RALEIGH, N.C. – The Islanders may yet meet the Hurricanes in the first round of the playoffs. If so, they should have a good idea of how they need to improve their game. Specifically, how they must limit their turnovers and mistakes.
The opportunistic Hurricanes won, 2-1, on Sunday night at PNC Arena in a game more one-sided than the score indicated as the Islanders lost both ends of a weekend back-to-back to conclude a three-game road trip. Both teams were playing on consecutive nights as the Hurricanes won, 3-0, in Montreal on Saturday.
The Islanders, who have four games left, hold the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 87 points. Pittsburgh, which has five games left, beat the Flyers on Sunday and moved back into the second spot with 86 points. Florida has 85 points and five games remaining.
Ilya Sorokin stopped 33 shots for the Islanders (39-30-9) as he started back-to-back games for the third time this season. But he probably would want back both of the Hurricanes’ goals.
The Islanders were coming off Saturday night’s 5-0 loss to the Lightning as Sorokin was pulled after allowing four goals on 21 shots through 31:45. But he was neither the culprit nor culpable in that game against breakaways and deflections as the Lightning found ways to get behind the Islanders’ defense.
Pulling Sorokin for the first time this season allowed coach Lane Lambert to come back with him against the Hurricanes since the Islanders now don’t play again until Thursday night’s rematch with the Lightning at UBS Arena.
“You get a chance to get back on the horse, so to speak, and make things right,” Lambert said of playing on back-to-back days.
“I don’t think it really reflected it,” Kyle Palmieri said of Saturday’s 5-0 final. “We had some breakdowns. Couple mistakes. Couple bad bounces. It is what it is, 5-0, 10-0, 1-0, we’re going to reset.”
Now they must wait to do so as this weekend has left questions as to how they stack up against some of the conference’s stronger teams.
Frederik Andersen made 21 saves for the Hurricanes (49-18-9).
The Islanders’ power play, which has struggled mightily with Mathew Barzal injured, again proved problematic in going 0-for-2 and generating just two shots. It could not muster the equalizer after the Hurricanes’ Sebastian Aho was called for cross checking Jean-Gabriel Pageau at 15:24 of the third period.
The Hurricanes took a 2-1 lead at 2:31 of the third period as Jordan Martinook kept the puck on a two-on-one rush against tentative defenseman Noah Dobson and beat Sorokin over his blocker from the left. Typically, Sorokin’s blocker work is a strength of his.
Dobson then took an unnecessary neutral-zone boarding penalty against Martinook at 5:04 that left Lambert visibly agitated.
The Islanders snapped a goal drought of 118:41 stretching to Pierre Engvall’s second-period goal in Wednesday night’s 2-1 shootout win in Washington as Engvall stickhandled from the Islanders’ blue line into the slot and found Pageau in the left circle for a one-timer for a 1-0 lead at 17:33 of the first period.
Sorokin stopped the first 25 shots he faced as the Hurricanes, like the Lightning the night before, spent long stretches in the offensive zone. But Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s wrist shot trickled past Sorokin to tie it at 1-1 at 9:27 of the second period after the goalie initially got a piece of the puck.
Unlike Saturday night, the Islanders didn’t generate nearly enough chances against the Hurricanes. They had 38 shots on the Lightning’s Andrei Vasilevskiy but took just 14 shots over the first two periods on Sunday. That included just two high-danger chances skating five-on-five, per NaturalStatTrick.com.
Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.
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Islanders lose second straight, wild-card lead shrinks - Newsday
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