Shortened Series Makes Game 2 All That More Important for Islanders | NYHN+

The Islanders know what it’s like to be up 1-0 in a series before.

They found themselves in that spot after beating the Pittsburgh Penguins last season in Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs. However, that was a best-of-seven series and the Islanders find themselves up 1-0 against the Florida Panthers in a best-of-five series.

A win on Tuesday would put Islanders in the driver’s seat of the shortened qualifying round series and allow them to close things out on Wednesday. A loss Will give the Panthers new life as they try and stave off the Islanders.

“I think obviously you have one more life. That urgency level comes a little quicker,” Islanders coach Barry Trotz said about the difference between a five and seven-game series. “You can put a team on the brink two games into it and not three and that becomes quick. We’re playing back to back. so you have to have the same mentality in Game 2 as you had in Game 1.

“You have to be as urgent. You have t be as desperate and you have you to be as focused. That shouldn’t change from Game 1 to 2 and 2 to 3, 3 to 4, or whatever. You just have to battle through it. It comes quick.”

The Islanders played a rather suffocating game on Saturday in their 2-1 win over the Panthers. New York held the high-powered Panthers offense to just 28 shots on net and made very few errors. They did it all while missing defenseman Johnny Boychuk for over half the game.

Tuesday will present a chance for the Islanders to take a commanding 2-0 series lead and put the Panthers on the brink of elimination by Wednesday’s Game 3 at noon. And if the Islanders take Game 2, history appears to be on their side.

NHL teams that take a 2-0 series lead are 55-1 when it comes to moving on to the next round.  Naturally, the only team to buck that trend was the 1985 Islanders, which rallied from down 0-2 to defeat the Washington Capitals.

“I think in a shortened series every game means that much more,” Jordan Eberle said. “Going up one in a best of five, Game 2 either goes 1-1 or 2-0. That changes the momentum of everything. I know we’re going to get their best tomorrow. We’re going to have to be at our best if we want to compete.

“I think with it just being a shortened series that every game really means that much.”

Success on Tuesday will depend on the Islanders ability to replicate their game from Saturday afternoon. It was as textbook a game for New York as any, which saw them play their style for the better part of 60 minutes.

The Islanders picked up offensive contributions from Anthony Beauvillier and Jean-Gabriel Pageau and saw their fully healthy fourth line (Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck) have a productive afternoon.

“Every game is more important to the one prior,” Anders Lee said. “You have to continue to build off of the short period we’ve had so far coming into this thing. Just trying to continue to raise our game.”