The New York Islanders took a 2-0 series lead against the Washington Capitals, with a 5-2 win in Game 2 yesterday.
For the second game in a row, the Islanders were just the better team. They outshot the Capitals 32-25 and controlled most of the game, especially in the first two periods.
This was a really good game for New York’s top line and it was also a bounce-back performance from the fourth line. Near the end of the game, Casey Cizikas and Cal Clutterbuck were on the ice for a good chunk of the last few minutes and did an excellent job keeping the Capitals trapped in their own end to kill time. The third line was also fairly effective, though it was actually a bit of a down game for the second line, who were outshot 10-5 at 5-on-5 (according to NaturalStatTrick.com).
Once again, pretty much the entire defense group played well. Andy Greene and Nick Leddy have both been really solid for the majority of the playoffs and Devon Toews had a really good game yesterday as well. I thought Ryan Pulock struggled a bit on the power play and had at least one avoidable giveaway, but I also hold him to a higher standard than others and realistically, he played fine.
I feel like I’m always writing the same review for Semyon Varlamov after each game, but I suppose that’s a good thing. He didn’t face a ton of difficult chances but he was as good as he needed to be for New York to win.
This was just another really strong team effort from the Islanders. There really wasn’t a weak part of their game and they didn’t give the Capitals much to work with.
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Here’s today’s poll question (results and discussion will be posted in a future article):
How has Jean-Gabriel Pageau been working out so far as New York's third-line center?
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