Historically, teams that win Game 1 of a best-of-five series, and until Saturday there hadn’t been one in the NHL since 1986, go on to advance 81.9% of the time.
So, the Islanders are in good position in their qualifying series against the Panthers after they held on for a 2-1 win at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Saturday.
The Islanders played most of the final two periods with just five defensemen after an illegal check to the head from Panthers defensemen Mike Matheson – initially called a major penalty but reduced after review – sent Johnny Boychuk to concussion protocol at 2:44 of the second period.