Boston Bruins: An in-depth analysis of the New York Islanders
It’s official — the Boston Bruins will be taking on the New York Islanders in the second round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Isles took care of the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games Wednesday night.
Game 1 of the series between the B’s and Isles will take place Saturday night at 8 PM on NBC with Boston being home for the first two games as they are the higher seed.
Like the Black and Gold, the Isles were technically the underdog in their series as they were the fourth seed in the East and the Pens were the first seed. However, like Boston, the Islanders took advantage of questionable goaltending and played shutdown defense with stellar goaltending of their own.
With just one day until Game 1 of the series, let’s take a closer look at the Islanders — going over their regular-season offense, defense, and goaltending; postseason offense, defense, and goaltending; as well as how they’ve faired against the B’s this season.
Bruins In-depth Analysis of the Islanders:
Regular-season in general
As mentioned, the Isles finished in fourth place in the East, going 32-17-7 and accumulating 71 points. However, the Isles’ season could be broken up into three parts — with Anders Lee, without Anders Lee, and after the trade deadline.
The Isles started off the season quite well and even held first place for a little bit. Through their first 27 games they went 17-6-4. I used their first 27 games, because Lee would be injured with a season-ending ACL tear in their 27th game of the season against the New Jersey Devils.
Lee is extremely important to the team as he’s their captain, first line left wing, and scores 20+ goals a season. While the Islanders had won seven games in a row when Lee went down and they continued to nine games after his injury, they wouldn’t be even close to the same team without their captain as they were with him.
The 29 games without Lee were a struggle for the Isles. They went from being one of the top-two teams in the East to barely solidifying the fourth and final playoff spot for the division. With the team struggling, general manager Lou Lamoriello was forced to give up significant draft capital for veterans Kyle Palmieri and Travis Zajac on April 7 of this season.
Before acquiring the two former New Jersey Devils, the Isles had played 12 games without Lee, going 8-4-0. After the deadline deal, the Islanders finished out the season going 7-7-2. In total, without Lee, the Isles went 15-11-2.
Bruins In-depth Analysis of the Islanders:
Regular-season offense
Like the previous two seasons under head coach Barry Trotz, the Isles were towards the bottom of the league in total offense. They scored 156 goals (2.79 goals per game), which ranked 20th in the league.
Overall, the Isles don’t really have any actual superstars on offense, besides center Mat Barzal, who is one of the fastest and most creative young players in the league.
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Instead, they rely on a physical, defensive style of hockey where they roll out four effective lines that can all shutdown the opposition. The goal of the Islanders’ gameplan is to force you into a mistake and then take advantage of that mistake. They don’t shoot often as they pick their shots wisely with just 1,623 shots on goal (29.0 shots per game) throughout the season — 55 less than the league average.
The Isles are a well balanced team. They may not have had a 20-goal scorer this season, but they had seven players score at least 10 goals and four players with at least 15. Center Brock Nelson and left wing Anthony Beauvillier are their biggest goal-scoring threats, both scoring goals at 0.32 goals per game pace this season.
Additionally, the Islanders didn’t have one player scoring at a point-per-game pace this season, but they had five players score at least 30 points. Barzal is their biggest threat, scoring 45 points in 55 games this season, and he can either beat you with a sick pass or a highlight reel goal.
Bruins In-depth Analysis of the Islanders:
Regular-season defense and goaltending
Once again, the Isles were one of the best when it came to shutting down the opposition and not allowing them to score. They allowed just 128 goals (2.29 goals per game) this season — second best in the league.
Their overall success is due to their strong defensive play. Under Trotz, the Isles have adapted a team defense structure that calls for a lot of on-ice communication as well as knowing your zone, man, and where your teammates will be as well as picking up your teammates when they make a mistake.
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This style makes it hard for their opposition to create space, get to the middle of the ice, and get shots to the net. This season, the Isles allowed just 1,590 shots on goal (28.39 shots per game) — 88 less than the league average.
The Islanders are able to do this by having three solid defensive pairings, especially their first, shutdown pairing of Ryan Pulock and Adam Pelech, as well as having a tandem of two reliable goalies — veteran Semyon Varlamov and NHL rookie Ilya Sorokin.
While the Isles have the necessary tools to shutdown their opposition, their backend lacks the ability to score frequently.
Nick Leddy is a great skater and very good at dishing out passes and quarterbacking the powerplay as he led the team with 29 overall assists and 10 powerplay assists, but he had just two goals on the season.
I would say the Islanders’ top goal-scoring threat from the blueline has to be Pulock. Yes he only had two goals this season, but his clapper that has been recorded at over 100 MPH is a serious threat, especially on the powerplay.
In net, the Isles own a two-headed monster with Varlamov and KHL phenom Sorokin.
Varlamov was the go-to guy in the regular season posting impressive numbers of a .929 save percentage (SV%), 2.04 goals-against average (GAA), seven shutouts, and .743 quality start percentage (QS%) in 36 games (35 starts).
Sorokin, although deemed the back up for the season, was also impressive for his first season in the NHL. He had some hiccups along the way but finished the season with a .918 SV%, 2.17 GAA, three shutouts, and .714 QS% in 22 games (21 starts).
Bruins In-depth Analysis of the Islanders
Playoffs
Offense
In Round 1 against the Pens, the Islanders’ offense came to life scoring at least three goals in every game but one (Game 2). This can be partially blamed on poor goaltending by Pens’ goaltender Tristan Jarry, but you still have to be able to get into these situations and then hit the net to score goals.
Through the first round, the Isles scored 21 goals, an average of 3.5 goals per game — nearly one whole goal per game higher than in the regular season.
However, some of their top scorers from the regular season have so far been invisible in the postseason.
Barzal has just three assists and has yet to score a goal. If he continues to sleep walk through the playoffs, the B’s may have an easier time against the Isles.
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However, some of the lesser-known guys have stepped up.
J-G Pageau is continuing his normal great playoff play as the has a goal and six assists so far.
Beauvillier, Nelson, Palmieri, and Josh Bailey have been red-hot this postseason, as all scored three goals in their series with Pittsburgh.
Defense and Goaltending
The Isles continued their strong defensive play in their first-round series against the Pens as they allowed more than three goals once. They allowed a grand total of just 15 goals — an average of just 2.5 goals per game.
However, not much offense came from the blueline. Pulock scored the most goals among Isles’ defenseman with two while, surprisingly, Scott Mayfield produced the most overall points with a goal and three assists.
Additionally, Sorokin is now the starter for the Isles. Sorokin started Game 1 with Varlamov injured and played well, leading them to a 4-3 overtime win. However, with Varlamov healthy, the Isles went to him for Game 2 and Game 3. Game 2 he played very well but lost 2-1. Game 3 he struggled and lost 5-4.
After Varlamov struggled in Game 3, the Islanders went back to Sorokin. He continued played well and the Isles won the next three games to lead them to a series win.
In Varlamov’s two starts, he saved just 65 of 72 shots (.903 SV%) and had a 3.61 GAA. Sorokin, on the other hand, saved 150 of 159 shots (.943 SV%) and had a 1.95 GAA.
With that, the B’s will most likely start off the series facing Sorokin. But, if he struggles, Trotz won’t be afraid to go back to Varlamov.
Bruins In-depth Analysis of the Islanders:
Bruins vs Islanders
Overall
The B’s struggled against the Islanders for the majority of this season as they lost the first five games against them. However, they won the last three, which many attribute to the acquisition of Taylor Hall.
Overall, the B’s scored 18 goals against the Isles while they allowed 21 against them. That’s an average of 2.25 goals scored and 2.63 goals allowed.
However, most of the goals allowed came in the first five games in which they lost. Over these five games the B’s allowed 18 goals (3.6 goals per game) and only scored eight goals (1.6 goals per game).
Over the last three games, the B’s only allowed three goals (1.0 goals per game) and scored 10 goals (3.33 goals per game) — a much different story with the addition of Hall to the team.
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Another factor could very well be home-ice advantage. The first four games of the regular-season series between these two games took place at Nassau Coliseum, the home of the Isles, where the Islanders played much better than on the road. While the B’s went 0-3-1 at Nassau Coliseum, they went 3-0-1 at their home of TD Garden.
Top Scorers against each other
Bruins
- Brad Marchand, LW: 8 games, 7 points (4 goals, 3 assists)
- David Pastrnak, RW: 7 games, 7 points (2 goals, 5 assists)
- David Krejci, C: 7 games, 6 assists
- Patrice Bergeron, C: 8 games, 4 points (1 goal, 3 assists)
- Taylor Hall, LW: 3 games, 4 goals
- Steve Kampfer, D: 3 games, 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists)
- Charlie McAvoy, D: 8 games, 3 assists
- Mike Reilly, D: 3 games, 3 assists
- Craig Smith, RW: 8 games, 2 goals
- Charlie Coyle, C/RW: 7 games, 2 assists
Islanders
- J-G Pageau, C: 8 games, 8 points (5 goals, 3 assists)
- Mat Barzal, C: 8 games, 7 points (3 goals, 4 assists)
- Nick Leddy, D: 8 games, 5 assists
- Jordan Eberle, RW: 8 games, 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists)
- Anthony Beauvillier, LW: 7 games, 4 points (2 goals, 2 assists)
- Ryan Pulock, D: 8 games, 4 assists
- Brock Nelson, C: 8 games, 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists)
- Adam Pelech, D: 8 games, 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists)
- Anders Lee, LW: 4 games, 3 points (1 goal, 2 assists)
- Oliver Wahlstrom, RW: 7 games, 3 goals
- Leo Komarov, LW/C: 6 games, 3 assists
- Scott Mayfield, D: 8 games, 2 assists
Goaltending against each other
Bruins
- Tuukka Rask: 5 games (5 starts), 1.86 GAA, .925 SV%
- Jaroslav Halak: 3 games (2 starts), 4.36 GAA, .859 SV%
- Jeremy Swayman: 1 game (1 start), 25-save shutout
Islanders
- Semyon Varlamov: 7 games (7 starts), 1.93 GAA, .943 SV%, 1 shutout
- Ilya Sorokin: 2 games (1 start), 2.23 GAA, .921 SV%
Bruins In-depth Analysis of the Islanders:
Final thoughts
This series is going to be a close and entertaining one. There are so many factors going into how this series could go. One being home-ice advantage, which the B’s start with. If the B’s can win the first two games of the series, they should win the series.
Another factor is goaltending. Although Sorokin has played well so far this postseason, he’s only started once against the B’s in his career, the other appearance coming as relief of an injured Varlamov.
Rask, on the other hand, has a ton of experience, both against the Isles and in the playoffs. Because of that, I would say the Black and Gold have the advantage in net.
Additionally, Boston will have to shutdown players that had killed them in the regular season. These players include Pageau, Barzal, and Leddy. However, other players have emerged for the Isles in the playoffs this season — players such as Beauvillier and Bailey. If the B’s can control these players, they should win this series easily.
Furthermore, players such as Pastrnak and Bergeron will have to step up against the Isles. Pasta only had two goals against the Islanders in the regular season — he needs to have more than that in this series. Bergeron only scored a goal and three assists — he needs to be better than that.
Furthermore, players such as Krejci and McAvoy will need to be better. They only registered assists against the Isles and need to find ways to bury goals.
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Hall and Marchand are players that thrived against the Islanders during the regular season. They’ll need to continue to punish the Isles if Boston wants to advance to the next round.