In the history of these two franchises, this will be just the third time they’ve ever met in the post-season, and the first since 1983. The New York Islanders won both of the previous two series, but we’ll give the Boston Bruins a break on those — after all, they happened at the beginning and end of New York’s dynastic run of four straight Stanley Cups.
Both teams pulled off an upset to get here. Boston, the East Division’s third seed, knocked off the Washington Capitals in five, while the Islanders as the fourth seed beat out the Pittsburgh Penguins in six. In that way they’re similar, but they got to the playoffs in much different ways.
The Bruins came in hot and were a popular Round 1 upset pick. From the trade deadline to the end of the regular season, Boston was 12-4-1 with a .735 points percentage that was among the best in the league. Deadline pickup Taylor Hall played a massive role in that, scoring eight times in 16 games.
The Islanders, meanwhile, were 5-6-3 post-deadline and had just one win in their last five regular season games. Time to doubt them, right? That’s just what Barry Trotz wants you to do.
"WE WANT BOSTON!" #StanleyCup
Cc: @NYIslanders pic.twitter.com/EpYU0Yy0TX
— NHL (@NHL) May 27, 2021
New York was a comeback machine in Round 1 against the Penguins, taking advantage of shaky goaltending that probably won’t occur in Round 2. In Game 6 alone they overcame three separate one-goal deficits to end the series.
When discussing what makes the Islanders successful it always comes back to their system and the buy-in to it. They have a good defence, even though the 34.88 shots they allowed per 60 minutes of play was the third-highest amount in Round 1. Speaking to Hockey Central on Thursday, Trotz discussed what he wants his teams to accomplish and how Boston takes a similar approach.
“The inside ice is the most dangerous ice,” Trotz said. “Boston takes care of the inside ice…shots are opportunities, but when they’re predictable shots, especially (against) the goaltenders in this league now, that if they’re on their game and you make it predictable for them they’re going to be good for you. That’s what we try to do with our goaltenders.”
This should be a heck of a series. Game 1 will go Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET. Here’s how the two teams match up.
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ADVANCED STATS
Regular season 5-on-5 numbers via Natural Stat Trick
Boston: 54.20 CF% (3rd), 53.50 GF% (11th), .920 SV% (11th), 7.21 SH% (29th)
NY Islanders: 48.56 CF% (20th), 55.67 GF% (6th), .931 SV% (3rd), 8.55 SH% (10th)
REGULAR SEASON TEAM STATS
Boston: 21.9 PP% (10th), 86.0 PK% (2nd), 2.93 GF/G (14th), 2.39 GA/G (4th)
NY Islanders: 18.8 PP% (20th), 83.7 PK% (6th), 2.71 GF/G (21st), 2.23 GA/G (2nd)
HEAD-TO-HEAD RECORD
Boston: 3-3-2
NY Islanders: 5-2-1
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THE STORY OF HOW THEY GOT HERE
Boston Bruins: Boston is a mostly healthy squad and that is a massive development for them as they had to fight through a few things during the season. But as things moved along, the Bruins gained strength, overcame various challenges and you could see their Stanley Cup candidacy begin to grow.
There was a time when making the playoffs wasn’t even a guarantee for this team. At the trade deadline, they were four points up on the Philadelphia Flyers for fourth and had just lost 8-1 to Washington the night before. Tuukka Rask was still out of the lineup. Philadelphia was starting to struggle, too, around that time, but the Bruins still decided to buy into a championship window that exists as long as the Perfection Line is an elite unit and brought in Hall at a pretty good price.
Hall was the best acquisition of deadline day, both for his regular season contributions and for what he did in Round 1. Hall scored twice and added an assist in the five-game series and the way he plays, so excellent off the rush, helped give Boston the edge it needed.
“I thought we were better on offence in terms of attacking their D, breaking them down, and finding ways to create offence against their bigger Dmen, so that was below the goal line,” Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Some of it was off the rush, we were able to get inside. I know Taylor Hall definitely helped in that matter.”
The Bruins didn’t have Rask for most of their playoff run last season and you wonder what sort of a difference he could have made against the Tampa Bay Lightning, when Jaroslav Halak went 1-4 with a .896 save percentage. Rask got better every game against Washington, finishing the series with a .941 save percentage. Remember, when the Bruins made the final in 2019, Rask was incredible, allowing more than three goals in a game just twice through the entire playoff run. Boston is a different team when he’s playing this well.
NY Islanders: As mentioned off the top, the Islanders finished the season terribly and had to meet a Penguins team that was one of the NHL’s best stretching back three months. But this is why season series and regular season success go out the window come playoff time. The Islanders had the better goaltending, dealt with adversity better than the Penguins did, and knocked Pittsburgh out for the second time in three seasons.
How did they do it? Well, for one, Kyle Palmieri showed up. He was acquired before the deadline from the New Jersey Devils to help add scoring punch after captain Anders Lee went down to an injury that ended his season. Palmieri never moved any higher than the third line and scored just twice in 16 regular season games with the Islanders. Now, this team’s strength is certainly not its offence, but the 2.18 goals they averaged in the last four weeks of the season ranked 28th in the league and was not a good sign.
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But Palmieri scored two goals right away in Game 1 against the Penguins, including the OT winner, and then scored one of the tying goals in the decisive Game 6. New York averaged 3.5 goals per game in Round 1 on an 11.1 shooting percentage. Tristan Jarry had a series he’d like to forget and the Isles shouldn’t count on having that level of offence against Boston.
The good news on that front is that New York’s defence still did a pretty good job of keeping the Penguins to the outside. Even better is that 25-year-old Ilya Sorokin won all four of his starts with a .943 save percentage and now has the momentum to carry forward as the team’s starter for now. And if he falters? Semyon Varlamov is still there and he’s only been relegated to backup because of one bad start and the fact Sorokin was just so good.
Ilya Sorokin became the 10th goaltender in NHL history to win each of his first four or more career playoff appearances, posting a 1.95 GAA and .943 SV% to help the @NYIslanders to a series victory. #StanleyCup#NHLStats: https://t.co/vWPS08zwV5 pic.twitter.com/TJ1cr1u4p3
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) May 27, 2021
Boston Bruins X-Factor: Taylor Hall
The Bruins targeted Hall at the deadline because he brought them something they lacked: second line scoring and a player who can create so much in motion. Cassidy talked about his impact against Washington and, in Round 2 against the Islanders, his ability to work with set-up man David Krejci on the rush could give the Islanders’ system hassles. New York will be studied up and prepared for this of course, but it’s Hall’s job to fight through that anyway and find a way to be productive.
He’s still playing for a new contract and hopes it’s with Boston, so one round of good post-season play might not be enough. It will be harder for Boston to get through the Islanders’ defence to create high quality opportunities, but as these guys follow Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and David Pastrnak on the ice there are two lines that should relentlessly test New York. If Hall gets through with any consistency he’ll be a nightmare to the Islanders and what a story it’d be if he’s a difference-maker in getting Boston back to Round 3.
NY Islanders X-Factor: Anthony Beauviller
New York might not be able to score as much against Boston’s stingy defence and established, experienced goaltending, but if they’re going to win they’ll still need a game-breaker. There are a few candidates for that, including Palmieri continuing his good start and Mathew Barzal absolutely putting on a show.
But between those two lines is the trio of Josh Bailey, Brock Nelson and Anthony Beauvillier, and the 23-year-old left winger could be a breakthrough player here. He scored in three of the six games against Pittsburgh and had three game-winning goals in the 2020 playoffs. Look out for a big moment or two for him against Boston.
“He’s got really explosive speed,” Trotz told the Hockey Central crew. “He and Mathew (Barzal) have another gear. And because of that he puts pressure on opponents. It’s not always big, physical pressure, but it is speed pressure that he gets on people to move the puck a little quicker.”
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