Trotz faces emotional reunion in Islanders-Capitals first-round matchup

Barry Trotz made the long walk from the New York Islanders' dressing room to the visitors room at Barclays Center on Nov. 26, 2018, a distance long enough to at least think about what he would say to his former team, the Washington Capitals, who he guided to a Stanley Cup championship five months earlier.

Joined by his assistants, Lane Lambert and Mitch Korn, who worked with Trotz in Washington for four years, they received their Stanley Cup rings and were given the chance to address the players one last time. Trotz thanked the Capitals for the memories and told them they were good enough to win the Cup again.

But …

"You'll have to go through the (bleeping) island," Trotz told them that night. … "I'm going to try and do the same thing on the island. We've got lots of work to do to hopefully have the same memories on the island as I always will with you guys."

Trotz's voice cracked towards the end of his address. His first championship in 19 seasons as an NHL coach, Trotz told the Capitals, "I can die a happy man."

"You hope to, going into what we were trying to do, was to make the playoffs and hopefully meet a team like the Caps," Trotz said Sunday, mere minutes after finding out he would be facing his former team in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time. "That's where that was at, but it was a special day. I did something special with my coaching staff and that group of players. It was emotional and heartfelt, if you will.

"It'll be a great challenge, because I know the people over there."

Todd Reirden, Trotz's former assistant, is 89-46-16 since taking over as Capitals coach. He guided them to a Metropolitan Division title last season, but Washington was eliminated by the Carolina Hurricanes in the Eastern Conference First Round, losing Game 7 in double overtime.

Trotz, who became Islanders coach exactly two weeks after winning the Cup with the Capitals, is 83-50-17 with New York and guided it to a four-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round before it was swept by the Hurricanes in the second round.

Now, after a global pandemic that paused the NHL season March 12, the Islanders and Capitals will collide in the first round of the playoffs at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, the hub city in the East. Game 1 of the best-of-7 series is Wednesday (3 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, TVAS).

Washington secured the No. 3 seed in the East after a 2-1 win against the Boston Bruins in the final game of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers round-robin on Sunday.

"Obviously we were able to accomplish something amazing together, and that's something that you'll never forget as a staff. That's never going to go away," Reirden said. "It's unique now being on opposite benches, and it has been. Obviously it's been a couple years now so it's died down a little bit, but the importance of knowing some of the tendencies, some of the things that I have seen Barry Trotz's teams do and his coaching style and stuff is stuff that I paid close attention to for a few years.

"It's something that'll be obviously a great matchup for the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders. It's not Barry Trotz vs. Todd Reirden or any of those type of things. It's going to be a team effort and our leadership group is strong and I know that they're excited to get ready to play some hockey that takes on extra meaning and we know that we have another level that our game can get to."

The Islanders looked like a different team in the Cup Qualifiers, defeating the Florida Panthers in four games in their best-of-5 series. New York went 0-3-4 in its last seven before the pause, but defenseman Adam Pelech has healed from an Achilles injury and center Jean-Gabriel Pageau seems to be fully acclimated after a trade from the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 24. Pageau scored three goals in the Qualifiers.

Washington and New York split four games during the regular season (each went 2-2-0).

"Obviously it's a team we know well, a coaching staff that we know well and are familiar with," Reirden said. "They're a team that battles really hard, very structured, detailed, committed to playing defense. They're going to be a very, very tough challenge for us and they've played well since coming into the bubble. Their game was really solid.

"Now that we know our opponent, we continue to take the next steps to try to prepare ourselves, prepare our players to be ready for a very difficult opponent in the New York Islanders."

Reirden said Sunday he hopes to have John Carlson, who led all NHL defensemen with 75 points (15 goals, 60 assists) during the regular season, available whenever the series gets underway. Carlson has been unfit to play since he sustained an injury during an exhibition game against the Hurricanes on July 29. As part of the NHL Return to Play Plan, a team is not permitted to disclose player injury or illness information.

A healthy Carlson would obviously greatly increase the Capitals' chances of going on a long postseason run.

To do so, they'll have to go through the island.

"That group has a lot of pedigree, they got a lot of star power and they've won a championship, so they're well equipped in a lot of areas," Trotz said. "The biggest challenge is to play them even and play them hard and they'll do the same because I know a lot about that group."