Washington Capitals Rivals: New York Islanders Outlook

Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Capitals and New York Islanders rivalry has reached its highest temperature since the 1990’s. How do the two rivals match up against each other in 2015?

The Washington Capitals and New York Islanders were huge rivals back in the 1980’s and into the 1990’s. Many thought that the rivalry had reached its boiling point back in 1993 when forward Dale Hunter took a cheap shot at Pierre Turgeon after Turgeon scored a goal to end the Patrick Division semi-final.

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After last season, the rivalry has officially hit a new boiling point. It occurred when Capitals forward Tom Wilson (cleanly) leveled Islanders defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky. Since then, Wilson has become arguably the least popular hockey player amongst Islanders fans since Hunter. Even the Islanders don’t take kindly to Wilson. Say what you want about Wilson’s hit, but you can’t deny that it reignited an excellent rivalry.

MORE FROM STARS AND STICKS: Scouting The Islanders

The Washington Capitals and New York Islanders faced each other four times during the regular season in 2014-15. Three of those games took more than 60 minutes to determine a winner. The Caps went 2-0-2 against the Islanders, getting six points. The Islanders went 2-1-1, getting five points. The hockey gods took note of their exciting games and pitted them against each other in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The Islanders put up an extremely valiant effort. They took the Washington Capitals to seven games despite having a depleted blue line. Perhaps their game six victory (their final one in Nassau Coliseum) was too emotionally exhausting for them as they looked flat in game seven.

The Washington Capitals and Islanders are both looking like legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. They will once again square off four times in the regular season. The Capitals and Islanders have very similar forwards. People tend to think of “top six forward lines”. That idea revolves around having two scoring lines and two “shutdown” or “checking” lines.

The Caps and Islanders didn’t get that memo. Both teams will most likely have three scoring lines and one shutdown line. That’s a strategy stolen from the Chicago Blackhawks and Tampa Bay Lightning. Those two teams were in the Stanley Cup Finals last season, so it’s probably a good idea to go with that strategy.

John Tavares is the only name that jumps out at you when you look at the Islanders forwards, but they’re extremely talented. Kyle Okposo is dangerous when he’s healthy. Ryan Strome is primed to have a breakout season. Frans Nielsen and Josh Bailey are both underrated. Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin are both excellent complementary pieces. They might be lacking in elite talent, but they have one of the deepest forward cores in the NHL. That’s without factoring in their prospects.

Where the Islanders and Washington Capitals differ is defense. The Islanders have a first pairing of Nick Leddy and Johnny Boychuk. That pairing can handle whatever situation is thrown at them. They compare favorably with John Carlson and Brooks Orpik of the Washington Capitals. However, after Leddy and Boychuk, the Islanders blue line is unproven and full of question marks.

The Capitals have a strong second pairing of Karl Alzner and Matt Niskanen. Calvin de Haan and Travis Harmonic are a decent second pairing. They aren’t as good as Niskanen and Alzner though. Thomas Hickey was slated to be on the third pairing with Marek Zidlicky, but Hickey is out for roughly a month. Brian Strait will likely replace him. Zidlicky is old (but still decent) and Strait is simply not good. Dmitry Orlov and Nate Schmidt are unproven, but I’ll take my chances with them over Strait and Zidlicky.

I’m really confused as to why the Islanders didn’t go out and sign someone like Cody Franson or Christian Ehrhoff. Either one of those guys would have been a huge help for the Islanders and would have provided them with some blue line depth. That’s something that the Islanders lack.

The huge difference between the Washington Capitals and Islanders is in goal. Braden Holtby is arguably an elite goaltender. At worst, he’s one of the top 10 goaltenders in the NHL. Jaroslav Halak has a history of killing the Caps, but he’s often injured and his numbers last year certainly weren’t encouraging. Thomas Greiss gives the Islanders a pretty solid Plan B in case Halak is lost long-term or Halak is terrible.

Despite their flaws, even the most extreme pessimists agree that the Islanders are probably going to be a really good team. Even my worst case scenario for them has them in a position to sneak into the playoffs as a 7th or 8th seed. I’m looking forward to this rivalry between the Caps and Islanders. Should be a lot of fun and very competitive.

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The Washington Capitals and New York Islanders rivalry has reached its highest temperature since the 1990’s. How do the two rivals match up against each other in 2015?

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