Isles need to start with their finishing touch
The Islanders haven’t been thrilled with the way they’ve opened the first two games of their first-round series with the Capitals. They know it’s been how they’ve finished that has earned them a 2-0 series lead.
The Islanders have gone scoreless through the first periods of both Game 1 and 2, but have scored five of their nine total goals against the Capitals in the third period. In Game 1, it was an issue of rotating in and out of the penalty box, while in Game 2, the emergence of Alex Ovechkin led to the Islanders chasing the pace of play.
But it seems that when the final 20 minutes of the game starts to count down, the Islanders just know how to play to their strengths.
“I haven’t liked our starts in this series,” coach Barry Trotz said on a Zoom call Saturday afternoon. “We’ve sort of been trailing and chasing the game a little bit, but our finishes have been really strong. You see when we understand how we have to play, especially with leads or in the third period, it is guys on the puck, forcing turnovers, forcing them to turn back, zone time, especially late in games.”
For the past two games, the Islanders have been tasked with protecting a 3-2 lead in the third period for a hefty amount of time. In Friday’s 5-2 win, they took the 3-2 lead into the final period, and it wasn’t until there were just over three minutes left in regulation that Cal Clutterbuck made it a two-goal game.
The Islanders commanded the 3-2 lead in Game 1 after two quick goals to open the third before Anthony Beauvillier added an insurance tally later.
“We try to play a complete game, that’s our way. We don’t want to cut any corners and our guys haven’t,” Trotz said of the team’s third-period performances. “Our starts haven’t been really great, that’s an area we can clean up. We just stay to our game, I like the fact that we just play Islander hockey. We understand who we are and how we have to play and what’s going to be successful for us.
“To me, that starts within your room, where they hold each other accountable and we’ve got some great people in there. I feel really good that no matter how it goes, you’re going to see the same style of play from the Islanders.”
Knowing they’ve gotten away with some lackadaisical starts, the Islanders understand what the Capitals are capable of. The last time Washington was down 2-0 in a first-round series was in 2018 against the Blue Jackets, when they won the next four straight to advance and ultimately win the Stanley Cup.
“I think we’re really realizing what we need to do to be successful,” defenseman Nick Leddy said. “I think we haven’t had the best of starts and we’ve talked about that in the locker room. I think each team is going to have their moment of pressure, it’s just being able to weather that and start taking the game over.”