When we last left the Islanders, Spinner Spencer was on the left with Craig Cameron in the middle and Bob Cook on the right, Jim Mair and Arnie Brown were on defense and head coach Earl Ingarfield was refusing to divulge the identity of his starting goaltender for the next match.
Oh, so sorry, that was the 1972-73 group.
It does, however, sure seem as if it has been as long as 46 years and not merely eight days since Long Island’s team took to the ice to play a game. The waiting, though, is just about over. The Islanders, idling since completing their first-round sweep of the Penguins on April 16, should be on for Game 1 of the second round either Friday or Saturday, against the Capitals or Hurricanes, either in Washington or at Barclays Center.
“The good thing is they’re going to let us play pretty soon,” said coach Barry Trotz, who is awaiting the result of Wednesday’s Game 7 in Washington. “So we’re getting closer and there is an endpoint.”
It has been a challenge to devise a plan for what essentially amounted to a bye week after just four tournament games. The Islanders had a pair of days off, skated twice in succession, took Easter off, were on the ice the past two days, did some scrimmaging, and will take Wednesday off before serious opponent-specific prep work begins.
There is no way to measure the impact of the layoff that will send the Islanders into the next round against an opponent naturally enervated and energized at once by having prevailed in a Game 7. The Islanders, well, it’s going to be difficult to live off the adrenaline rush created by that big goal scored by, who was it, now? Oh, right, Ray Ferraro.
Their hockey minds might be littered with cobwebs, but the Islanders’ bodies will never feel better at any time during the tournament. If rules do not necessarily apply to the 2019 NHL postseason, this one does: It is never, ever, never, ever advantageous for a team to have to play even a single additional “if necessary” game. Never.
“Fo’, fo’, fo’ fo,’ ” as Moses Lamoriello might have said.
The Caps are the reigning Stanley Cup champions, winners of 39 postseason matches the past five years. The Canes are in the playoffs for the first time in 10 seasons, ending what is tied for the third-longest postseason drought in NHL history, the 2007-16 Oilers and 2001-11 Panthers each having missed 10 straight times while the 1979-1987 Rockies/Devils also missed nine straight.
So, who would you rather play if you’re the Islanders?
The Caps would have home ice if they prevail on Wednesday, but the Islanders would have home ice — squatters’ ice, renters’ ice, whatever you’d prefer — if Carolina emerges from this throwback Southeast Division matchup.
So who would you rather play if you’re the Islanders?
Trotz knows one team intimately and the other, well, not quite so personally, even though he did coach Canes captain Justin Williams for two seasons.
So who would he rather play, ha-ha-ha-ha, as if the coach would ever answer?
“Honestly, I just want to play. I don’t have a preference,” Trotz honestly said. “I know if we play one, I know there are going to be a lot more questions directed toward me, but that’s just going to be one day of answers and then we’re going to move on.
“So it doesn’t matter. I just want to play.”
It stands to reason the Islanders would just as soon avoid a Round 2 collision with the defending Cup champs and Alex Ovechkin, who looms as the most potent singular weapon of the playoffs. But neither rhyme nor reason has applied to this tournament.
Know this, though Caps-Canes is tied through six games, Carolina has been in control throughout the series, owning a staggering five-on-five 61 percent Corsi, a 60.7 percent shot share and a 61.33 percent XGF share. So, the matchup that stands even on the scoreboard has been severely tilted on the ice. As the Islanders played so much faster than the Penguins, that has been Carolina against Washington.
The building in Washington gets loud at this time of year and Brooklyn will raise the echoes. Neither arena will compare to the crazy place in Carolina, where the fans were able to save their vocal chords for the last nine springs in advance of becoming the latest anointed greatest (small) market in the world.
No, but which team do the Islanders prefer, the somewhat predictable one from Washington — oh, to watch Trotz scheme against Ovechkin on the power play — or the entirely unpredictable one from Carolina? Better to face the cool — meaning, hot — Braden Holtby or the (Petr) Mrazek Miracle?
Me, I’m choosing the goalie for whom it’s a miracle to be playing so well, but as far as the Islanders’ preference, well, Brian Lavender declined comment.