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The New York Islanders took a 1-0 lead in their first round series against the Washington Capitals, winning Game 1 yesterday by a score of 4-2.
The Islanders started the game by taking penalty after penalty and played the majority of the first half of the period shorthanded. After that, however, the Islanders stuck to their game and were the better team in the final two periods, despite giving up two goals in the second period.
Here are the shots for percentages (5-on-5) from each player in the top-six:
Bailey: 88.9 SF% (8-1) Beauvillier: 83.3 SF% (5-1) Barzal: 75.0 SF% (12-4) Nelson: 75.0 SF% (6-2) Eberle: 64.3 SF% (9-5) Lee: 60.0 SF% (9-6)
While the top-six was great and the third line held their own, the fourth line had a rough game. They didn’t have a shot attempt at 5-on-5 (0-9) and spent the majority of their time on the ice in their own end. Casey Cizikas got a good chance shorthanded but as a line, they had a hard time getting anything going.
New York’s defense, on the other hand, was great. I thought every pairing had a good game and gave up a pretty reasonable number of chances. Even the two goals the Islanders allowed weren’t really great scoring chances. Overall, it was a very good game from New York’s defense.
In net, Semyon Varlamov has been consistent and had another good game. Washington’s first goal was a bad bounce and you could argue the second goal was weak, but he did make a few stops before losing track of the puck. If there was one weak point in his game, we can all agree it was his puck tracking. That said, he made some good saves and if New York can consistently get that level of goaltending from Varlamov, they can’t really complain.
Game 1 was a big win for the Islanders and we have to be happy with that performance. They capitalized on their chances while keeping Washington’s opportunities to a minimum and New York’s best players really were their best players.
*All stats from NaturalStatTrick.com
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
Game 1 Preview: Islanders vs. Panthers Notes from Game 1 vs. Panthers Reviewing last week's polls (August 3): Islanders Edition Game 2 Preview: Islanders vs. Panthers Notes from Game 2 vs. Panthers Game 3 Preview: Islanders vs. Panthers Notes from Game 3 vs. Panthers Game 4 Preview: Islanders vs. Panthers Islanders advance: Notes from Game 4 vs. Panthers Islanders will face Capitals in first round Reviewing last week's polls (August 10): Islanders Edition Previewing New York's series against the Capitals