#NHLPeachy @NHL #NHLStats Pack: 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers – New York Islanders vs. Florida Panthers
NHL STATS & INFORMATION NOTES
2020 STANLEY CUP QUALIFIERS: NEW YORK ISLANDERS (7) VS. FLORIDA PANTHERS (10)
#NHLSTATS: NEW YORK ISLANDERS
* The Islanders captured the Stanley Cup in four consecutive years from 1980 to 1983. They are one of two franchises in NHL history to win four or more consecutive championships.
* New York has a 6-1 series record in seven best-of-five series during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Their all-time win percentage of .857 in best-of-five series is the highest among the 31 current NHL franchises.
* Ten Islanders who dressed in at least one game during the 2016 First Round versus the Panthers remain with the team: Josh Bailey, Johnny Boychuk, Casey Cizikas, Cal Clutterbuck, Thomas Greiss, Thomas Hickey, Nick Leddy, Matt Martin, Brock Nelson and Ryan Pulock. Hickey, who played 14 games with the Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the AHL in 2019-20, was recalled by New York on March 5 and is the Islanders’ nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy.
* New York’s triumph over Florida in 2016 was its first series win since 1993. They have one series victory since, a sweep of the Penguins in the 2019 First Round (their first series sweep since 1983).
* New York had a 10-game win streak in 2019-20 which began with a 3-2 shootout win against Florida. It was the second-longest regular-season win streak in franchise history. Overall, the Islanders set a franchise record with a 17-game point streak (15-0-2) – defeating the Panthers twice in that span.
* Mathew Barzal, who led the Islanders in scoring this season (19-41—60 in 68 GP), made his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut in 2019 – collecting seven points in eight contests (2-5—7). He can become the second Islanders player to average at least one point per game through his first 10 career postseason contests, joining Mike Bossy from 1978 to 1979 (6-4—10; 1.00 P/GP).
* Jordan Eberle had nine points in the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs (4-5—9 in 8 GP), his first postseason appearance since 2017 (w/ EDM). Eberle and Barzal can become the first players to average at least one point per game through their first 10 postseason contests with the Islanders (NHL debut or otherwise) since Alexei Yashin from 2002 to 2003 (5-5—10; 1.00 P/GP).
* Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who scored a goal in each of his first two games with the Islanders, has 12-4—16 in 35 career playoff contests (all w/ OTT). His postseason totals include a four-goal showing versus the Rangers in Game 2 of the 2017 Second Round that was capped with a double-overtime winner.
* Boychuk has the most career playoff games among current Islanders (101), including 25 in 2011 when he won the Stanley Cup with Boston. Overall, four Islanders have a combined six Cup wins: Andrew Ladd (2006 CAR & 2010 CHI), Boychuk, Leddy (2013 CHI) and Tom Kuhnhackl (2016 PIT & 2017 PIT).
* Semyon Varlamov is 8-3-1 in 12 career regular-season appearances versus Florida, while Greiss is 5-2-1 in eight outings. Greiss also appeared in each game of the 2016 First Round for New York, going 4-2 with a 1.79 goals-against average and .944 save percentage.
* Barry Trotz became the Islanders’ head coach in 2018-19 after winning his first Stanley Cup with the Capitals in 2018. His 59 career wins in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (59-62) are the fourth-most among active head coaches, behind Joel Quenneville (118-97), Alain Vigneault (68-71) and Claude Julien (63-51).
#NHLSTATS: FLORIDA PANTHERS
* The Panthers reached the Stanley Cup Final in 1996, where they were swept by the Avalanche. Florida became the fifth NHL franchise to reach the Final in its first appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, joining the Toronto Arenas (1918), Montreal Maroons (1926), Boston Bruins (1927) and St. Louis Blues (1968); the Vegas Golden Knights (2018) have since joined that list.
* The Panthers were the first of the seven 1990s expansion franchises to reach the Stanley Cup Final. Six of those seven franchises have now reached the championship series, listed with their first Final appearance: Florida (1996), Anaheim (2003), Tampa Bay (2004), Ottawa (2007), San Jose (2016) and Nashville (2017).
* Four Panthers who played in the 2016 First Round against the Islanders remain with the team: Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau, Aaron Ekblad and Mike Matheson. Three players from that series are now part of the Panthers’ front office: Roberto Luongo (special advisor to the general manager), Derek MacKenzie (assistant coach) and Shawn Thornton (senior vice president).
* Barkov (2-1—3) and Huberdeau (1-2—3) each had three points in six games against the Islanders in 2016. Barkov is the only current Panthers player with multiple career postseason goals with the franchise.
* Brian Boyle has appeared in at least one playoff game in each of the last nine years since 2011, behind only Marc-Andre Fleury (13; 2007-2019) for the NHL’s longest active run. Boyle (114), Anton Stralman (104) and Keith Yandle (51) are the only Panthers to play at least 50 career playoff games.
* Sergei Bobrovsky has appeared in 27 career head-to-head matchups versus the Islanders (16-10-0, 2.18 GAA, .928 SV%, 3 SO). Playing with the Blue Jackets in 2019, Bobrovsky went 4-0 in the First Round (2.01 GAA, .932 SV%) against the Lightning – now his intrastate rival – to help Columbus complete an historic sweep versus the Presidents’ Trophy winners.
* In addition to Barkov, Ekblad, Huberdeau and Matheson noted above, two other Panthers have playoff experience versus the Islanders: Boyle and Lucas Wallmark. Boyle’s totals include an overtime goal, scored against Thomas Greiss in Game 3 of the 2016 Second Round (w/ TBL).
* Noel Acciari scored 20 goals in 2019-20 (66 GP) – two more than he had in his first 180 games entering the season and highlighted by consecutive hat tricks in December – after reaching the Stanley Cup Final with Boston in 2019.
* Joel Quenneville has won the Stanley Cup three times as an NHL head coach (2010, 2013 & 2015) and once as an assistant coach (1996). His 118 career playoff wins are the third-most in NHL history among head coaches behind Scotty Bowman (223) and longtime Islanders executive Al Arbour (123). Quenneville’s 215 games coaches in the postseason rank second behind Bowman (353).
NOTABLE CONNECTIONS
Some notable connections between the Islanders and Panthers:
* Aaron Ekblad and Jordan Eberle won gold with Canada at the 2015 World Championship. They defeated Russia in the gold-medal game, which featured Sergei Bobrovsky and Evgenii Dadonov.
* Barry Trotz and Joel Quenneville served as assistant coaches for Team Canada at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
* Brett Connolly is the only Stanley Cup champion on the Panthers’ roster, winning with the Capitals in 2018 under the guidance of Trotz. Connolly’s current teammate Erik Haula was his opposition in the 2018 Final.
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Download the PDF for a breakdown of neutral-site games and all-time best-of-five series contested by the Islanders and Panthers. A neutral-site game is categorized as one played in an arena that does not normally serve as either club's home ice.
