Original sentence: The Islanders lost their first round matchup with the Buffalo Sabres, the NHL's best team during the regular season, in 5 games.The team expressed pride that they qualified because many journalists predicted that they would finish at near the bottom of the standings
Edited sentence: However, in their first round matchup with the Buffalo Sabres, the NHL's best team during the regular season, the Islanders lost in 5 games.This came as a shocker to the hockey world -- at the start of the season, virtually nobody predicted the Islanders would still be playing hockey when the post-season began