The Islanders’ chances of winning a playoff series for the first time since 1993 rest on the shoulders of Jaroslav Halak.
Defenseman Johnny Boychuk, in a WFAN radio interview with Evan Roberts, said earlier today that the Islanders’ struggles down the stretch mean nothing now because the playoffs are a whole new season. Well, no one in Islanders blue and orange needs to take that message to heart more than the starting goaltender.
When last we saw Halak, he was lying face-down in his crease, deeply disappointed with himself for blowing a chance to defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets in a shootout in the Islanders’ final regular-season game at Nassau Coliseum, where a win would have secured home-ice advantage against Washington. Halak actually had four chances in the final week to give the Isles the one point they needed to leapfrog the Capitals in the standings. He blew them all, beginning Tuesday with an inexplicable long-range shot he failed to stop with 2.1 seconds left in Philadelphia, after the Islanders had scored two empty-net goals to tie the Flyers. Against Columbus on Saturday night, knowing the Caps had lost to the Rangers earlier in the day, Halak blew 3-1 and 4-3 leads in the third period, then failed to stop the Blue Jackets’ third attempt in the shootout — a save that would have clinched the victory. And so it was that the Coliseum’s chants of “We want home ice!” were not fulfilled.
All would be forgiven, however, if Halak shows the Capitals the same form he showed them in 2010, when he led the Canadiens to a seven-game series upset of top-seeded and Presidents’ Trophy-winning Washington. The ultimate redemption for Halak would be to steal Game 7 for the Islanders and turn home ice into a non-issue. That’s what he did for Montreal five years ago, stopping 41 of 42 shots to beat the Capitals 2-1 in the series clincher.
The Habs rallied from a 3-1 series deficit in that Eastern Conference quarterfinal — just as the Islanders did against Washington to win the 1987 Patrick Division series capped by the four-overtime “Easter Epic” in Game 7. Those are but two of many playoff disappointments endured over the years by the Caps. It’s a trend that has continued into the Alex Ovechkin era. Remember, Washington also lost a Game 7 on home ice to the Rangers in 2013, their last postseason appearance.
Washington entered the NHL for the 1974-75 season but has never won the Stanley Cup.
Question for Game 1: Will the Islanders’ penalty killers go with a triangle-and-one of sorts? Alex Ovechkin led the league in goals scored and is lethal on the power play, where he usually sets up in the face-off circle to the goalie’s right. From there, he frequently can one-time a rocket, and his right-handed shot from the off-wing gives him more net to shoot at. One ploy I’ll be looking for will be whether the Islanders shadow Ovechkin everywhere he goes during a power play and challenge the Caps’ other four skaters to beat them. Shadowing Ovechkin might also position the Isles to intercept a pass intended for him and launch a short-handed counterattack.
Filed April 14, 2015
Sources: MSG Network, NHL.com, hockey-reference.com and Total Stanley Cup: The Official Encyclopedia of the Stanley Cup.