The Hurricanes finish round one of the playoffs by taking the Islanders, four games to one.
The Carolina Hurricanes came out hard and fast to start the game, dominated the first period, then put the game away in the third as they defeated the New York Islanders, 6-3 on Tuesday night at the PNC Arena.
The win locked up their round one playoff series, 4-1 as the Canes will move on to battle the New York Rangers next.
Teuvo Teravainen started off the scoring just 1:23 into the game with a shot near the left circle and the home team was cooking.
Less than two minutes later, Andrei Svechnikov made it 2-0 on a shot from distance that looked like it was redirected a bit off an Islander. It was a powerplay goal for Carolina.
The Islanders scored a powerplay goal of their own less than a minute later on a shot from the blue line that was redirected off a Cane.
The Canes were putting almost constant pressure on the Islanders and at one point during a scrum in the crease, an Islander closed their hand on the puck in the paint so the Canes were awarded a penalty shot.
Evgeny Kuznetsov showed off his patented slow motion routine and he buried it to make the score 3-1.
The Hurricanes absolutely dominated the period and outshot the visitors, 21-4. It seemed they had the game well in hand, but not so fast.
The Islanders got to their game in the second and the Canes seemed to sit back a bit.
With the scored tied, 3-3 to start the third, Carolina scored three unanswered to finish things off.
First, Jack Drury scored his first of the playoffs to make it 4-3.
Just eight seconds later, Stefan Noesen picked up a loose puck which took a bad bounce off the end boards and knocked it in an open net to make it 5-3 and the home crowd was smelling blood.
The rest of the period went scoreless until Seth Jarvis skated in an empty netter to close it out.
Jarvis had a three point night to lead the way, (1G 2A) and Svechnikov was all over the ice again and led the team with six shots on goal.
The Canes outshot the Islanders 38-25 for the game.
After the game, Brind’Amour was happy with the results but admitted that his team “would have to play better” to compete with the Rangers.
“They are the best team in the league,” the coach said.
Noesen had an interesting quote when asked about Drury.
“I cannot say enough about that kid. Sometimes I wish he was my son”, he quipped with a smile.
The Hurricanes will try to heal up a bit before their next series. Tony DeAngelo was slashed and might have a broken hand, (X-Rays taken after the game). The blueliner was playing his best hockey in this series while filling in for Brett Pesce.
We will have more soon about the series coming up.
Game Notes:
- After losing 80% of their faceoffs the last game, they rebounded by winning 59% this game.
- Slavin had a team high 23:02 of ice time.
- The team had 23 hits and were led by Jarvis with five.
- Chatfield had a team high four blocked shots. Carolina had a total of 15.
Game Summary – https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20232024/GS030145.HTM
Event Summary – https://www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20232024/ES030145.HTM