-round playoff series. But after the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday forced a Game 7 against the Washington Capitals, the Islanders — who completed a four-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 16 — have to bide their time a little longer. “I feel your pain,” Islanders Coach Barry Trotz said to perhaps equally impatient reporters on Tuesday, a day before the Hurricanes-Capitals finale. “We know we’ll be playing soon. We’re getting closer.”Players said that practices in recent days had the feel of training camp, short on formal scrimmages or actual games.

Source: New York Times April 23, 2019 23:37 UTC