Since coach Barry Trotz joined the Islanders in 2018 just two weeks after leading the Capitals to their first Stanley Cup, the teams’ rivalry has been consistently even.
Eight regular-season games — four each season — have been split with the home team yet to win.
Now, the stakes are higher with the teams meeting at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto in the first round of these unique NHL playoffs, being played at neutral-site, hub-city, quarantined bubbles.
Game 1 is Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Here’s a position by position look at both teams:
Forwards: The Capitals have the best player in the series in left wing Alex Ovechkin (48 goals, 19 assists) and Trotz faces a pick-your-poison in how to match his lines against either Ovechkin’s line with Evgeny Kuznetsov and bruising Tom Wilson or Nicklas Backstrom’s second line with T.