The 0-0 tie after regulation was one indication, as were the smattering of big saves that each goalie had to make to get to that point. But the lesson from the Islanders’ 1-0 overtime loss to the Hurricanes in Game 1 of their second-round playoff series on Friday night at Barclays Center was that this is not just going to be a tight series, but an unbelievably tight series.
As the series moves to Game 2 on Atlantic Avenue on Sunday afternoon, that is where goalie Robin Lehner comes in.
Lehner was a huge part in the Islanders’ goals-against revival this season, just as he was a huge part in the first-round sweep of the Penguins, outplaying his counterpart Matt Murray. Yet just like it is up and down the lineup this series, the Islanders are matched in nets by a very similar player.
Petr Mrazek has gotten hot at the right time for the Hurricanes and he shined early on in Game 1 to keep his team afloat less than two days after a grueling double-overtime win in Game 7 of Carolina’s first-round series against the Capitals.
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“It was a 0-0 game, so we knew one goal was going to win the game,” Lehner said after the team’s short and upbeat practice in Brooklyn on Saturday afternoon. “I think Mrazek made a lot of good saves, I think I made some good saves. Both teams are good at creating from nothing.”
When those chances do arise, it’s going to be on the goaltenders to make timely saves. Those are the types of moments this season when Lehner has been terrific, the big-time saves that earned him a spot as a finalist for the Vezina Trophy while his own personal and professional revival has made him the more-than-likely winner of the Masterton Trophy. It’s also what earned him the role as the postseason starter from first-year head coach Barry Trotz.
“Robin is the biggest goaltender I’ve had in terms of pure mass,” Trotz said of the 6-foot-4, 240-pound Swede. “He’s just a big man. He’s built like a linebacker. But he works well on his game.
“What I like about him is he’s got a really good focus. He’s had to do that because of his challenges off the ice. He’s had a really good focus this year, all year, in terms of how he plays and how he handles things. That’s undeniable.”
It was clear Lehner would be the starter entering the playoffs, but when the second-round opponent became the Hurricanes, it was hard to look away from the past. Lehner did not start a game against the Hurricanes all season, and his lifetime record against them entering the series was 0-4-0 with a 4.25 goals-against average and an .885 save percentage.
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Meanwhile, Thomas Greiss, who shared the Jennings Trophy with Lehner and who got 39 starts to Lehner’s 43, played all four games against Carolina during the regular season. Greiss went 3-1-0 in those contests — the most recent on Jan. 8 — with a 1.76 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage.
Nevertheless, numbers can be misleading. The Hurricanes didn’t hit their stride until the second half of the season, and Lehner’s previous statistics against Carolina while he was with the Senators and Sabres mean very little at this juncture with a very different team in front of him.
“I know that Carolina I have struggled with. But if you look through players’ careers, it’s an easy pattern to find for [the media] without really understanding situations,” Lehner said. “They’re a new team over there. I don’t think it has any significance.”
What does have significance is that in extremely low-scoring and tight games, just one more save can be the difference between moving on to the conference final and going home for the summer.
“As you mature as a goalie in this league and get older [and] you get some more experience in this league, you start realizing it’s not much what they do, it’s more about what you do,” Lehner said. “It’s the same color of the puck. Things don’t change. I have to save the puck.”