Islanders-Penguins shows how strange this NHL year has been

By Brett Cyrgalis
https://nypost.com/2019/04/07/islanders-penguins-shows-how-strange-this-nhl-year-has-been/
April 7, 2019

Jake Guentzel #59 of the Pittsburgh Penguins scores the game winning goal in the shootout against Robin Lehner #40 of the New York Islanders at NYCB Live at the Nassau Coliseum on December 10, 2018 in Uniondale, New York. The Penguins defeated the Islanders 2-1 in the shootout. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Traditionally, this would be an easy one to pick.

As the Islanders set to embark on their first-round series with the Penguins, starting with Game 1 at the Coliseum on Wednesday night, it could be looked at as a perennial power against an upstart team not talented enough or deep enough to hang. But this has been a strange season in the Eastern Conference — or, more like the new norm — as mediocrity has prevailed underneath the historically terrific Lightning.

So it’s with that outlook that the Islanders prepare to take on Sidney Crosby and Co., earning the right to start the series on Long Island and earning the right to be given fair odds at beating a Pittsburgh club that has collected three Stanley Cups in the past decade.

“There’s not much separating the eighth-place team and, well, maybe Tampa. The rest of us are all four or five points apart,” coach Barry Trotz said after the regular-season finale, a 3-0 win over the Capitals in Washington on Saturday night that solidified the Islanders getting home ice for the first time since 1988. He rewarded the team with a day off Sunday before getting back to work with a practice Monday.

“I just look at [it like] everybody is pretty well even, with a couple outliers that are maybe a little more deep in some areas,” Trotz said. “We’re just going to bring our best game and go from there.”

Like everybody except the Lightning, the Penguins have gone through their struggles this year. The defense has been suspect at times, as has the goaltending. But Crosby still leads the way with another 100-point season, while the supporting cast of Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and Kris Letang comprise some of the most high-end talent on one team.

“It starts with Sid. Sid is still the standard,” said Trotz, who faced the Penguins in each of the past three postseasons, losing the first two series before finally breaking through last year. “Malkin raises his game in the playoffs all the time. They have Kessel, they have a number of people. They’ve got championship pedigree. They have lots of experience.”

Back in 2013, the Islanders of a very different vintage faced the Penguins in the first round, losing a raucous six-game series. (Kyle Okposo bloodying Matt Niskanen’s face will always stand out.) Yet that was before the Penguins won back-to-back titles in 2016 and 2017, and before Trotz won his championship with the Capitals this past season and was then recruited to the Islanders by new team president Lou Lamoriello.

A lot has changed, and the Islanders are now a team predicated on playing defense. They don’t have the high-end skill that most of the top teams have, but they find strength in their depth. They roll four lines — even more so now that Valtteri Filppula has returned from his hyperextended left elbow, scoring twice in his first game back Saturday. That is why they weren’t too concerned about home ice, knowing they don’t need preferential matchups to be successful.

“We weren’t concerned if we had home ice or not,” Trotz said. “I don’t think it matters to us.”

The biggest detriment for Trotz’s team is its lack of offensive firepower, scoring the second-fewest goals of any playoff team behind only the Stars (whom the Isles nipped for the Jennings Trophy for giving up the fewest goals). That also resulted in a power play that was third worst in the league this season (14.5 percent).

That might end up being the Islanders’ undoing, but they managed to get this far playing like that. So matching up against a perennial power in Pittsburgh and seeing how they stack up is just the next step in this surprising season.

“Looking forward to it,” captain Anders Lee said. “It’s obviously a team that’s done extremely well of late, has a lot of threats and a lot of power. I think no matter what, anyone you face this time of year, it’s going to be a tough challenge. I think we’re all looking forward to seeing them and having a great series.”