An Island blockade
Trotz repeats: Caps must go through us to keep chasing Cup
We know now that what Barry Trotz told the Capitals on Nov. 26, 2018 had a ring of clairvoyance to it.
“You can do it again, too,” Trotz said that day in an emotional address to his former team in the visitors’ room at Barclays Center upon picking up his Stanley Cup jewelry before his Islanders faced the reigning champs for the first time this season. “You’ll have to go through the f---ing Island, OK? But you guys can do it again. I sincerely say that. I’m going to try to do the same thing on the Island. We’ve got lots of work to do to hopefully have the same memories on the Island as I always will with you guys.”
Five months later, the only way for the Caps to repeat is to go through the [fill in your own expletive] Island. Washington was two victories away from advancing to Round 2 before losing Thursday night’s Game 4 2-1 to the Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C If the Capitals do advance, a very familiar face will be in the way.
So, on Thursday morning at an otherwise quiet facility as the Islanders enjoyed their second day off in the wake of completing their first-round sweep of the Penguins on Tuesday, Trotz revisited and contextualized the speech he made to Alex Ovechkin, John Carlson, T.J. Oshie and friends a few days after Thanksgiving.
“It was from my heart,” said the coach who had been behind the Caps’ bench for four seasons before last summer’s departure. “The Capitals have virtually the same team. I know all that background with that group of guys, and I’m always going to have a very special bond with them because we climbed the mountain together.
“And I said to them, you’ve got the ability to repeat, you’ve got the knowledge, you’ve got the backbone. What I also said is that I want to bring that same joy and experience to the Islanders. And if you’re going to repeat, I hope you have to go through us because that would mean we were able to get to the point where we have the experience.
“Do I want to beat them? Absolutely, 100 percent, because I want to have the same experience and win the Stanley Cup with this group. So [Nov. 26] was from the heart and I meant it and still mean it and that won’t change. Now I’m going to be asked about it 1,000 times the next two weeks if we play, but this will probably be my last statement on this other than the first time I’m asked by the Washington crew.”
Do not misunderstand. Trotz is not overlooking the Candy Canes as a potential opponent. Indeed, he and his staff are on a dual scouting track as the organization attempts to best plot its time until the start of the next series, which could be delayed until April 25 or April 26 if any of the ongoing firstround matchups go seven games.
“We spend a lot of time on doing what we do. That’s primary. That’s the most important thing,” Trotz said. “But then, we spend a lot of hours on the prep work for an opponent in the playoffs. You don’t want to miss anything. You want any little edge. I obviously know Washington fairly well, so it’s weighted, but I’m watching Carolina, who I don’t know quite as well. We’re preparing for both. It’s double the work, but I think it’s actually a good exercise. It keeps you sharp on both sides.”
Trotz has coached 20 playoff series, beginning with the 2004 first round, which his Predators lost in six games to the Red Wings. Before last year’s tournament, his teams in Nashville and Washington had won five rounds and lost 10, going 4-4 with home ice. The 2018 Capitals and the 2019 Islanders have leveled the coach’s bar at 10 rounds won, 10 rounds lost. After 117 playoff games behind the bench, he’s over .500 for the first time at 59-58.
“You let yourself savor this and enjoy it at some level,” he said. “You know, getting into the Stanley Cup playoffs is a privilege, not a right. And you don’t take it for granted because you don’t know if you’re ever going to be here again. That’s just the way it is.
“It’s a hard league. It’s hard to get in the playoffs. But once you get there, you see that anything can happen.”
Such as Washington or Carolina having to go through the [expletive deleted] Island to get to the Eastern Conference finals.