With just two years for the Washington Capitals to lead their first Stanley Cup title, New York Islanders head coach Barry Trotz hopes to make his former team one of those teams in this year’s playoffs.
“It’s going to be an amazing series,” Trotz said Monday after Isles finished the weekend after the Florida Panthers lost 5-1 on Friday afternoon in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“Both are well equipped to compete.”
Fresh out of a four-game assignment in Florida, the islands now face Alex Ovechkin and the mighty Capitals in a best-of-seven first-round series that begins Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. in the bubble of the NHL Eastern Conference in Toronto.
Trotz, who spent four years in command at DC, who culminated in the franchise lifting Lord Stanley’s coveted cup in 2018 before moving to the Islands on Long Island/Brooklyn, knows one or two about his old club, but not necessarily. enough to give New York great credit in this confrontation.
“You spend time with a lot of players, but there are a lot of new players [in Washington],” Trotz said. “It just gives me a little idea of some of his tendencies, that’s all.”
Any information Trotz can provide will be useful in the face of one of the NHL’s toughest offenses.
Washington, which finished at the top of the Metropolitan Division with 90 points, occupied the moment in the Tampa Bay league with an average of 3.42 goals consistent with the game.
Ovechkin has tied the lamp in NHL times this year and is one of 11 trotz-era players left in the Caps.
But the islands don’t want their coach to tell them what it’s like to keep the Hall of Fame at bay in the long run when the numbers will be a showdown of different styles in the first round.
Especially since the Russian giant will have the support of the most sensible defender John Carlson (80 points), as well as the middle Niklas Backstrom and his extreme partner T.J. Mr. Oshie.
“First of all, you must take number 8, ” said Cizikas on Ovechkin. “It’s going to look, but you have to restrict it and make it complicated for him.
“Once you got rid of him, they gave you guys like Oshie in the middle, they gave you Backstrom and Carlson in mind. It’s pretty deadly, but you have to be in a position to block the shots. and knock down the puck when it gets the chance.”
Trotz benefited greatly from the Caps’ prolific offensive during his tenure in our nation’s capital.
However, he turned the Islands into back-to-back playoff players behind a sweltering defender, who ranked first in the league in goals allowed last year, the ninth overall this season and limited Florida to just seven goals in four qualifying games.
“This organization has a lot of pedigree, a lot of stellar strength and they’ve won championships. They are well provided in many areas,” Trotz said of Washington.
“The biggest challenge is to match them and play them hard. They’ll do the same. I know a lot about this group.”
Veteran islander Brock Nelson, who had two goals and one opposing hand to the Panthers, believes his teammates are up to the challenge, especially after yielding only four five-on-five targets to Florida in the playoffs.
“As a group, we all know that the taste of our game is not striking, yet we accept as true with each other and with everyone else,” Nelson said.
“Each line can pass and make a five-to-five contribution and is guilty defensively opposed to anyone on the other side. Everyone has the confidence of Barry and the boys, and the boys to others to pass and do the work from five to five.
The islands have opposed the Caps since Trotz changed the bench.
New York and Washington have split 8 regular-season games in the next two seasons, and the away look came out victorious.
The islands have opposed the Caps since their 5-3 victory in DC on February 10, nearly a month before the NHL rupture due to the existing coronavirus pandemic and six months before the team’s assembly for the right to advance to the Eastern Conference. Semifinals.
“We’re becoming quite associated with them,” is the Isles Defense Nick Leddy.
“These are high-intensity games during the normal season. It almost looks like a playoff game every time we play them. It won’t be any different, each and every one will be more intense, a little faster. It’s going to be a series of laughter, so we can’t wait to get there.”
Isle Have Another: Anthony Beauvillier led the Isles with 3 goals, adding a pair in the fourth game and two assists in the qualifying round. Array.. It’s hard to believe That Trotz is moving away from Semyon Varlamov in the net against the Capitals as The Russian goalkeeper started all four games against Florida. Varlamov, who is 3–1 with 1.77 goals, as opposed to the playoff average so far, spent his first 3 seasons at the NHL in Washington after being decided on the first circular (23 overall) through the Caps in the 2006 NHL Draft.
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The Brooklyn Daily Eagle and brooklyneagle.com cover Brooklyn 24 hours a day, 7 days a week online and five days a week in print with the slogan “All Brooklyn All The Time.” With a history dating back to 1841, the Eagle is the only true New Yorker exclusively in Brooklyn.
© 2020 All Brooklyn Media