The New York Islanders will face the Washington Capitals tomorrow in Game 1 of their first round series. Ahead of the game, I wanted to preview the series and how the two teams compare.
Looking at the forward groups, it shouldn’t surprise anyone to hear me say that Washington has the better offense. Their forward group is stacked, with Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov, T.J. Oshie, Jakub Vrana, Tom Wilson and of course, Alex Ovechkin, who was on pace for a ridiculous 58 goals this year. The Islanders, on the other hand, struggle to score and can’t give up many good chances to Washington’s forwards in return. The fact that the Islanders' power play, which ranked 24th in the league this year, will be facing the Capitals' sixth-ranked penalty kill is also a cause for concern when it comes to scoring goals.
On defense, John Carlson, a Norris Trophy finalist, is the top all around defender between the two teams. That said, while the Capitals’ defense isn’t weak, it’s not an asset, unlike the situation in New York. The Islanders play in a way where the defensemen they have can succeed and if the Islanders are going to win the series, their defense will need to play a huge role in it.
When it comes to goaltending, three years ago, I wouldn’t believe it if someone said Semyon Varlamov will give the Islanders the advantage over Washington’s Braden Holtby in a 2020 playoff series. However, based on regular season stats, some would argue for that.
That said, Holtby was great in the round robin, stopping 74 of 80 shots in three games. On top of that, generally he’s at his best in the playoffs and in fact, if you include his numbers in the round robin as playoff stats this season, he’s had a better save percentage in the playoffs than in the regular season in six of eight seasons that he’s played in the playoffs. Including this year, he’s also been above a .920 save percentage in six of his eight playoff runs. So while it may look like the Islanders have the advantage in net, I’d watch out for Holtby to make an impact.
I like New York’s chances, but they’re up against a team that’s still just two years removed from winning the Stanley Cup and has largely the same core of players. I think we’re in for a good series.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
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