Any veil of secrecy about what kind of team the Islanders really are has been lifted. Now, unable to catch anyone by surprise, the tests become even more stern.
No longer can they play a big underdog card (if they ever really could). No longer can they hide from the national spotlight, especially if Barry Trotz faces his old Capitals team — up 2-1 on the Hurricanes heading into Thursday night’s Game 4 — in the second round, having led them to the Stanley Cup just a year ago.
And no longer can the Islanders rely on the cramped crowds at the Coliseum, or that galvanizing factor of playing in the old barn on Hempstead Turnpike. Their home games the remainder of their playoff run will be played at the sanitized Barclays Center, where the fans will surely show up and be loud, but it will hardly be the same type of atmosphere as the club’s ancestral home.
So, no, this won’t be the same as beating a Penguins team that looked constantly disjointed and often disinterested, having spent more time in the series with their net empty (5:55) than it did leading (4:51). It’ll be tougher shutting down Alex Ovechkin when he is surrounded by far more depth than Sidney Crosby was; or dealing with a very familiar team-concept the Hurricanes employ behind venerable captain and three-time Stanley Cup winner Justin Williams.
The Islanders will have a long time to think about both, to figure out just who they’re rooting for in that series. (Guess: Carolina.) No matter who it is, they know what has gotten them this far, and they know the only thing that will take them further.
“Getting everybody to play for each other is the hard thing,” Trotz said after the 3-1 win in Game 4 in Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, giving his team off on Wednesday as the waiting game for their next opponent begins. “Just understanding [to] do your job, do it well, do it for the guy next to you.”
This group’s mentality has been the biggest accomplishment of Trotz’s first year, executed in concert with team president Lou Lamoriello instilling a newfound culture of professionalism. Of all the times they could have gotten rattled against the Penguins, they kept their cool.
Josh Bailey didn’t lose it when he hit a post with five seconds left in regulation in Game 1. Mat Barzal was reeled in after his emotions got the best of him for a quick moment after what he thought was a bad hit from Marcus Pettersson in Game 2. Even goalie Robin Lehner was able to not cross the line when he was being physically goaded by Patric Hornqvist midway through Game 4.
“I think if there’s anything we learned it’s composure,” Trotz said. “It got a little hairy at times and our bench didn’t go emotionally off the rails. We just stayed pretty composed. I like that, because you’re focused in on the right things.”
Wonder where that comes from?
“Trotzie is a pretty composed guy,” veteran Matt Martin said. “It stems from the top.”
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Soon the red-hot spotlight is likely to be on Trotz, who knows if the opponent is the Capitals, his line from his first visit with his former team on Nov. 26 is going to be dragged out over and over again. That would be the now-famous “You’ll have to go through the f—king Island” if the Caps want to win again.
“When I said it, I believed it,” Trotz said Tuesday. “If it happens to be Washington, what I said will be played forever, on every newscast.”
The Islanders aren’t so accustomed to publicity, and definitely not that kind. But the veneer of insulation has worn away with their success and the challenges are only getting greater. Eventually, however good they really are will come to the forefront, and an already impressive season will end — when is up to them.
“No matter what happens,” Trotz said, “we’re absolutely going to have our hands full in the next round.”