Second Round Series Preview: Islanders vs Flyers

An old rival. A new challenge.
The New York Islanders and Philadelphia Flyers face off the in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, starting on Monday night. This marks the fifth postseason meeting between the clubs and the first since 1987, so it's time to write a new chapter.
"Anytime you have a division matchup in a playoff, that rivalry is going to increase a little bit," Anders Lee said. "Anytime we see these guys or anyone else in the division, it's a pretty intense game, and obviously that's going to be no different coming up in the next round."

THE SCHEDULE:

The Flyers enter the series as the top seed in the Eastern Conference, while the Isles are officially the sixth seed, giving the Flyers home-ice advantage (aka last change in Games 1, 2, 5 and 7).
The most noteworthy part of the schedule is the potential for two sets of back-to-backs if the series goes the distance. That'll cut down on the amount of practice time for both teams.
"We practiced today, we're going to have a short practice tomorrow and I don't think we practice again until the series is over really," Trotz said.

SEASON SERIES:

Islanders: 3-0-0 | Flyers: 0-2-1
Oct. 27 Isles 5, Flyers 3
Nov. 15 Isles 4, Flyers 3 SO
Feb. 11 Isles 5, Flyers 3
It may not mean much now, but the Islanders swept the season series from Flyers, going 3-0-0 as the team's only played three of their four scheduled meetings.
Each win was impressive and dramatic for its own reason. The Isles chased Carter Hart in a 5-3 win at the Coliseum in October. They rallied from an 3-0 third period deficit to win 4-3 in a shootout in Philly in November. Ryan Pulock broke a 3-3 tie with 41 seconds to play in their February meeting, saving the day after the Isles allowed a 3-0 lead to slip away.
Of note, the Isles had a three-goal period in each of the three games against the Flyers this season.
Mathew Barzal led the Isles with five points (2G, 3A) in three games against the Flyers. Derick Brassard was second with four points (1G, 3A). Both Semyon Varlamov (2-0-0, 3.00 GAA, .913 SV%) and Thomas Greiss (1-0-0, 2.79 GAA, .903 SV%) picked up regular season wins vs Philly.
Sean Couturier (2G, 1A), Ivan Provorov (1G, 2A), Claude Giroux (1G, 2A) led the Flyers with three points each vs the Isles. Elliott went 0-1-1 with a 2.76 GAA and a .911 SV%. Hart went 0-1-0 and was pulled after allowing five goals on 14 shots.

KEYS TO THE SERIES:

Defense vs Defense:
The Isles series against Florida and Washington each presented a similar dynamic - a defensively-detailed and balanced Isles team going up against a high-octane and top-heavy offensive squad.
The matchup with the Flyers presents a different challenge, as Philadelphia boasts a deep, well-rounded roster, whose defensive numbers haven't been far off from the Islanders.
The Isles average 1.67 goals-against per game, the second-fewest in the playoffs, trailing only the Colorado Avalanche (1.63), though by a miniscule margin. Philadelphia is right behind them, averaging 1.78 goals-against-per-game in nine postseason contests. The Flyers shut out Montreal twice in their series win and allowed one goal in each of their three games vs Boston, Washington and Tampa Bay.
"They've got good structure defensively," Trotz said of the Flyers. "They will be aggressive in terms of forecheck and their D are allowed to get up in the play, all those things. They have a real good balance between the offensive part and the defensive part and they manage pucks pretty well."
The Isles dominated at five-on-five in their two previous series and have allowed a league-low six goals at five-on-five, including just three to a supercharged Caps team. The Flyers have allowed eight over the same nine-game span.
"I think our 5-on-5 play, you can say confidence, but I think we just trust it," Trotz said. "We know what works for us, I think we understand how you win in the playoffs. We've basically gotten through two rounds right now from a mental and physical standpoint that it's sort of engrained in your DNA of what you need to do and how you have to play, so I think that's a big part of our game anyways."
Both teams have been able to lock games down in the third period as well. The Isles outscored the Caps 8-1 in the third and OT periods, while the Flyers are a perfect 7-0 when leading after two periods. The Isles held the Caps without a shot in the final 12 minutes of their series clincher.
What it means is that goals could be hard to come by for both squads in this series, though that may suit Barry Trotz fine, as his team has grown comfortable in uncomfortable (aka tight-checking and low-scoring) situations. If the Isles want to be successful against the Flyers, they'll have to continue to play patient, disciplined hockey, maintain their structure and keep up a tenacious forecheck.
Perhaps more importantly, they'll have to try to keep the game five-on-five, which means…

Isles Need to Stay Disciplined:
As good as the Isles five-on-five play was, they got in trouble against the Caps - and Cats - when they took penalties and played undisciplined hockey. The Isles have allowed eight power-play goals on 32 penalties over nine postseason games (four vs Washington and four vs Florida) for a 75% kill rate.
The Flyers power play may not be as potent as Washington or Florida's so far in the playoffs, but being down a man does the Isles no favors. Philadelphia plays a rough game and there were some after-the-whistle antics down to the final buzzer of the Flyers-Canadiens matchup.
The Isles largely ignored the agitations from Tom Wilson and Garnet Hathaway against Washington and keeping their cool would benefit them again.
Because…

Flyers Still Riding Second-Half Surge:
The Flyers were one of the NHL's hottest teams in the second half of the regular season, rattling off a 19-6-1 stretch in their last 26 games before the pause, including a 9-1-0 record in the final 10. Philadelphia outscored opponents 94-62 over those 26 games.
The second-half surge shot the Flyers up the standings. While they ran out of time to unseat Washington for the Metro Division lead (they were one point back) their .645 points percentage finished fourth in the Eastern Conference in the regular season and sent them to the round-robin. After going 3-0-0 in round-robin play, the Flyers assumed the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
As smooth as the second half and round-robin went for the Flyers, their First Round series win against Montreal wasn't without its speedbumps, including a 5-0 loss in Game 2 and a testy 5-3 loss in Game 5. But when the Flyers were on their game, they were incredibly stingy, shutting out Montreal twice, allowing a total of three goals in their four wins. Overall, the Flyers allowed 2.16 goals-against per game in their series against Montreal.
"Philly's playing well right now, so we have to raise our level," Nelson said. "We've done some good things, but we want to keep stepping up and keep improving in different areas of the game to be a tough team to play against. The team that can do that with each round that passes is going to come out on top."

PLAYERS TO WATCH:

BEAUVILLIER-NELSON-BAILEY LINE
The Anthony Beauvillier, Brock Nelson and Josh Bailey line have led the Islanders offense in the postseason, as the trio are the team's top three scoring leaders.
Bailey leads the team in assists (8) and points (10). Beauvillier leads the team in goals (6) and is second in points (9). Nelson has seven points (3G, 4A), which is tied with Mathew Barzal for third on the club.
The line has produced big goals in big moments for the Isles. Beauvillier has scored four total goals in the Isles two series-clinching wins over Florida (2G) and Washington (2G) and has three game-winning goals in the postseason. Bailey scored the winner against Washington in Game 1 vs Washington, while Nelson netted the winner in Game 2.
Nelson has been the Isles top face-off man, as his 57.7 FO% is fourth among players with 100 draws in the postseason and leads Isles forwards in ice time (18:26 TOI/GP). Bailey (17:44) and Beauvillier (17:18) have been the third-and-fourth most-deployed forwards - and for good reason.
"It's been clicking," Nelson said. "We're just trying to go out there and play free and confident and help the team kind of on both sides. I think Bails is obviously an elite player, slows the game down and makes a lot of little plays that maybe go under appreciated in a lot of ways. Beau has obviously stepped up his game and improved offensively over a long stretch time and a big part of our offense, a guy we can lean on. He's raised his game in the playoffs. Just trying to go out there, keep it simple and read off one another has been kind of the key for us."
SEMYON VARLAMOV:
Semyon Varlamov has been everything the Isles have needed during the postseason. He's been a calm and consistent presence in net, allowing two-or-fewer goals in seven of the Isles nine games (all wins) and hasn't allowed more than three goals in any game. The Isles do a good job of limiting shots - they've allowed fewer than 30 in every game - and high-danger chances, but Varlamov has bailed them out with a handful of clutch stops when called upon.
His numbers speak for themselves: 7-2, 1.67 GAA, .934 SV% and a shutout, which came in the series clincher vs Washington.

SEAN COUTURIER:
Sean Couturier has emerged as one of the top two-way centers in the league, earning his second Selke Trophy nomination in the past three years this past season.
Couturier leads Flyers forwards in ice time (19:53 per game) in the postseason and sees a lot of time on both the power play (4:31 PP TOI/GP) and penalty kill (4:31 SH TOI/GP). He's an ace in the face-off circle and his 59.3 FO% ranks second among players with at least 100 draws. (Claude Giroux is third at 58.9%.)
Couturier has five assists in nine postseason games and recorded 59 points (22G, 37A) in 69 regular season games. Couturier also leads the Flyers with 23 hits.
JAKUB VORACEK:
Jakub Voracek leads the Flyers in goals (4), points (8) and PIMs (20) in the postseason. Voracek had seven points (4G, 3A) in six games vs the Habs and is riding a four-game point streak (3G, 3A) into the Isles series. The big, bearded, pass-first winger led the Flyers in assists (44) and finished third on the team in points (59) during the regular season. Voracek has 33 points (6G, 27A) in 42 regular season games against the Islanders in his career.
IVAN PROVOROV:
Ivan Provorov is the Flyers workhorse on the back end. The defenseman leads the team with 25:14 TOI/GP, 3:05 SH TOI/GP and averages 4:52 PP TOI/GP in the postseason. He plays a lot and is extremely durable, having appeared in a franchise-record 315 straight regular-season games to start his NHL career.
Provorov has four points (1G, 3A) in nine postseason games after putting up 36 points (13G, 23A) in 69 regular season games. He's not the most physical Flyer with nine hits in nine games, but he's fourth on the team with 14 blocked shots. Expect to see a lot of Provorov during the series.
CARTER HART:
Carter Hart has been a big key to the Flyers success in the postseason. Hart is 6-2-0 in eight postseason games with a 1.71 GAA, a .943 SV% and a pair of shutouts. Gaudy numbers for a 22-year-old.
Hart has been integral for the Flyers over the past season-and-a-half. Since making his NHL debut on Dec. 18, 2018, Hart is 12th in wins (40) among all NHL goalies, and this season, the Flyers netminder ranked eighth with a 2.42 GAA.
As good as Hart has been since entering the league, he's 0-2-0 against the Islanders, including getting pulled in the team's first meeting this season.

SPECIAL TEAMS MATCHUP:

The Islanders power play is 6-for-38 in the postseason (15.8%). The power play struggled to score against Washington, going 2-for-22 (9%) in the series, albeit against a top-tier penalty kill. After going 1-for-19 in Games 1-4, the power play came through with a clutch goal in Game 5.
The Flyers power play has also struggled to score in the postseason, going 4-for-39 (10.3%) with the man advantage. All four of those goals came against the Canadiens, as the Flyers went 4-for-28 (14.3%).
The Flyers hold a statistical edge on the penalty kill, going 25-for-31 (80.7%) shorthanded, while the Isles have gone 24-for-32 (75%). For the Isles, staying out of the box is a team focus.

TEAM LEADERS:

Goals: Anthony Beauvillier (6), Jakub Voracek (4)
Assists: Josh Bailey (8), Kevin Hayes (6)
Points: Josh Bailey (10), Jakub Voracek (8)

INJURIES/UPDATES:

Barry Trotz said the Islanders did not have any injury concerns heading into their series with the Flyers.
Cal Clutterbuck returned to practice on Saturday after leaving Game 4 and sitting out Game 5 vs Washington with an undisclosed injury.