Where do the New York Islanders go from here?

A popular refrain about the New York Islanders in the last few weeks was that they're a “high-floor, low-ceiling team."

What that means, basically, is that the best they can hope for in a normal season — which, to be clear, the last two were not — is to win a couple of rounds and eventually bow out to a team with superior talent. That, in turn, means that we are perhaps seeing the absolute ideal version of the Islanders, one that can give the Lightning a good fight, but not actually beat them.

That’s a bit of an oversimplification, but this isn’t: In their last 13 playoff games against the Lightning, the Islanders have five wins, and have been outscored 40-23.

And yes, the Lightning are perhaps the best team assembled in the modern era — at least, this side of the early-to-mid-2010s Chicago s