The Islanders have a round of playoff games under their belt, but does that mean that gives them an edge in some way over the Washington Capitals? If you ask the Islanders, it doesn’t seem like they’d say it would.

Yes, both clubs played in games before the start of the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. However, the Qualifying Round contests had a much different feel to it than the Round Robin. The Islanders were playing for their postseason lives, while the Caps were just there to figure out seeding.

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Washington lost all but one of its Round Robin games — A 2-1 win over Boston to secure the third seed — while the Islanders had to defeat Florida in four games. Still, the players weren’t ready to say if that gave them any sort of competitive edge heading into Game 1 on Wednesday

“This such a new situation for everybody,” Jordan Eberle said. “The experiences for us even just playing the best-of-five to coming out of training camp in August to play in the playoffs, everything is new. I said it from day one, the teams that are mentally prepared and the team that is mentally ready to go and has the most urgency is going to win.

“Even for us coming off a best-of-five and going in maybe that gave us a little bit of an advantage to play more key games. But you watched the Round Robin game between the four teams they got more intense as they went on.”

Even if the Capitals aren’t in full playoff mode by Game 1, they’ll be a formidable opponent for the Islanders. The Capitals have one of the league’s most dangerous power plays and they are the second-highest scoring team in the NHL with 3.42 goals per game during the regular season.

The Islanders know the challenge that’s ahead of them regardless of the edge they may or may not have.

“Every situation, every event is different,” Barry Trotz said. “Obviously we were playing for our lives right from the get-go. We’ll have to see after the series. I don’t know how it’s going to play out, but I do know this. They’re a veteran team. … They’re going to be prepared.”

The Islanders too will be prepared when they hit the ice on Wednesday afternoon and they’ll know they will need to shut down some of the Capitals best players. They will get some reprieve with Lars Eller out for Game 1 and John Carlson is going to be a game-time decision.

The Islanders will still have to contend with the likes Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, T.J. Oshie, Evgeny Kuznetsov and several other players.

Responsibility for stoping some of Washington’s best players will fall on Adam Pelech and Ryan Pulock. New York’s top defensive pair held two of Florida’s best players in Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau to one goal each in four games.

Pelech also found himself squaring up against the Pittsburgh Penguins top players in the postseason last year.

“That was my first playoff experience,” Pelech said looking back at last year. “We spent a lot of time out there against (Sidney Crosby) and luckily we did well. That gave us a bit of confidence and momentum going forward. Similar situation with some of the talented players Washington has upfront. We’re going to do our best and hopefully, we can do well to shut them down.”