When Bruins coach Bruce Cassidy looks across the ice in the second round, he sees a bit of a mirror image.
It's not hard to see the similarities between the Bruins and Islanders, who are two of the best defensive teams in the NHL.
The Islanders ranked second in the regular season in team defense with 2.23 goals against per game, while the Bruins were fourth at 2.39. The Bruins had the second-best penalty kill (86.0%); the Islanders were sixth (83.7%).
Both teams have top-notch goaltending as well. Tuukka Rask has been very good since returning from a mid-season injury, including posting a .941 save percentage in the Bruins' first-round series win over the Capitals. If anything were to happen to him, the Bruins could turn to rookie Jeremy Swayman, who had a .945 save percentage in 10 starts this season.
For the Islanders, Semyon Varlamov was a Vezina Trophy candidate in the regular season, but then an injury and one bad game opened the door for rookie Ilya Sorokin to break out in the first round. Sorokin was very good after taking over, going 4-0 against the Penguins with a .943 save percentage.
"They're a patient team. They defend well," Cassidy said of the Islanders. "Obviously we saw in the first series, two good goaltenders. They had to go to their plan B, and he won them all four games. So it doesn't matter who they put in there, they're going to get good goaltending.
"I think they have a lot of our attributes. They want to be structured, they want to play with discipline, they have good goaltending. Their D certainly get involved, but they want to play D first. They've got different lines that can hurt you. So in that regard, we're playing ourselves a little bit. Very well coached. So for us, it's a matter of staying within ourselves, play the game in front of you, put some pressure on their D."
The Bruins fared poorly against the Islanders earlier this season, losing each of the first five meetings between the two. But in their three meetings after the trade deadline -- and after acquiring Taylor Hall, Mike Reilly and Curtis Lazar -- the Bruins went 3-0-0 against the Islanders and outscored them 10-3.
Cassidy explained what he thinks accounted for the turnaround against New York.
"One, we were healthier," he said. "I think the start of the year there were a lot of games -- no excuses, but were scheduled back-to-backs or we were without people, etc. I know that I don't want to judge us on the start of the year against them. I don't know how they're judging themselves against us from the end of the year, when we had more success. To me, honestly, it's a fresh start for both teams. Both teams are playing well.
"What did we do better? Better third periods, for one. I think that was a problem up there early in the year. Whether that was us not staying patient, I know in a couple of those we made some critical mistakes that ended up in our net. So you learn from those. Obviously we managed the puck better in those last three games. I thought we were better on offense in terms of attacking their D, breaking them down and finding some ways to create offense against their bigger D-men. So that was below the goal line, some of it was off the rush, we were able to get inside. I know Taylor Hall definitely helped in that manner. We just played better at the end of the day, and it showed on the scoreboard."
The NHL has not yet announced when Game 1 at TD Garden will be, but Cassidy said the Bruins are preparing as if it will be Saturday. That would make the most sense given that the Celtics have games at the Garden on Friday and Sunday night. The only other option would be waiting until Monday, which could be a possibility if both the Maple Leafs-Canadiens and Hurricanes-Predators series extend to Saturday. (UPDATE: Game 1 is now officially set for Saturday night.)
The Bruins got some encouraging news at Thursday's practice, as defenseman Jeremy Lauzon ditched his red no-contact jersey for a regular practice jersey, meaning he has been cleared for contact as he works his way back from an upper-body injury suffered in Game 1 against Washington. Lauzon said he is "feeling better and better every day" and hopes to be ready for Game 1.
Kevan Miller, who suffered an upper-body injury in Game 4, has been in the facility a few times this week, but has not yet been cleared to return to the ice. Jakub Zboril, who was injured in the regular-season finale, got Thursday off and has not yet rejoined the main group.
