The Islanders and Capitals are about to play a three-game series that will determine who sits in first place in the MassMutual East Division.

The two teams have identical 29-13-4 records coming into the series, though the Capitals have two more regulation and overtime wins than the Islanders.

Coming In Hot

The Isles come in having won two straight games. They battled the Flyers on Sunday night and won 1-0 on a fluky goal in overtime. Ilya Sorokin recorded his third shutout of the season in the victory.

On Tuesday, the Islanders put up one of their best games of the season and defeated the Rangers 6-1 at Nassau Coliseum. Anthony Beauvillier had four points (one goal, three assists) and Semyon Varlamov recorded his 17th win of the year.

The Capitals will come into Thursday night’s game cold. Their last matchup was Sunday afternoon on the road in Boston. The Bruins beat them 6-3, scoring four unanswered goals after Washington led 3-2. The Capitals also played the night before, recording a 6-3 victory against the Flyers.

Home Ice Advantage

The Islanders need to maximize the amount of points they take away from this series against the Capitals. After these three games, the only time they’ll play a team in playoff position is their final game of the season against Boston. Giving themselves padding in the standings will allow the Islanders to control their own destiny heading into the playoffs.

That’s especially important because the Islanders would love having home-ice advantage during the playoffs. After Tuesday night’s win, they own the best home record in the entire league (19-2-2). However, that means their road record is one of the worst in the league. In fact, it’s the second-worst among teams in playoff position (10-11-2). Only the Arizona Coyotes have been worse away from Glendale (9-12-2).

The Capitals have a much harder schedule after next week. They play the Penguins, Rangers and Flyers twice as well as another game against the Bruins. The Penguins keep finding ways to climb up the standings and the Rangers and Flyers are both playing for their playoff lives.

This series happens to be split between New York and Washington. The Islanders need to kick it off right since they’re much more likely to beat the Capitals at home than on the road. If they fall behind in games one and two, then they may not be able to make it up in Washington next Tuesday.

Build Chemistry

Until Tuesday, it seemed like the Islanders were out of sync since they acquired Travis Zajac and Kyle Palmieri. In the six games they played after coming to Long Island, the Islanders never scored more than two goals in regulation. Palmieri and Zajac only had one point each since their arrival.

With the return of Josh Bailey on Tuesday, head coach Barry Trotz shook up the lines once again, and it seemed to work. All four lines were buzzing, especially the third line of Bailey, Beauvillier and J-G Pageau. Palmieri had a great chance to score and Zajac assisted on Eberle’s goal.

For now, it seems like the Islanders have found their game. Getting consistent playing time against a quality opponent in the Capitals will give the Islanders a litmus test of where they need to improve heading into the postseason.

Ben Baruch

Born and raised on Long Island. Isles fan since 2009. Studying journalism at the University of Maryland, College Park.