RIVALRY ROUND: The series you love to hate

There is no fancy name for when the New York Islanders face the Philadelphia Flyers. It’s not a battle of the boroughs or a crossriver rivalry, but when teams are a bus ride apart they play enough to build up some memories.

A flight is usually required when the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning face off, or meetings between the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars, and the Vegas Golden Knights and Vancouver Canucks. Even though the NHL abandoned its divisional playoff format for one year amid special circumstances, all four second-round matchups pit division rivals against each other with a spot in the conference finals at stake.

“There is that kind of close, across-town feel,” Islanders

defenseman Scott Mayfield said.

These teams are across the hotel from each other in the Eastern Conference’s Toronto and Western Conference’s Edmonton bubble, though the familiarity of these foes predates hockey’s return. They all have history dating to the regular season and some in previous playoffs, plus Boston-Tampa Bay and Colorado-Dallas are rematches from the seeding round.

The Bruins and Lightning fought it out in a onegoal game Aug. 5 and have been the class of the Atlantic Division for years now. The core groups are largely the same from their 2018 postseason meeting.

Colorado and Dallas got about 36 hours notice before starting their series Saturday night, a quick turnaround made easier by their recent history. The Avalanche shut out the

Stars in round-robin play less than three weeks ago after facing off four times in the regular season.

“It helps with your preparation because there’s not really any surprises coming at you,” Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said. “You know the team well, and you’re pretty confident what we’re going to see.”

The Flyers and Islanders know what they’ll see in each other beginning Monday, even though the organizations haven’t met in the playoffs since 1987, 11 years before Philadelphia goaltender Carter Hart was born. But they played three times this season and plenty of scouting has happened since.

“I think (the Islanders have) played as well as any team in our bubble here in Toronto,” Flyers general manager Chuck Fletcher said.

ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE PHOTO New York Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov deflects the puck as Islanders left wing Kieffer Bellows (20) keeps Philadelphia Flyers right wing Nicolas Aube-Kubel (62) away during during a February game in New York.