A ‘ clean slate’
Up- and- down Isles focused on Caps
Onan Islanders team filled with playoff novices, Johnny Boychuk is an exception.
The defenseman won a Stanley Cup while with the Bruins in 2011, so he knows more than anyone on the team about what it takes to succeed in the playoffs.
And with the Islanders heading to Washington for Game 1 on Wednesday after a regular season in which the Isles went from division frontrunners to coming perilously close to missing the playoffs, Boychuk had one key piece of advice for his teammates.
“A clean slate is the best way to go about it,” Boychuk said of howto use the ups and downs of the team’s tumultuous year. “You can’t go by what happened before. None of that matters now.”
Soout goes the terrific start the Isles had, when they streaked to the top of the Metropolitan Division and had a 39191 record on Feb. 19 after winning six of seven.
Gone, too— in theory— are the ugly results from the latter stages of the season, like when they dropped seven of eight in March and surrendered their firstplace spot.
Instead, after the team practiced on Monday at Nassau Coliseum in preparation for Game 1 at Verizon Center, players insisted their focus would simply be on the Capitals.
“The opening series is always the toughest one,” Boychuk said. “You have to worry about this series.”
“This is a new season,” John Tavares said. “Afresh start.”
One would think thatwould be a positive for the Islanders following their stumble to the finish line, but Tavares doesn’t buy the fact the Isles struggled as much as it appeared.
“I don’t think we played bad down the stretch,” Tavares said. “Therewere some leads we’d like to have kept, but there were definitely some things to build on.”
Perhaps, but the Isles aren’t entering the postseason scaring any opponents. Not with a relatively young roster and virtually no playoff triumphs to fall back on.
And while coach Jack Capuano is confident the Islanders will be up to the task, he admitted it would be a new test for many of them.
“You don’t have time right now, you can’t take shortcuts,” Capuano said of the playoffs. “This is a different game. This is a man’s game.”
Part of that difference, according to Boychuk, is not letting anything slip by you.
“It’s just a mindset that you have to stay focused,” Boychuk said. “You have to pay attention to details.”
Especially against a team like Washington, which features the game’s top goalscorer, Alex Ovechkin, and assist leader, Nicklas Backstrom.
Despite being relatively untested this time of year, Capuano is confident.
“This group here has faced adversity all year long,” the coach said. Goalie Jaroslav Halak agreed. “We went through some tough times toward the end, losing some games,” Halak said. “We learned from that, but we have to put it behind us now.”
Matt Martin and Frans Nielsen both practiced Monday after dealing with injuries at the end of the regular season.… Tavares fell one point shy of the lead league in points, finishing with 86 to Dallas’ Jamie Benn’s 87.