The New York Islanders took a 1-0 lead in their second round series yesterday, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-0 in Game 1.
The Islanders got off to a hot start and dominated the first period. They outshot the Flyers 15-4 and if it weren’t for Carter Hart, it could’ve been worse than that. Then despite New York getting badly outshot in the second period, I didn’t think they gave up a ton of quality chances. So while the stats may not look good and they didn’t get much going offensively, personally, I didn’t think they gave much up either. The Islanders added a few more goals in the third period and simply capitalized on their chances to secure a win.
Every line was contributing, though I’m still not a fan of Derick Brassard being scratched in favour of Ross Johnston. That said, the third line did score, so I suppose I can’t really be that down on the decision.
Once again, Semyon Varlamov may have faced a solid number of shots but the Islanders were the team generating the better chances. However, Varlamov was strong when he needed to be.
I liked this matchup for the Islanders coming into the series and after the first game, I definitely feel the same way. A good chunk of Philadelphia’s forwards were already struggling coming into this series and matching up against New York’s defense isn’t going to make scoring any easier. The Islanders are seemingly giving up fewer quality chances now than at any other point in the season and are going to leave Philadelphia’s forwards frustrated.
This was a big win for the Islanders to take an early lead in the series and while I may be repeating myself in saying this once again, it was a strong team effort. While they maybe could’ve had a more complete game overall, the Islanders deserved the win in Game 1.
***NOTE: We've launched a HockeyBuzz Islanders Twitter account! For anyone interested, you can follow @HB_Islanders for updates on articles, Islanders news, etc. We're starting right from scratch, so any followers would be appreciated!***
New York Islanders Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»