from Neil Best of Newsday,
All professional athletes have deep wells of pride, or they would not be professional athletes. But there are times those wells must be plumbed more deeply than others.
This is one of those times for the Islanders.
Look, the odds are against them beating the Lightning twice in a row to advance to the Stanley Cup Final. Tampa Bay has not lost consecutive playoff games since a first-round sweep by the Blue Jackets in 2019.
While it is not an impossible task, it is a formidable one. But there will be time for that discussion before a potential Game 7 on Friday.
The matter at hand is Wednesday night and only Wednesday night, when the Islanders must have a victory in Game 6 of their Stanley Cup semifinal to extend their season.
But it is about more than that. This proud, veteran group, which has produced the second-best three-season run in franchise history, cannot go out with anything like the mess they made in an 8-0 loss in Game 5 on Monday.
Not with the stakes this high, and not in what could be the final playoff game in the history of Nassau Coliseum. Fans would love to see a victory, but at minimum they deserve to see the spirited effort that Game 5 lacked.
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