Discipline, Fundamentals Key Islanders' Convincing Game 1 Win over Capitals

Unless this were the early-to-mid-1980s, it would have been a fantasy of George R. R. Martin-esque proportion that a New York Islander could have the third best-selling jersey in the NHL this time of year. But according to sports-apparel maker Fanatics.com, John Tavares' No. 91 was No. 3 this week in individual jersey sales, behind Henrik Lundqvist and Jonathan Toews, respectively.

Sales should go up even more in the aftermath of the Islanders' 4-1 Game 1 victory over the Washington Capitals in an Eastern Conference first-round series game at the Verizon Center. This was hardly some one-man win, though. Tavares was just another worker bee in what proved a top-to-bottom strong road effort by the Islanders, who now have seized home-ice advantage in the best-of-seven series.

Alex Brandon/Associated Press

To sell jerseys, you have to do more than just win faceoffs. Tavares does that. His 38 goals were fourth-best in the NHL in the regular season. He also won 52.2 percent of his draws as a center, which helped the Islanders in becoming the third-best puck-possession team of the season.

A simple faceoff win, as incongruous as it might have seemed at the time, turned into arguably the biggest play for the Islanders in their opening road victory. 

Early in the second period of a 1-1 game, Tavares lined up in the left faceoff dot in the offensive zone and won a draw back to the left point. Ryan Strome was there to accept the puck. Strome quickly put a routine-looking wrist shot toward the net, but it was enough of a shot to fool Braden Holtby.

When the puck went in, at the 3:50 mark, it gave the Islanders a lead they never gave up. That's what great players do. They don't always score all the points, but they'll make some kind of big play that gets the W.

But let's not get too carried away yet in either direction. The fact is this was a dry affair, with the Islanders playing good—not great. The shots were 27-25 in favor of New York, while, despite the big win by Tavares, the Capitals won 63 percent of the faceoffs.

One thing is certain: The Capitals will need better goaltending from Holtby if they are to make it out of this round. He just wasn't good enough in Game 1. Neither was anyone else in the deep cherry red jerseys of the home club.

For reaction from the Capitals' dressing room, we quote from the Twitter feed of The Washington Post beat writer Alex Prewitt, with the first offering from coach Barry Trotz:

Next, Caps veteran Troy Brouwer weighs in:

The Caps, with home-ice advantage and a healthy lineup, just didn't put forth the effort needed against a short-handed underdog road club. 

For instance, the Islanders got a great performance out of youngster Calvin de Haan, who played nearly 17 minutes on defense and made all the simple plays to get the puck out of New York's end. The Islanders will need much more of that from him, especially with ice-time leader Travis Hamonic out indefinitely with what Newsday's Arthur Staple reported as "a suspected left knee injury."

"Our guys played hard," Islanders head coach Jack Capuano told Newsday. "When you play against elite players, you want to be smart and controlled. Brian [Strait] was good, Calvin [de Haan] had a good game. All of them played extremely well."

Mark this series down as one that likely goes six or seven games. The Islanders are not an elite team, especially with Hamonic out. Trotz will make the adjustments to get his team at a better "compete" level than it was in this one. Expect a more physical Washington team for Game 2 if Trotz's historical M.O. is to be followed.

But thanks to a more dedicated showing in Game 1, the Islanders now have the upper hand.

Adrian Dater has covered the NHL since 1995. Follow him @Adater.