2016 New York Islanders...What Can This Team Be?

Man does time fly. Spring is almost upon us, and with spring comes the mad dash of the final stretch of the regular season.

The Islanders just completed a 7 game road trip, finishing 6-1, capped off with a crazy 6-4 victory over the crosstown rival New York Rangers. They followed that game up with a thrilling 2-1 victory over the pesky Penguins on Tuesday night, and had no problem getting over the so called, "Rangers Hangover."  They currently sit in the 3rd place in the metropolitan division (with games in hand), and have been playing extremely well as of recently, winning 11 of their last 14 games. This team is poised to finish strong, and have the possibility to make a strong run in the playoffs.

What can hold them back?

Goaltending: The Islanders goaltending has been strong this season, but Coach Capuano has been splitting time between Jaro Halak and Thomas Greiss, with some JF Berube sprinkled in here and there. Splitting time can be a good thing as it doesn't wear guys out, but it could be hard for a goaltender to get into a rhythm. Luckily this hasn't backfired yet, but Capuano will have to choose his true number one eventually and ride him down the stretch and into the playoffs. Let's hope he chooses the right guy. My choice would be to let Greiss get the reigns and see what he could do as the top guy. (Halak was injured in Tuesday night’s game in a non-contact situation. Could be a groin/hip injury, and that could solve the problem).

Injury bug: Last season the islanders were relatively healthy, until they lost one of their top defenseman, Travis Hamonic, right before the playoffs began. Another blow to one of their top 4 defenseman will doom them for sure.

Coaching: Besides the goaltending issues, Coach Capuano loves shuffling the lines. The only line that seems to have stayed intact throughout the season, is the infamous 4th line of Casey Cizikas, Matt Martin, and Cal Clutterbuck. The deadline day pickup of youngster Shane Prince has added to the mix of forwards, and the coach has to figure out the best combinations and stick with them. Most of the core has played together for years, so they are familiar with each other, but too much tampering throughout the final stretch could be detrimental to the line chemistry in the playoffs.

The 2nd and 3rd place teams in the metropolitan division would play each other in the first round of the playoffs. For most of the season, the Rangers and Islanders have been in the 2/3 spots, and chances are that's where the two NY teams finish.

How exciting would that be? Islanders vs Rangers in the playoffs for the first time in over 20 years. And how fitting would it be that the for the islanders to win their first playoff series since 93-94, that they would have to do it against their biggest rivals.

The last 15 or so games will be interesting to watch. This team has enough to make the playoffs, and win a round or two. What do you think?

Rangers vs Capitals Playoff Preview

After last years debacle in which the Rangers failed to make the playoffs by losing in a shootout on the last day of the season, again Ranger fans had to wait until the final day to see if they would be cheering on the blueshirts in the playoffs.  The Rangers backed their way into the playoffs after a crazy final week of the season in which they became fans of the Tampa Bay Lightning, as they needed a Lighting win over Carolina to gain the 8th and final spot.

With the 8th seed comes a first round match up with No.1 seed Washington Capitals. The Rangers are familiar with the Capitals and have taken 3 out of 4 of the season series, including a 6-0 win at the Garden on Dec 12th, and a Feb 25th 7-0 domination at the Verizon Center in DC. The Capitals have transformed into a different team since these two teams last met. They made some trades at the deadline and Coach Bruce Boudreau has adapted to a more defensive style of play. Although they are the 1 seed, the Capitals still have some questions. They're starting rookie Michael Neuvirth in goal has only has 64 career NHL games under his belt and his making his playoff debut. Also in question is the struggling Alex Ovechkin. Although he finished with 32 goals, which would be a great season for anyone else, Ovechkin is held to a higher standard. Boudreau gave Ovechkin some rest during the season during his struggles, which may benefit him now in the playoffs.

Keys to the series:

Goaltender match up:
Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has started the last 26 games in a row. We all now he is a workhorse, but with having to fight until the last day to make the playoffs, will Lundqvist be tired during the playoffs. The Capitals are starting rookie Michael Neurvirth, who has played well but is untested in the playoffs.
The edge here goes to the Rangers, and they will need Lundqvist to stand on his head a few times if they want to win the series.

Keeping Ovechkin Quiet:

Although Ovechkin only had 32 goals and 0 against the Rangers during the season series, he loves playoff time. If Ovechkin is skating hard and finishing his checks, the Rangers could be in trouble. They won't hold him off the score sheet, but the less Ovechkin has an effect on the game, the better the Rangers chances.

Rangers Power play:

The power play is 1-27 in the last 9 games and the one goal came on a 5on3 by Bryan McCabe. The former Islander will need to help out the blueshirts with his heavy shot from the point and hope to get some shots on net to test Neuvirth and to hope for some juicy rebounds.

Prediction: Capitals in 7

Lundqvist will steal a game or two, but the Capitals and Ovechkin will be too much in the end for the Rangers to handle. Both teams are pretty even, that's why it should go 7, but the Capitals should come out in the end. This will be a physical and exciting series, and if Lundqvist makes a save here or there in game 7, it could go in the Rangers favor.

MSG in April; Does It Get Any Better

Photo courtesy of New York Rangers

Now that playoff time has come for the NBA and NHL and the Knicks and Rangers are still relevant, one question must be asked; does it get any better?? The answer is No with a capital N and regardless of what late april brings its the fashion of how both teams advanced to the post season that made it all worth it. First the Knicks, go back to the morning of March 28th, 2011, losers of 6 straight including a loss on the previous night to the Bobcats and hope was dim. Fast forward 2 weeks (and 7 wins later) and the Knicks are arguably the hottest team heading into the playoffs. They'll have no easy task as they face a team thats beat them all three times they've faced off this season; the Boston Celtics.

Out of all the teams the 'bockers' could have faced in the opening round, the C's are the absolute worst matchup for them. The nucleus of this team has been together since 2007 and have been to the NBA Finals twice since then, taking home one ring in 2008. The Miami Heat would have been a much more suitable matchup for the Knicks who are in the playoffs for the first time since the 03-04' season, splitting the season series 2-2 with Miami and if your a history buff you know that the Knicks own a 3-1 lead in the history of these two franchises meeting in the post season, the Heats only series win was the 1997 Eastern Confrence Semifinals in which the series went 7 games and the Heat would go on to lose 4-1 to the eventual world champion Chicago Bulls and the imfamous game 5 "flu game" for Michael Jordan.

If the playoff series is anything like the first 3 meetings of this season, the Knicks and Celtics can both expect a hard fought blood bath in the opening round of what seems to be only the infant stage of a long string of playoff runs for the rejuvenated New York Knicks in the coming years. Over to the Blueshirts, although their playoff drought hasn't nearly been as long as the team they share the building with, the ability to produce in the post season hasn't been there in a while, do I even have to state when the last time that was? (I'll give you a hint: the NHL All Star Game was hosted at MSG that year and Mike Richter was the MVP of the All Star Game).

The Rangers face the Capitals in the opening round of the playoffs, two franchises that respect each other but love to beat each other as well. The Rangers are looking to avenge a playoff loss from 2 years ago that had New York up 3-2 in the series and lost 2 straight to be sent packing early. The Washington Capitals are looking to avenge losing 3 of 4 to the Rangers in this years regular season series as well as a first round exit from last years playoffs to the underestimated Montreal Canadiens. The last time both the Knicks and Rangers made it to their respective championships I was 4 years old so I certainly don't know how it feels to have both teams successful simultaneously but it's definetely a good time to be in the greatest city in the world especially if your a fan of both these teams.