Trotz, Islanders face Capitals in first round

Barry Trotz famously told the then-defending champion Washington Capitals two years ago any future title runs would go through Long Island. Toronto will have to do. Trotz and the New York Islanders will face the Capitals in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with Game 1 on Wednesday night. Like all playoff games in the Eastern Conference, the series will be held in Toronto because of the pandemic.

“I think it’ll be a hell of a series,” Trotz said. “Both teams are well-equipped to go at each other.”

Back in 2018, the veteran coach was addressing his former team before facing them for the first time after leading the Caps to the Stanley Cup championship and then leaving in a contract dispute and joining the Islanders.

“You hoped going into what we were trying to do, which was make the playoffs, hopefully you’ll meet a team like the Caps,” Trotz recalled. “So that’s where that was at.”

Washingon coach Todd Reirden, who was an assistant be

fore taking over when Trotz left, downplayed the coaching matchup.

“It’ll be a great matchup for the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders,” he said. “It’s not Barry Trotz vs. Todd Reirden.”

Both teams play a tough, defensive-minded style and are evenly matched. They have split eight games over the last two years since Trotz, assistant coach Lane Lambert and Islanders director of goaltending Mitch Korn switched sides — with the road team winning each time.

“We know their system well,” Capitals star Alex Ovechkin said. “It’s going to be tight games, and it’s going to be tough games. It’s not going to be easy.”

The Islanders look much improved in the restart from the team that was dealing with injuries and had lost seven straight when the NHL paused the season in March. They eliminated Florida in four games in the qualifying round.

The Islanders averaged 3.25 goals per game against the Panthers, and held them to 1.75 per game, improvements from the regular season (2.78 and 2.79, respectively).

“I thought everyone on the team did a really good job in the qualifiers to step up their game,” said tradedeadline acquisition Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who was tied with Anthony Beauvillier for the team with three goals in the series.