NEW YORK _ Any good coach seems to know what is going to happen before it does. So it was with Barry Trotz, who told the Washington Capitals back in late November that they have a shot to win another Stanley Cup but warned them, "You'll have to go through the (expletive) Island."
Score a big one for his reputation as a clairvoyant, because if the Capitals get past the Hurricanes and proceed in the Stanley Cup playoffs, they will in fact have to get past the Islanders next (albeit in Brooklyn, but you get the drift). He saw it coming all along.
Except, he said on Thursday, "I didn't 'know.' "
