The Islanders play, in fact, three games in the regular season against the Flyers this season and accidentally won all three.
But in a year like 2020, they could be as old history, and the Islanders plan to treat them as such, as they prepare for the Flyers on Monday in the second round of the playoffs, with a trip to the finals of the Eastern Conference by stake.
“It doesn’t matter where we are right now,” coach Barry Trotz said Saturday after the Islanders practice in Toronto. ‘It looks like it’s been years since we played them. We played them pretty early last year. It just feels like forever. So I do not think it has any interest at all. There are two pretty good teams that will go square. What you do now is really important. What you did before has zero impact on the effects of these games. ”
The Flyers, who earned the No. 1 seed in the East with a strong seeding performance, shot Friday night in the Islanders matchup as they defeated the Canadiens in Game 6 to end their first-round series .
The Islanders were able to enjoy an extra day of rest by defeating the Capitals in five games, and it can come in handy when they introduce a series scheduled for two back-to-backs when it comes to distance.
After coming off the Caps relatively healthy through a physical series, the Islanders will now face a different kind of challenge against a Flyers team that has a hot goalkeeper in Carter Hart, an experienced coach in Alain Vigneault and a deep forward who it’s a lot of skill.
“Of course [they’re] “A team that is currently playing really good hockey deserved that No. 1 spot in the play-off round and then had a pretty good series, so another difficult matchup for us, another difficult task at hand,” said captain Anders Lee. ‘Looking back [regular-season] games, we can look at them a bit, but it’s a long time ago. It’s in the past. Both teams are in different places in their play and this situation is of course completely different. That we can look at trends, but I do not think so [we’ll be] see too much how the turnout was and take it from there. “
Two of the three meetings this season came before the calendar went to 2020 – with the Islanders winning 5-3 in October, 4-3 in a shootout in November then 5-3 in February. Goals are more of a premium for this playoff series, though, with Hart playing well and the Islanders playing on defense at five on five.
“I think both sides will seek to improve where they currently stand and demand more from each other and expect to increase our game,” Lee said. “I think every round that gets a lot harder and the intensity, the despair, all those things that we talk about all the time, they all increase as you go on.”
Although the circumstances were very different, the Islanders came away from a big win in the first round last year, when they were quickly chased away by the Hurricanes in the second round. Despite hoping for the lack of a long intermission between series this year – compared to the nine Fridays in between in 2019 – his team can help roll out after flourishing in their system against the Capitals.
‘Nine days [off] is not good for one team, ”said Trotz. ‘We just lost the rhythm, a bit of our mojo if you will. This has been good. You get a day or two to rest, boys get closer to 100 percent… and you are ready for an opponent. ”
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