John Tavares (r.) celebrates his goal with teammate Frans Nielsen as the Islanders edge the Panthers 5-4 in Game 1 of the first round of their Stanley Cup playoffs series.

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Whenever the New York Islanders got behind, they fought their way out of trouble.

And when they finally got the lead, they didn’t give it back.

John Tavares had a goal and two assists, including one that set up Kyle Okposo’s go-ahead goal early in the third period, and the Islanders beat the Florida Panthers 5-4 in Game 1 of the teams’ Eastern Conference quarterfinal series on Thursday night.

Thomas Greiss survived a shaky beginning and made 42 saves for the Islanders in his first playoff start, and Brock Nelson, Frans Nielsen and Ryan Strome added goals for New York.

Home-ice advantage in the series now belongs to the Islanders, and they can take a 2-0 lead back to Barclays Center if they prevail when the series resumes in a quick turnaround on Friday night.

Reilly Smith had two goals, Jussi Jokinen had a goal and two assists and Teddy Purcell also scored for the Panthers. Roberto Luongo stopped 21 of 26 shots.

Florida took the lead on three occasions in the first two periods, and the Islanders came back and tied it every time.

The Panthers — somewhat predictably, since the franchise hadn’t played a postseason game in four years — came out flying, getting on the board just 1:55 into the game when Purcell tapped a perfect pass from Jiri Hudler into a wide-open net to start the scoring.

Alan Diaz/AP

Islanders goalie Thomas Greiss stops Panthers’ Calvin de Haan.

Later in the first, Jokinen deflected Brian Campbell’s shot from the high slot for Florida’s second goal, and Smith got his first of the night 1:31 into the second period.

And after each one, the Islanders seemed most unfazed.

Nelson and Nielsen had tying goals in the first period and Tavares sent the teams into the second intermission tied at 3-3 when he took a pass from Okposo and scored his sixth career postseason goal.

Tavares and Okposo worked their magic again early in the third, Tavares poking the puck from Florida defenseman Campbell to set up Okposo and put New York on top to stay. Strome made it 5-3, before Smith got Florida back within one less than a minute later — slamming his gloved hands into the glass in celebration.

Greiss made sure that was the last moment Florida enjoyed, stopping 15 of the shots he faced in the final period.

NOTES: Florida was 27-0-2 when scoring at least four times in the regular season, and 36-6-6 when scoring first. … The Islanders also had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in last year’s first-round series with Washington, before bowing in seven games. … Florida fell to 4-4 all-time in Game 1s. The Panthers have never won a series after dropping the opening game, though this is only the eighth series in franchise history. … Florida’s Jaromir Jagr played in his 203rd postseason game. The Panthers were playing in their 39th. … The Islanders have won 30 of the 38 games all-time in which Tavares has a three-point night. … The game wasn’t a sellout, drawing 17,422 — about 2,000 less than capacity.

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“I do remember asking myself at the same time, like, how can a stick go through that little hole there?” Vigneault said Tuesday morning at the team hotel in Pittsburgh.

In other words, the 15th winningest coach in NHL regular season history has the same question that every fan sitting on their couch had when Rangers defenseman Marc Staal’s stick inadvertently poked its blade into Lundqvist’s right eye in the first period of Wednesday night’s 5-2 Game 1 loss to the Penguins:

Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images

The masks worn by Henrik Lundqvist and other NHL netminders aren’t getting the job done.

How is that possible?

It’s a reasonable question. Why would a goalie mask have a hole gaping so wide that a stick could get through? Could a puck sneak through, too?

If the modern mask allows for this type of injury, why not just go back to the simple, white, fiberglass goalie mask worn by the Montreal Canadiens’ Jacques Plante in 1959, a design that eventually found its way into the horror film industry on Jason in ‘Halloween?’

Well, any kid who has played goalie in his driveway can tell you that those simple masks allow for little peripheral vision. And of course, the folks at a company like Bauer, which produces all of Lundqvist’s gear, are in the business of advancing this technology to the best combination of safety and performance possible.

Gene J. Puskar/AP

Henrik Lunqvist has the tip of a teammates’ stick get through his mask, forcing him from game.

Athletes are constantly pushing the envelope to have a say in what they wear and what suits them, too.

Still, it would seem that Bauer or any equipment company’s first priority when building a goalie mask would be to ensure that no pucks or sticks can reach the goalie’s eyes through his cage. In addition to building these masks for optimal protection upon impact of shots, what could be more important?

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Safety, not looks, needs to be the top priority for Henrik Lundqvist and his fellow netminders.

“All I can say is especially at that position, everything that has to do with security that our staff and the NHL can do to protect the goaltenders, they try and do,” Vigneault said. “There’s not much more than that I can say.”

Still, how strange is it that this already happened once this season, to Penguins starter Marc-Andre Fleury, on Nov. 11 while facing the Montreal Canadiens? Fleury was poked through his mask by teammate Ben Lovejoy’s stick, battling for position with an opponent in front, just as Staal had been Wednesday prior to poking Lundqvist.

The major difference between those situations? Fleury snapped at Lovejoy as the Pens defenseman bent down to talk to his goalie. Lundqvist on Wednesday seemed more understanding about the play’s fluke nature.

Still, it’s tough to understand why it has to happen at all.

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Vigneault, who spoke at the team hotel, expected to have more information prior to Friday’s noon practice at CONSOL Energy Center ahead of Game 2 Saturday at 3 p.m.

The Rangers, who planned to spend the afternoon at a Pittsburgh Pirates game, did call up third-string goalie Magnus Hellberg to guard against a worst-case scenario for Lundqvist, however.

“That’s in case we get some bad news tomorrow, but at this time we don’t feel that way,” Vigneault said.

Gene J. Puskar/AP

New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist slumps to the ice after taking a stick to the eye.

FRIENDSHIP BETWEEN ZUCCARELLO AND HAGELIN PUT ON HOLD

Vigneault said he immediately wondered how a stick blade could fit through a hole in a goalie mask, but he admitted he has seen that happen before in an NHL game – though he doesn’t recall to whom.

Rick Nash, Keith Yandle and Derek Stepan, the three Rangers players who spoke at the availability, all sounded prepared to play without their starting goalie.

Nash specifically said a Lundqvist absence “doesn’t mean it’s over.” Vigneault also ruled captain Ryan McDonagh (right hand injury) out for Game 2.

Lundqvist eventually left Wednesday night’s 5-2 Game 1 loss to the Penguins at first intermission after teammate Marc Staal’s stick blade caught him in the right eye.

He stayed in the game for the final 48.2 seconds of the first period after the injury, though Vigneault said the goal wasn’t scored because of the goalie but because “we had three guys watching the puck behind the net who forgot about No. 72 in front.”

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Magnus Hellberg has been recalled from the minors on Thursday.

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Vigneault said he told Lundqvist at the team meal after the game that he came close to pulling him immediately, but the goalie was adamant that he could stay in. The coach believes Lundqvist did not want to force backup Antti Raanta into a game cold.

But Raanta eventually replaced Lundqvist for the final two periods in Raanta’s playoff debut. Stepan said Lundqvist’s intermission routine was normal until five minutes before the team came out for the second, when someone came in to say Lundqvist was coming in.

If Lundqvist does not start Game 2, it will end a streak of 111 consecutive playoff starts he has made for the Rangers dating back to Kevin Weekes’ Game 2 spot start in 2006.

Lundqvist has been replaced only five times in a game during that stretch: twice by Steve Valiquette for a total of 40 minutes in 2009, twice by Cam Talbot for a total of 46 minutes in 2014, and once by Raanta on Wednesday.

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Denis Potvin says he isn’t going home again, since Isles are at Barclays.

His last name is an enduring — and hardly endearing — chant at Madison Square Garden.

But Islanders dynasty captain Denis Potvin, a TV analyst on Florida Panthers games for more than 20 years, feels no ties to Barclays Center after the Isles departed Nassau Coliseum for Brooklyn after last season.

“It’s just not going to be the same,” Potvin told the Miami Herald on Wednesday. “I am in a way very happy this is going to be in Brooklyn and not in the old Coliseum — Fort Neverlose.

KEVIN CONNOLLY PREDICTS END TO ISLES LONG PLAYOFF DROUGHT

“I think the emotional strain would have been too much on me, just seeing the banners, feeling the building, having the fans all there. The Coliseum would have made things more difficult on me. Brooklyn just isn’t the same as the Coliseum.”

Potvin, the first overall pick in the 1973 NHL draft, won four consecutive Stanley Cups in the 1980s and three Norris Trophies as the NHL’s best defenseman in 15 NHL seasons, all with the Islanders. Bill Torrey, the GM of those Isles teams, also has been an executive with the Panthers since 1993.

“You can’t ask me the question ‘what’s it like to go home, Denis?’ I’m not going home. I’m going to New York to cover the modern-day New York Islanders,” Potvin said. “It will make this a little easier on Bill and myself because we both love the Islanders, we lived our whole lives through that organization. That doesn’t change. If it wasn’t for this, I would probably want the Islanders to win. But I don’t. I want the Panthers to win. That’s just the way we are.”

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The Long Island native is a hardcore fan dating back to the team’s 1980s dynasty, and Connolly – as you’d fully expect – is “pulling hard” for the Isles to end their drought without a playoff series win since 1993 by defeating Atlantic Division champion Florida in the first round.

“I feel like I’m reading a lot of stuff online that a lot of people seem to be picking the Panthers. This might sound crazy, but fan or not, I like the Islanders in seven games,” Connolly told the Daily News in a phone interview Wednesday. “First off, health is always an issue at this time of year and I hope we get (defenseman Travis) Hamonic and (goalie Jaroslav) Halak back … But if you look around the league, every team is dinged up right now.

BILL TORREY ADMITS IT’LL BE STRANGE WHEN ISLES FACE PANTHERS

“As far as Florida goes, I went to a couple of games towards the end of the year, and all you heard from other fans is they should try to lose and face Florida. Listen, I hate that stuff. Florida is tough, with experience with (Jaromir) Jagr and (Roberto) Luongo, and young talent like the Islanders have. So to me, this is going to be a knock-down, drag-em-out, seven-game series, in my opinion. Certainly there are no easy paths, and that’s how it should be. But hopefully this is finally the year.”

While Connolly knows the Isles winning a series for the first time in 23 years “is long overdue, obviously,” he picks the NHL-leading Washington Capitals to win the Stanley Cup.

“They look like the Golden State Warriors this year, they just don’t look beatable,” Connolly said. “But I live in LA, so I see what’s going on out West, too, and the West is tough. I wouldn’t count out the Kings at all, I think they will be right there again.

“But I definitely hope it’s the Islanders coming out to California for the Finals.”

The Patchogue-Medford HS product was sad to see the Isles leave Nassau Coliseum after last season. But Connolly did attend a few games at Barclays Center in its inaugural campaign, including one Saturday alongside 2016 Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio, who wasn’t able to avoid the cameras despite pulling a baseball cap low over his face.

“I think I made it to four games this year. I also obviously spend a lot of time in Manhattan, so I’ve done the trip both ways, on the train from Long Island, and 15 minutes to Barclays from the city,” Connolly said. “Leo lives in lower Manhattan and we left at 7:15 and got there by 7:30, which was really nice.

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Actor Kevin Connolly (l.) bring his pal Leonardo DiCaprio (2nd from right) to watch the Islanders play the Buffalo Sabres at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on April 9.

“He and I go back many, many years,” Connolly continued. “I took him to a Kings game one time, too, but this was his first Islander game … He’s kind of a private guy, and never has been comfortable having his picture taken, but in LA I think there’s less of that, less pressure. But we had a great time that night, for sure. Hopefully, he’ll come back for a playoff game next.”

Asked about the differences between the Coliseum and Barclays Center, Connolly added: “Anytime you go into a new arena, the biggest thing it lacks is memories. I’m also a Lakers fan and it was the same when they left the Forum for Staples Center. But all it takes is to win a couple of big games and create a few big moments the next few weeks, and all of a sudden Barclays will be a cool spot.

“As for the Coliseum, it was definitely a bummer to see it go … But it’s not their home anymore. So I always tell people, we just have to get over it. It would be nice if they were still at the Coliseum, but they’re not. Let’s make some new memories.”

To that end, Connolly needs to be in Los Angeles for the next week, but he’s “hoping to make it” to Brooklyn next week for Game 6, and possibly to Florida if the series goes the distance. “I never mind going to South Beach, either,” he joked.

Connolly, 42, next will direct John Travolta in a John Gotti biopic set to start filming this summer. He also directed, of course, the acclaimed ESPN 30-for-30 documentary on former Isles owner John Spano, who was convicted of fraud connected to his purchase of the Islanders in 1996-97.

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Spano was busted again in 2014 and sentenced last year to a 10-year prison term after pleading guilty to 16 counts of forgery and fraud in Ohio.

“That’s crazy, right?” Connolly said. “I feel bad in a way. When I signed on to do the 30-for-30 I was excited to be making a movie about my childhood team, it was never my intention to make more trouble for anybody. I didn’t even know most of that stuff had gone on, but what an incredible story. But he got quite a hefty sentence. The judge kind of threw the book at him and said enough is enough.

“You would think you wouldn’t be shocked based on knowing what we know, but I actually was a little surprised. I felt like I saw a different guy in talking to him, but I guess that’s just how it goes with his story, right?”

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John Tavares leads a strong attack from the Islanders.

The co-owner of the Panthers flat-out stated that he preferred to face the Islanders in the first round of the playoffs. And many accused the Isles of tanking to arrange the same matchup.

Either way, the wild-card Islanders and Atlantic Division champion Florida will square off in the postseason for the first time beginning Thursday in Sunrise.

The Isles have not won a playoff series since 1993, with this the 10th year of Garth Snow’s reign as GM. The Panthers also are attempting to halt a similar drought since 1996, making this the first series in NHL history in which neither team has advanced in at least 20 years.

Here’s the breakdown:

GOALIES

Hey, remember Roberto Luongo, Isles fans? We kid, because of course you do. In one of far too many ill-fated trades of the Mike Milbury era, the Isles’ 1997 first-round pick (fourth overall) was dealt to Florida in 2000 with Olli Jokinen for forwards Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish. Luongo has since been traded to Vancouver and back to Florida, totaling 436 career wins (seven with the Isles) and leading the Canucks to the Stanley Cup Final in 2011. At 37, he still was one of the game’s better goalies this year − 35 wins, a .922 save percentage and a 2.35 goals-against average.

Isles starter Jaroslav Halak hasn’t played since March 8 with a bum groin, and while he’s resumed skating, Jack Capuano essentially has ruled him out for this round. Unproven backup Thomas Greiss will carry the load in Halak’s absence. The free-agent signing has 40 minutes of NHL playoff experience (2010 with San Jose), but the Isles have confidence in Greiss after he went 23-11-4 with a franchise record .925 save percentage.

EDGE: PANTHERS

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Former Islanders first round pick Roberto Luongo gives the Panthers an edge in net. 

DEFENSEMEN

Florida’s Aaron Ekblad, the No.1 pick in the 2014 draft, is an emerging star at 20 years old, with 15 goals and a plus-18 rating in his second NHL campaign. Veteran puck-mover Brian Campbell knows how to run a power play. Dimitri Kulikov and Alex Petrovic are solid stay-at-home types.

The likely return and effectiveness of minutes-muncher Travis Hamonic from a March 31 knee injury, particularly paired against Jagr, is the key to the series. Johnny Boychuk hasn’t been as impactful as he was upon arrival last season, but Nick Leddy posted a career-high 40 points, including 19 on the power play. Calvin de Haan mostly stayed healthy and finally showed glimpses of first-rounder promise. Underrated Thomas Hickey will man the third pair with veteran Marek Zidlicky or one of multiple rookies.

EDGE: ISLANDERS

FORWARDS

What more can be said about indefatigable 44-year-old marvel/superhero Jaromir Jagr, who led the Panthers in scoring (29-37-66)? The NHL’s third all-time leading scorer incredibly also happened to be on the last team the Isles defeated in the postseason, the 1993 Penguins. Florida also boasts a slew of up-and-comers up front, with five other forwards north of 50 points, including Aleksander Barkov (28 goals), veteran Jussi Jokinen, Jonathan Huberdeau and Vincent Trocheck, although the latter has been sidelined with a foot injury.

The Islanders’ attack once again revolves around All-Star captain John Tavares, who finished with a flourish (eight points last three games) after finally being aligned late with Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen to finish with 33 goals and 70 points. Capuano finally calling out unproductive forwards Josh Bailey, Ryan Strome and Brock Nelson last week to “pick their s-t up” was the right call. Anders Lee’s loss (broken leg) in front could prove costly. The misnamed fourth line (Matt Martin, Casey Cizikas, Cal Clutterbuck) needs to be menacing and perhaps productive.

EDGE: EVEN

SPECIAL TEAMS

Both teams sported middling power-play production − the Islanders ranked 17th (18.3 %), Florida 23rd (16.9). The Islanders fourth-ranked PK unit finished 20 spots higher than Florida, and they must take advantage here.

EDGE: ISLANDERS

PREDICTION

Missing out on home-ice cost the Isles in a no-show performance in a Game 7 loss last spring in Washington. The first year of Barclays Center wasn’t all roses, but the Isles posted a better home record than in the final season of beloved Nassau Coliseum. Winnable series, yes, and please, no more excuses. But the drought continues, if barely.

PANTHERS in 7

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Then backup Antti Raanta replaced Lundqvist for the second period, and Ranger nation held its breath as Raanta made his NHL postseason debut.

RANGERS-PENGUINS: EASTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS MATCHUPS

The underdog Rangers had jumped out to a commanding start, with the advantage of having third-string goalie Jeff Zatkoff in Pittsburgh’s net in place of injured starter Marc-Andre Fleury and backup Matt Murray.

Gregory Shamus/NHLI via Getty Images

Henrik Lundqvist goes down after he takes an inadvertent stick to the eye from teammate Marc Staal.

The Blueshirts were dominating the puck and the play, but with 48.2 seconds remaining in a scoreless first period, everything changed: While Staal was battling Pens rookie center Oskar Sundqvist for position, Staal’s stick inadvertently jabbed its blade through Lundqvist’s mask, causing him to writhe on the ice in pain.

Trainer Jim Ramsay appeared to treat Lundqvist’s right eye and apply more drops at the Ranger bench. It only took until 17.6 seconds left in the first, however, for the Penguins’ Patric Hornqvist to give the Pens a 1-0 lead at intermission.

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Don’t worry. They are fierce competitors. They won’t be fraternizing. There wasn’t even a last supper among friends on Tuesday night.

“No,” Hagelin said Wednesday morning before Game 1. “Playoff hockey. Focus on yours.”

Nevertheless, there is a lot more to their bond than most.

Hagelin, a Swede, opened up to the Daily News in February about how he, his Norwegian buddy and Derick Brassard cried together in Zuccarello’s hospital room on April 25, 2015, the day after Zuccarello had suffered a skull fracture, brain contusion and brain bleeding when hit by a puck facing the Penguins in the playoffs.

HENRIK LUNDQVIST, RANGERS READY FOR PENGUINS IN PLAYOFFS

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Carl Hagelin won’t be sharing any meals with good buddy Mats Zuccarello while the Penguins play the Rangers in the playoffs.

MATS ZUCCARELLO NOMINATED FOR BILL MASTERTON TROPHY

Zuccarello said in the CONSOL Energy Center visitors’ locker room on Wednesday morning that while Hagelin no longer wears Ranger blue, their cry together is a moment he will never forget.

“It was an emotional moment for me especially,” Zuccarello told the Daily News. “I mean, you’re sitting there (in the hospital bed) with a lot of emotions when stuff like that happens, and you want to be brave, but I think you just have to get it out. They came in. I saw them. And it’s a moment you’re gonna remember as long as you live, for sure.”

Zuccarello’s recovery to lead the Rangers in scoring (61 points) for the second time in three seasons has been remarkable. Shutting out such a close a friendship with Hagelin when the puck drops on the postseason would seem to be a different type of challenge, but the Norwegian says he has plenty of experience.

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Mats Zuccarello and Carl Hagelin share a special bond.

Zuccarello said he and his best friend growing up, Finnish League defenseman Alexander Bonsaksen, balanced a “love-hate” relationship as friends off ice and enemies on it, with neither relationship compromising the other.

“I grew up competing with my best friend, in playoffs, everything,” Zuccarello said smiling. “We would hang out every day, all the time — after the games, before games. But we used to play each other all the time because we’re from the same spot, and I don’t think I fought with a guy more on the ice than (Bonsaksen).”

“So it’s a love-hate, you know?” Zuccarello said of how he’ll approach facing Hagelin, whom he often lines up directly opposite as a Ranger right wing. “On the ice you have no friends, and off the ice we’re really good friends. Nothing’s gonna change. It’s business, ya know? He’s on the wrong team, and that’s the way it is.”

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Marek Hrivik is called up from Hartford to join the Rangers in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

PITTSBURGH – The Rangers unexpectedly recalled right wing Marek Hrivik from the AHL at 4 p.m., just four hours prior to puck drop on Game 1.

The reason why was unclear. Viktor Stalberg has been nursing a lower-body injury, but he has practiced in recent days and skated Wednesday morning, too. Hrivik’s best play this season was on the right wing of Tanner Glass and Dominic Moore, where Stalberg has played lately.

Hrivik’s recall was especially strange because the Czech forward already had played in Wednesday afternoon’s 3-2 Hartford Wolf Pack road win over the Toronto Marlies – not to mention that Alain Vigneault already had an extra forward, Oscar Lindberg, in Pittsburgh with the NHL team.

THE BRADY BUNCH

Brady Skjei sat at his locker just after noon Wednesday at CONSOL Energy Center and looked so excited for his NHL playoff debut that he might leave his skates on for the next eight hours.

“I’m confident,” Skjei, 22, said. “I’ve played seven games, and I feel comfortable. I know it’s gonna be a step up, but I’ve been working for this my whole life. So I’m ready.”

The Rangers’ 2012 first-round pick was in the lineup for Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins due to captain Ryan McDonagh’s right hand injury, which is expected to sideline the Rangers’ top defenseman for at least a few games if not the entire series.

Skjei said previously the most intense game he has ever played in was the 2014 NCAA National Championship game, when his Minnesota Golden Gophers lost to Union (N.Y.), 7-4, a club featuring Philadelphia Flyers Calder Trophy candidate Shayne Gostisbehere and Mat Bodie, Skjei’s Hartford Wolf Pack teammate.

He admitted a month ago he did not envision sitting in the Rangers’ room in April, calling it “crazy how things work,” but said in previous years he has watched the Blueshirts’ postseason runs and dreamed of his time.

“In school our team would watch all the playoffs, so I definitely kept on track with the Rangers,” He said. “I thought I could play here someday, and it’s awesome that this year I’ll be able to make that jump.”

Skjei, a strong skater and left-handed shot, acknowledged that the toughest challenge may be battling the Penguins’ crease-crashers to protect Henrik Lundqvist. But he confidently said he intends to play a “strong game” and “contribute.”

“(My teammates) told me to be ready, that the first couple shifts will be high intensity, and then just settle in as fast as you can and it’s gonna be a high intensity throughout,” he said. “I love playoff hockey. It’s the best time of the year.”

FLOWER POWER

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan called his goalie situation for Game 1 a “game-time decision,” but Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said he was preparing for No. 1 Pittsburgh netminder Marc-Andre Fleury to make his return from a March 31 concussion. Fleury skated Wednesday morning for a third straight day, symptom-free.

Sullivan will be fortunate if Fleury plays. The Pens coach inexplicably started No. 2 goalie Matt Murray in a meaningless late regular season game against Philadelphia, and Murray was injured on a collision with Flyers forward Brayden Schenn. If Fleury hadn’t rehabbed, Sullivan would have had to start No. 3 goalie Jeff Zatkoff against the Rangers in Game 1. That would have been tough for the coach to explain.

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Daily News Rangers beat writer Pat Leonard joined the podcast on Wednesday from Pittsburgh to preview another playoff series between the Blueshirts and the Penguins.

It’s the third straight season these two teams have tangled in a postseason series. The Rangers won the last two years, but the Blueshirts are running into the hottest team in hockey … without home-ice advantage.

Leonard explains why he thinks the Penguins have too-much firepower this time around, when we can expect to see injured captain Ryan McDonagh on the ice (if at all) and much more as we talk playoff hockey for a good 45 minutes.

Listen to the podcast and then it’s time to drop the puck.

RANGERS-PENGUINS: EASTERN CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS MATCHUPS

* * *

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Henrik Lundqvist is going to face a huge challenge in the first round vs. the Penguins.

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