Islanders Playoff Gameday News: Game 1 against the Flyers is tonight

Game 1 of the Islanders’ Eastern Conference Semifinals series with the Flyers begins tonight. No more local broadcasts, only national.

Eight teams remain, and this is the only series that has yet to begin. All eyes will be on Long Island and Philadelphia. This should be fun.

Here’s how the season series went, to the extent it matters:

Islanders News

• The Isles are “revving up” to face the Flyers in the playoffs for the first time in 33 years. [Islanders]
• Which means it’s series preview time: [Islanders | Sportsnet]
• And, of course, the team site’s official Game 1 preview. [Islanders]
• Expectations are high for both teams—for the Islanders, it’s about raising their high level of play; for the Flyers, their top guys need to get going. [NHL]
• NEW! Arthur Staple identifies some X-factors for the Islanders in this series, such as keeping Philly’s top guys quiet and getting Jordan Eberle going. [The Athletic]
• WATCH: Barry Trotz addressed the media yesterday, speaking about the upcoming series, as well as some unemotional remarks regarding a firing in Washington. [Islanders]
• The Islanders had to change hotels, but Trotz said “it’s sort of welcome.” [Newsday]
• Noel went over the playoff history between these teams. The Islanders are 1-3 all-time in the series, but ‘1’ was a pretty big one. [LHH]
• Goalie Semyon Varlamov has kind of flown under the radar this postseason, especially compared to his counterpart in Carter Hart, but he’s been really good in the playoffs. [Newsday]
• Andy Greene stated that the Islanders aren’t “carried by one or two guys here or there.” It’s a team effort. [Newsday]
• LISTEN: Joe and Rob chat about beating the Capitals (and getting their coach canned) before taking on the Flyers. [PTIsles @ LHH]
• LISTEN: Dan Saraceni went on the podcast with our friends (temporary enemies?) over at Broad Street Hockey to preview the series. I’ll be listening in the car today. [BSH]
• Islanders fans chipped in the money to send a banner plane over Toronto that read “Let’s Go Islanders!!!” I think it started as a troll job on the city of Toronto but became a serious boost for the team thereafter. [NHL]

Elsewhere

Last night’s NHL scores include the Bruins hanging on to take a 1-0 series lead over the Lightning and the Golden Knights overpowering the Canucks to do the same.

• Marc-Andre Fleury had agent Allan Walsh delete the tweet of him being stabbed by a sword named “DeBoer” but I would gather it had its desired effect at this point. [NHL]
• Avalanche starting goalie Philip Grubauer left Game 1 hurt and is definitely out for Game 2 tonight; his status beyond that is unknown. Pavel Francouz will start in his stead. [Sportsnet]
• As alluded to above, Todd Reirden was fired by the Capitals after losing in the First Round for the second consecutive season. [NHL]
• Washington has not begun contract talks with Alex Ovechkin, who will be entering the last year of his contract, and they might keep Braden Holtby, an impending UFA. [NHL]