OTTAWA – Peter Laviolette purposely doesn’t say a lot, never rips a player of his in the media and never makes bold guarantees. But yesterday he made it crystal clear his team, despite the No. 8 tag hanging around its neck, is better than the Senators, the team that finished with the best regular-season record in the NHL.
“I think we have a better team,” Laviolette said right before some reporters needed to be revived from shock. “I’m saying that because I like our team. I like it when nobody thinks we can win.”
Finishing 30 points back of Ottawa in the regular season, the Islanders are the biggest underdogs in the tournament, and that suits them just fine. In fact, they’re embracing the fact the free world thinks the Senators will beat them without breaking a sweat; and that anything short of winning a Cup this spring will be cause for civil unrest in the capital city of Canada.
“The pressure’s not on us,” Jason Blake said. “It’s on them.”
So you guys think you have a shot to knock off the No. 1 seed in the tournament? You think there’s a chance to win four of the next seven games, when the Isles have beaten the Senators twice in the last 30?
“Of course we do,” Mark Parrish said.
The Islanders may not be able to skate well through the trap, haven’t been able to score with much frequency, and have been suspect in their own end several times this year – at least they believe in themselves.
“That’s what the playoffs are,” Parrish said. “It separates the men from the boys.”
Alexei Yashin, the former Senators captain, skates into a vortex of pure hatred tonight in the city he once refused to play for. Every time Public Enemy No. 79 has touched the puck against his former team since being traded two summers ago, he’s been booed with a peculiar passion.
“You love it when they boo on the road,” Parrish said. “It means you’re doing something right when they’re booing.”
While the fans are going to be tough on Yashin, the rest of the Isles hope to be tough on the skilled Ottawa forwards who can pick them apart if given time and room to operate.
“I know that we have to go up there and establish our game,” Laviolette said. “And our game is not a passive game.”
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Garth Snow’s pads have been the center of controversy down the stretch after Glen Sather called him a “cheater” for using what appeared to be an oversized chest protector. Snow’s not worried, but wouldn’t be surprised, if the Sens ask for his gear to be checked during the series. “I know I’m legal,” Snow said.
