Here...we...go! (in my best Mike Goldberg UFC voice). It was Game#1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. On this day every team starts with a clean slate. Whatever happened in the regular season has been quickly forgotten. It does not matter if you won the President's Trophy or if you won on the last day of the season to get into the playoffs. All that matters is what happens here on out.
Before the first puck drops every player has the same dream that in the middle of June that they will be at center ice in some arena lifting the Stanley Cup over their head. However, only one team will see that dream become reality. It is a tournament like no other. It is a journey that will have a lot of twists and turns as well as ups and downs. The impossible will become possible and the likely will become the unlikely. It's going to be a fun ride. Let's hope that for the Islanders that the ride is a long one.
The Islanders travelled to Washington to take on the Capitals on Wednesday evening. As much as home ice would have been nice, I think that opening up on the road was a blessing in disguise. First of all, the Islanders have played well the past couple of seasons away from the Nassau Coliseum. Secondly, starting on the road takes all the pressure off of them and puts it squarely in the back of the Capitals. No one expects them to win the series. Lastly, it gave the Islanders a chance to steal a game in the early part of the series and shift the momentum to their side. Even if they had lost the first two games on the road, they knew that they would have a rowdy crowd back at the Coliseum to help them get even. There was absolutely nothing to lose
The line-up for the game was kept under lock and key. The only thing that Head Coach Jack Capuano divulged early in the day was that Jaroslav Halak was in goal. On defense, Travis Hamonic missed the game due to an injury he sustained in Pittsburgh last Friday. For Hamonic to be out, you knew it had to be serious. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen him sustain a "season ending injury" and then all of a sudden show up back on the ice in the very next period.
There was no word on Frans Nielsen and Matt Martin, however, they showed up at the start of the game. There was still no news on Mikhail Grabovski, although he looked good on Instagram thanking his wife for making him some homemade burgers. Griffin Reinhart was called up from Bridgeport to act as the seventh defenseman, however, it was probably more to give him some playoff experience without actually playing in a game.
For me, as I prepped for the game, I had a big decision to make. Do I go with the standard "Islanders Old Time Hockey" hoodie with matching hat or switch it up and go with something new for the playoffs. The problem is that I wore the hoodie all year long. It worked so well at the beginning of the year, but at the end of the year, not so much. I decided to stick with the hoodie and with what got me to the dance. If the Islanders should stumble out of the gate I can always change up and adjust for the next game.
It was interesting for the first half of the first period seeing the atmosphere in Verizon Center and comparing it to the Nassau Coliseum. After the first couple of minutes it got pretty quiet. It almost seem like a regular-season game. The Islanders withstood some early pressured by the Capitals and then slowly took over the game. Then just six minutes in, Brock Nelson took a pass from Josh Bailey and off of one leg he took a wrist shot which handcuffed Braden Holtby and went into the net. Obviously the first goal of the playoffs was also Nelson's first goal of the playoffs. Boychuk got the second assist.
After Nelson's goal, it seemed that the entire team displayed a lot more confidence. They looked like a team that had been there before. On the other hand, the Washington Capitals looked a bit nervous and could not get any offense going in the Islanders zone. The crowd was extremely quiet and there was absolutely no home ice advantage. The crowd did not wake up until the last minute when Halak failed to clear the puck, and it found the stick of Marcus Johanssen who launched a shot from the National Mall into the net to tie the game at one apiece. Overall, it was a good first road period. The Islanders out shot the Capitals and had the better of the play.
Just when it looked like Washington was going to grab the momentum, just four minutes into the second period, the Islanders struck again. John Tavares won a clean face-off and drew the puck back towards a waiting Ryan Strome who wristed his first playoff goal through traffic and past Holtby. It was a good shot, but one that the Washington netminder never saw. With the lead once again the Islanders had their confidence back and once again controlled the period.
Right past the ten minute mark, Kyle Okposo got the puck to the right side of Holtby, did a 360 degree turn and headed behind the net. He then fed Frans Nielsen who found Josh Bailey right in front of Holtby. Bailey took a shot and followed up his own rebound and got just enough to get it to trickle into the net for a 3-1 lead. The Islanders survived the last minute of the period and headed to the third with a comfortable two goal lead. The shots were even at 17 apiece through two periods. The Capitals dominated in the face-off circle, but the Islanders won their face-offs when they counted most.
In the final period, the Islanders controlled the play throughout. They failed on their all of their power plays, but killed off all of Washington's as well, the biggest kill coming at around the eight minute mark after a Cal Clutterbuck high stick. The Capitals had a couple of chances with a couple of minutes left, but could not get that second critical goal to make it a game.
Washington pulled Holtby for the extra attacker. Brock Nelson then blocked a shot with about a minute to go. He was about to go off on a line change, but he saw that Anders Lee iced the puck. Nelson changed his mind and raced to the net to avoid the icing call and corralled the puck and slam dunked it into the empty net to seal the 4-1 win.
This was a very impressive win by the Islanders. They never gave the Capitals any good scoring chances. They got balanced scoring from Nelson, Strome, and Bailey. Halak made saves when he needed to and was more than solid. Above all else, the Islanders were able to stick to their game plan and silenced the dangerous Alexander Ovechkin.
Last Saturday, both the Capitals and Islanders choked and lost their games. Washington looked very bad in losing to the Rangers in a game that meant everything to the Capitals and nothing to the Rangers. They looked just as listless on Saturday as they did on Wednesday night. However, the Islanders looked very good on Saturday even though they gave up the lead twice and lost in a shootout to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Looking back now to those two performance it made perfect sense that the Islanders would win this one. The form for both teams held true.
Now with Game#1 in their back pocket, the Islanders have nothing to lose. They know that the worst case scenario is that they go back to the Nassau Coliseum with home ice advantage. However, the best case scenario is that they go up two games and put a stranglehold on this series. Now is the time to turn it up a notch. They are playing with house money. Its time to double down and take Game#2 before Washington knows what hit them.
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