Will the Islanders join the Canes on the trip back to Raleigh after today?
To say this team feels different is an understatement.
This current run the Hurricanes are on is now in its sixth season. Carolina has had impressive runs each season, getting out of the first round in each year but 2020—remember that weird playoff bubble season the sweep of the Rangers was a “qualifying round.” Despite five first round series wins, though, they’ve never had a 3-0 lead in any of them. They went down 0-2 to the Caps in ‘19, the Predators came back to tie it at 2-2 in ‘21, Same with the Bruins in ‘22, and last year the Islanders throttled the Canes in Game 3.
So yes, you’ve noticed a trend that since 2021, the Hurricanes had protected home ice and won the first two games, then allowed the opposition to win Game Three, stretching out the series. Longer series expose more players to injury, and increases the liklihood that a player that has been through the grind of an 82 game season gets worn out as the marathon of the playoffs roll on.
Thus on Thursday night, it was easy to expect the same thing to happen. The Islanders not only knew how nearly impossible it is to come back from 3-0 down, they had to get pain of their Game Two collapse out of their system. You go in thinking, “for once, survive their push and see if you can get that 3-0 lead.”
Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov made it known pretty quickly that this squad was not about to waste the effort they put up in front of the Caniacs. They quickly put the Isles in a 2-0 hole before fans were really settled at UBS Arena. The Canes would go on to win, and had the cherry on top of forcing Islanders coach Patrick Roy to pull his Ferrari Ilya Sorokin. The Canes didn’t get any more goals on the Isles’ Cadillac, Semyon Varlamov, but they just played a crushing defensive style in the third with the help of spectacular saves by Frederick Andersen to pull out the win.
So here we are with the Canes now enjoying a 3-0 lead in the first round for the first time during this run. In fact, it’s the first time they’ve had a 3-0 lead in a first round playoff since moving to Raleigh, and the situations is ripe for a sweep. The Islanders had two days to try and recover from their wasted lead on Tuesday, but now they barely have 36 hours before they have to try again. Roy said on Friday that Varmolov will be back between the pipes, as he acted as a steadying hand for the team after Sorokin let in a Sebastian Aho goal from nearly the blue line. The Islanders are clearly hoping he’s cleared his head out from the ridiculously stupid tripping penalty he committed during Game Two which led to the Canes’ first goal and started their comeback.
Rod Brind’Amour wouldn’t commit to a goalie during his Friday availability. When you see what Andersen pulled off, it’s tough to tell him he needs to sit. However, after not playing two games in row during his come back in the regular season, you wonder if asking him to go into a fourth game on shorter rest is pushing your luck. Brind’Amour acknowledged as much, basically saying a reason he would start Pyotr Kochetkov over Andersen would be to prevent wear and tear on the Dane. It’s not like Kochetkov would be much of a step down, either. His play was a primary reason the Canes were able to start surging prior to Andersen’s return, and the last time he was in Long Island the Canes easily won 4-1. In fact, PK held a shutout into the third period, and by that point the Canes were firmly in control.
You could also argue that the Islanders have gotten to the point to where they are so concerned with how to beat Andersen—and likely practiced as much on Friday—that putting out Kochetkov would be the final twist for them. It also would allow Freddie some extended rest no matter the result. Should the Islanders extend the series, Game Five isn’t until Tuesday, and if the Canes finish the job the Semifinals are not going to start until all of the other series are closer to done.
With the earlier start we should know by late morning who will grab the start for Carolina. Also don’t expect any lineup changes for either squad as the Isles really don’t have much else they can swap out, and Brind’Amour isn’t going to mess with a lineup that’s won three straight. He did let some bad news slip before Game Three in that Jesper Fast’s injury was more severe than we all thought, to the point he’s likely out for the remainder of the playoffs. They haven’t missed him so far, but it does reduce the margin of error. There’s also no reason to replace Tony D’Angelo for this game as he was perfectly cromulent in his first playoff game beside Brady Skeji.
Once again the Canes will kick off the Saturday playoff action. If you aren’t going to be on the Island to see it live, here’s how you can catch the action:
- Time: 2 PM ET
- Location: UBS Arena, Elmont, NY
- TV: Bally Sports South locally and TBS/TruTV/Max nationally. On Bally’s, you’ll have Mike Maniscalco, play-by-play; Tripp Tracy, color analyst; Hanna Yates, in-game reporter; Shane Willis, analyst. On the national side, Kenny Albert will handle play-by-play with Brian Boucher and Bryce Salvador doing analysis. Yes, Albert’s usual partner will be calling a different game Saturday.
- Radio: 99.9 The Fan
- Line: ML: CAR -192/NYI +160; PL: CAR -1.5 +150/NYI +1.5 -180, O 5.5 -105/U 5.5 -115