Hurricanes 3 (EN), Islanders 1: Isles miss opportunity in Game 1 loss

3 weeks ago  /  Lighthouse Hockey

Gah. | Photo by Grant Halverson/Getty Images


If the Isles need to cash in on their best opportunities to win this series, they already wasted a prime one. Kicking off their first-round series with the Carolina Hurricanes, the New York Islanders lost a Game 1 where they played pretty well and could have and maybe really should have been in position to win.
They never had a lead, but spent over 20 minutes with the better share of chances to take one.How much that costs them is of course TBD by how the rest of the series goes, but the Isles will feel like they played well enough to have a win, but for their finishing.
It was the missed scoring chances that really cost the Isles, as they mostly withstood the Canes’ usual barrage of shots — and actually outshot them 35-26 — on their way to a 3-1 (EN) loss.
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First Period: That didn’t take long
One of the feared differences in this series is the special teams, with the Hurricanes’ vaunted power play and the Isles’ self-sabotaging penalty kill.
So it was a pretty rough opening when Anders Lee was called for a weak penalty when he used his arm for leverage on Brady Skjei and the former Ranger spun and fell to the ice like he’d been shot. (In truth, his skates appeared to get tangled and he tripped himself.) Lee would’ve had a clean break-in, so the officials probably felt they couldn’t afford to miss the call.
But the Hurricanes scored right away on the power play, Evgeny Kuznetsov sending a perfect shot through a perfectly timed Stefan Noesen screen from the left circle. Lee’s penalty was at 1:22, Carolina’s goal was at 1:35.
Kyle MacLean, making his NHL playoff debut, got his first NHL playoff goal at 8:19 when he pounced on a rebound of a Lee tip that Frederik Andersen lost under his pad. That made it 1-1 at 8:20.
Following the equalizer, the Isles top line had a nice rush with Mat Barzal starting from his own zone, feeding Bo Horvat then driving the net with Casey Cizikas crashing. Then the Islanders went to the power play after Andrei Svechkinov responded to a net battle with Alex Romanov by riding his stick up high on Romanov’s head while the Canes possessed in the Isles’ zone.
It’s an easy copy/paste here that the Isles did nothing with the man advantage. They managed zero sustained possession in the Canes’ zone. On a late change and transition, however Hudson Fasching had a nice chance from the top of the dots winding up only to have the knob of Andersen’s stick save it.
The rest of the period was pretty tame and cagey. Official shots on target finished 8-7 for Carolina.
Second Period: Pendulum swings in Isles favor, but no gold
That relative quiet continued for most of the second period, with the Islanders having the better of play and the best couple of chances, and doing much better to survive Carolina’s second power play after a puck-over-the-glass call on Matt Martin. They withstood the Hurricanes dump-and-swarm efforts and were calm and precise when maneuvering the puck away from pressure and out of the zone.
Andersen stopped Kyle Palmieri point blank on a nice feed 2-on-1 feed from Brock Nelson, and he stopped Barzal alone in the slot after Casey Cizikas hounded Sebastian The Lesser Aho into coughing up the puck in the Hurricanes zone. Barzal was about to be closed down by Canes defensemen, but with the benefit of hindsight and replay I wish he’d have delayed or made a bit more of a fake on Andersen, who came out aggressively to leave little angle.
So the period finished with no change in the score, the Isles playing refreshingly well but missing on two great chances to grab a lead. Shots were 13-5 for the Isles.
Third Period: Swarmed
The Isles had one good push that required a save and scramble from Andersen, who made a great save on Noah Dobson after the initial shot rang off the post, but otherwise the Hurricanes dominated the opening of the third until they got the go-ahead goal.
It was wave after wave, cycle after cycle in the Isles zone while the Islanders tried to stay composed and stick to coverage. Ironically, the goal itself was more good fortune and bounces for the Canes, as Skjei’s mild point shot past Martin hit a stick and then a body (Ryan Pulock), causing Varlamov to play the initial angle, and then Noesen chopped at the loose puck, which bounced in to Varlamov’s right.
The Isles earned a power play when Noesen high-sticked Mike Reilly in a battle in the slot, and the Isles power play was a little better, and created one more great chance the Isles couldn’t quite convert. Palmieri dug the puck off Andersen’s pad and curled around the top of the crease, but his shot skittered just wide as he fell to the ice.
Soon after, Palmieri went to the box after a hard high hit from Seth Jarvis, who then collapsed like he’d been shot after Palmieri gave him a firm tap on the back of the leg. That’s two dramatic falls, two resulting power plays for the Canes. But the Isles killed this one, allowing just one shot on Varlamov.
With 1:40 left on the clock, Patrick Roy called timeout and pulled Varlamov for a sixth attacker.
It was one and done, the Canes getting a faceoff win, a clear past Noah Dobson at the blueline, and then Martin Necas outmuscled Dobson to get to the puck and then slide it in from center ice.
Notes

No J-G Pageau, and Roy filled in with a variety of emergency centers, with Cal Clutterbuck and Simon Holmstrom — even Martin — taking some draws.
Good to have Dobson back, but definitely did not have his best game. Can’t say whether it was rust or the lingering injury itself or what. But they need him to be better and a true force in this series.
Killing two of three power plays, controlling one period firmly, having a few golden scoring chances go empty, and the Canes not at their best — all combine to make this feel like a game the Isles could have and should have had. Assuming there won’t be many of those, this was a major missed opportunity.

Next Up
Game 2 is Monday night in Raleigh....

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