Sunday afternoon’s round robin game between the Washington Capitals and Boston Bruins solidified a first round matchup between the Capitals and New York Islanders for the first time since 2015.
THE SEASON SERIES
The Islanders and Capitals have split the season series an even two games a piece for the past two seasons since Barry Trotz and Tom Rierden became the head coaches of each team respectively. Neither team has won a game against each other at home since the 2017-18 regular season.
GOALTENDING
Almost certainly, Semyon Varlamov gets the nod for New York while Braden Holtby gets the start for Washington. The Islanders had major difficulty this season solving Ilya Samsonov who was left off the bubble roster by the Capitals.
DAY VS. NIGHT
Both teams played a night and day game in each other’s building, splitting both ways. The teams in the qualifier have played all afternoon games with Washington struggling at times and the Islanders succeeding.
PHYSICALITY
Both teams can be physical. The Islanders will look to neutralize Tom Wilson who has the reputation of being a relatively dirty player. Like 2015, the Islanders will push forward the identity line of Matt Martin, Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck. A new addition since then is Ross Johnston who has shown he is not afraid to target Wilson who wants absolutely nothing to do with Johnston. Though that could put the Islanders shorthanded several times this series, it may just help keep Washington in check.
OFFENCE
Washington can have a lethal offence, but they have not been prevalent in the round robin just yet. The Islanders had only one true bad game against the Capitals, in a brutal 6-4 loss at the Coliseum back in January, where the Islanders blew a 4-1 lead heading into the second intermission. Alex Ovechkin had three goals in the comeback win, his only game of scoring against the Islanders this season. New York is not a strong offensive team, but will beat you with timely goals.
DEFENCE
Aside from the awful January game, the Islanders have been the better defensive team against the Capitals this season. New York will likely throw out their top defensive pairing of Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech against Alex Ovechkin whenever they can. The Islanders will await to see if Johnny Boychuk can make it back into the lineup, but Andy Greene has done fine with Nick Leddy this past week.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
This series can end in four or five games if either the Islanders or Capitals are on their game entirely and the other is not. It could also go the distance of six or seven if both teams stick to their systems and are in one or two-goal games.
As Barry Trotz told his old team pregame in November 2018, “You have to go through the [expletive] Island!”