As you may have heard before, the 2023-24 Islanders have a pretty similar roster to the 2022-23 Islanders.
But the 2024 first-round playoff series against the Hurricanes, likely to open this weekend in Raleigh, N.C., was on paper as good as the 2023 playoff series against the Hurricanes, which the Islanders lost in overtime to Paul Stastny. It looks much different than the first round of the playoff series. Winner of the 6th game.
Both teams had not yet finished the regular season heading into Tuesday, with Carolina scheduled to play Columbus on Tuesday night and the Islanders scheduled to play the Penguins on Wednesday, but both teams were scheduled to face the Penguins heading into the playoffs. They also shared the same thing: they were in much better shape going into the playoffs. one year ago.
The Islanders needed late-game momentum to make the playoffs last year, but were just 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.
He was inexplicably absent from the 5-2 loss to the Capitals two days earlier, and Pittsburgh needed to lose the game at home to the dreaded Blackhawks in order to win Game 82 at home.
Matt Barzal’s health is also a big question mark heading into this series, with Barzal having not played since Feb. 18 in Boston and not returning for Game 1 — apparently not at full capacity. I could not say it.
This time, the Islanders ended the late surge as late as possible, but were much more focused on completing it.
They are 7-0-1 in their last eight games and appear to have solved their season-long challenge of holding onto a lead in time to make the playoffs.
Since he relieved himself in Game 81, Wednesday’s Game 82 will be meaningless.
And the forward group is in good health. Rather, the series hinges on the status of defenseman Noah Dobson, who missed the past two games with an upper-body injury.
There are elements of Patrick Roy as well.
Lane Lambert had never been a head coach in a playoff series until last season, and his inexperience was exposed.
He had no intention of changing his disastrous power play until it was too late in Game 6. A back-to-back champion as a player, Roy previously coached in the NHL playoffs and won two Memorial Cups with the Quebec Remparts.
Even considering the long hiatus between NHL jobs, there aren’t many people you can rely on more in big moments.
Since Roy took over, he has overhauled the team’s systems on both ends of the ice, making a huge difference, especially on the defensive end.
The Islanders have averaged 2.97 and 2.83 goals per game since he took over. Under Lambert this season, the rating was 2.89 for and 3.31 against.
And unlike last year, the Islanders will be riding Semyon Varlamov into the playoffs instead of Ilya Sorokin.
Roy hasn’t said who will start Game 1, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see both netminders see action in the series, although Varlamov is undefeated in April and has started the past five games. That seems highly likely as he has a save percentage of .945.
The teams the Islanders will face look to be different as well.
Goaltending was considered a major weakness for Carolina last season, with Frederik Andersen starting just one game in the series but otherwise giving up goals to Antti Raanta.
This time around, Andersen is splitting time with Pyotr Kochetkov and has looked closer to his old self with a 9-0-1 record and .951 save percentage since returning from injury in March. It seems so.
The Islanders’ depth at the position is still a potential advantage, but perhaps not to the same degree.
The Canes entered this series just as hotly contested as the Isles, with the same record at 7-1-0 in the final eight games of the season.
And just like the Islanders, their forward group is again this time around thanks to a healthy Andrei Svechnikov, who missed the playoffs last year with a torn ACL, and the loan acquisition of Jake Guentzel, who had 25 points in 17 games. Looks more formidable. Carolina.
However, there is one obvious similarity between the two series. That means Carolina is preferred.
It is the islanders’ responsibility to prove that they failed last time.
