30 – Number of times the Islanders were held to two or fewer goals (excluding shootout “goals”) this season, fewest in the NHL. For their part, the Caps had the fourth-fewest games in which they failed to score at least three goals with 32.
The Isles went 7-20-3 during the regular season when scoring two or fewer, and the Caps posted a slightly better 9-17-6 mark. But if either of these teams can manage to prevent their opponent from scoring three times, they’ll likely be in pretty good shape – New York was 33-3-1 when accomplishing that feat and Washington was 36-3-3.
Lastly, because you’re curious, the Caps were 9-3-3 when neither team reached three goals and the Isles were 7-3-1. But here’s betting that doesn’t happen often over the next four-to-seven games… even if it did happen the last time they met.