The secret to the New York Islanders success isn’t much of a secret to anyone. It’s actually quite simple.

The Islanders are at their best when they’re playing five on five hockey. It’s where the Barry Trotz system works best and the numbers are there to back it up. Heck, even just by using the eye test that statement rings true.

Despite a sloppy 40 minutes in the opening game between the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals, The Islanders outplayed the Capitals five on five. Even as the Capitals jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second period, the Islanders had held the Capitals to just two shots at even strength through the first two periods, according to Natural Stat Trick.

To add to that the Capitals had a grand total of four scoring chances five on five through the opening 40 minutes. By comparison, the Islanders had eight shots at five on five and they had 12 scoring chances for in the first two periods.

“We just have that structure, the blueprint that we fall back on and we all have our job on the ice,” Scott Mayfield said on Thursday. “When we all pull together and just make sure we do our job it comes together well. I think that’s what we’re doing.”

Those numbers should be even more impressive considering the Islanders and Capitals only played 8:33 of the first period at five on five.

With nearly all of the third period played at even strength, the New York Islanders numbers increased even more. They put up nine shots in the final 20 minutes and registered nine scoring chances. Six of those were high danger chances.

“We just build off every shift. We build off the line before us and when we play five on five that’s when we’re at our most dangerous,” Casey Cizikas said Thursday. “We have four lines that can move the puck. That can get the puck in deep and that are fast. We just keep continuing to build more and more throughout the game.

“I think in the third period (of Game 1) it all came together for us. We kept it simple. We kept it easy on ourselves with not turning the puck over.”

What the Islanders won’t want to do in Game 2 is get suckered into taking any penalties by the Capitals.

Washington is seeing red after Anders Lee’s first period hit on Nicklas Backstrom and Tom Wilson publically said on Thursday that it will be fuel for the Caps in the next game. The series has already established itself as a physical one, that could very well rival the intensity of the 2015 series between the New York Islanders and Washington Capitals.

More so, the Capitals dominated the Islanders in the special teams game. The Islanders handed the Capitals seven opportunities on the man advantage in Game 1, which is where both Washington goals came from.

The likelihood of the Islanders giving Washington that many in Game 2 are low, but any chance the Islanders give the Caps on the power play could prove costly. The Capitals had 10 scoring chances on the man-advantage in Game 1 with seven of them being high danger chances.

“Our focus is just to play our game,” Mayfield said. “Stick to our structure. I think everyone knows how we play. Hard in the D-zone and we have a physical team. That’s going to be part of the game and we just move on going into Game 2 with our mindset.”