Islanders AHL affiliate prepare for playoff push

After a strong end to the year, the Bridgeport Islanders, the New York Islanders AHL affiliate, are in the AHL playoffs.

Over the final two months of the regular season, the Bridgeport Islanders went 12-7-2. Ending the year with a 0.507 Pts% the B-Isles finished sixth in the Atlantic Division.

Not every AHL team played a full season. Bridgeport, for example, played 72 games during the year. That's why rankings were done based on points-percentage rather than simply points.

New York Islanders AHL affiliate prepare for playoff push

Coming in at sixth means Bridgeport will have off against the Atlantic's third seed the Providence Bruins in a best-of-three series. I've already written about the schedule for the series, but if you missed it here it is:

Game 1 - May 2 in Providence @ 7:05 PM
Game 2 - May 4 in Bridgeport @ 7:00 PM
Game 3 - May 6 in Providence @ 7:05 PM (if necessary)

If you want to catch the game in Bridgeport tickets are quite affordable. YesMenOutfitters even has a section of tickets reserved for a good price. You can get in on that here.

Bridgeport has done pretty well against the Bruins over the final two months of the season going 3-1-0 in four games. That one loss was the last time these teams met on April 9 when Providence beat the Isles 6-2. So avoiding that slip-up is priority number one.

As Bridgeport prepares for this series they should consider a few things from that last outing.

That night, Providence scored six goals between a Chris Terry and Felix Bibeau tally. A line of Holmstrom-Terry-Czarnik was particularly dreadful going -4, -3, -2 respectively. That line just flat out did not work for them.

Goalie Jakub Skarek wasn't much better stopping only 29 of the 35 shots he faced for a 0.829SV%. I would imagine Bridgeport starting Cory Schneider regardless, but seeing that result you can't possibly start Skarek.

Don't get into a special teams battle. While both teams are just as bad on the PP, Providence is a slight bit better. They went 1/2 the last time on versus Bridgeport's 1/3. Providence is also much stronger on the PK on the year with an 84.5% efficiency (3rd in the league) to Bridgeport's 81.5% (13th in the league).