Division champion Hurricanes are in the NHL playoffs, so now what? The Islanders await
The New York Islanders had a stress-free evening Thursday.
OK, mostly stress-free.
The Islanders, having completed their 82-game regular-season schedule and already assured of a wild-card berth in thre Stanley Cup playoffs, sat back and watched as their playoff opponent was being decided simultaneously in Washington, D.C. and Sunrise, Florida.
One can only imagine the pacing being done Thursday by Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello, always an antsy type. If the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Florida Panthers and won the Metropolitan Division, the Isles would play the Canes. If the Panthers won and the New Jersey Devils took the Metro title, it would be the Boston Bruins.
It will be the Hurricanes, Metro champions for a second straight season.
As things unfolded, the Canes outlasted the Panthers 6-4 to edge the Devils by one point in the division — New Jersey topping the Capitals in overtime in its last game.
Game 1 of the opening round will be Monday at PNC Arena as the Canes, who finished with 113 points, hold the home-ice-advantage over the Islanders in the best-of-seven series. Game 2 will be Wednesday in Raleigh before the series shifts to the Islanders’ UBS Arena in Elmont, New York, for Games 3 and 4.
“We knew the game in general would have a playoff feel with a lot on the line,” Canes defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere said Thursday of the win over the Panthers. “Definitely, we like to make it more interesting.”
Talk about stress. The Canes led 2-0 entering the third period, had the Panthers tie it 2-2, took a 5-2 lead and then had Florida narrow it to 5-4 late in regulation after another two quick goals.
The Devils rallied against the Caps to get their game into overtime, and won, 5-4. That didn’t matter after Sebastian Aho’s empty-net goal with a minute left in regulation pushed the Canes’ lead to 6-4.
So ended a regular season in which the Hurricanes (52-21-9) lost forwards Max Pacioretty and Andrei Svechnikov to season-ending injuries. Both were crushers for the team to absorb.
Pacioretty tore an Achilles tendon in preseason, worked hard to get back in the lineup, played five games and then tore it again Jan. 19 against the Minnesota Wild. Svechnikov tore his right ACL in a March 11 game against the Vegas Golden Knights.
The Svechnikov injury came eight days after the NHL trade deadline, after acquiring Gostisbehere from the Arizona Coyotes and forward Jesse Puljujarvi from Edmonton. With several teams in the Metro and Eastern Conference adding more star power and firepower, the Canes refused to be pulled into a major bidding war for a major addition.
But the Canes are the Metro champs again and back in the playoffs for a fifth straight year under coach Rod Brind’Amour — their initial goal for the 2022-23 season.
“We’re looking at bigger things,” Brind’Amour said Thursday night. “But you do have to take a second and say, ‘Hey, man, we just went seven months and did a damn good job.’
“I know people get critical but we still have the second-best record in the NHL next to the (Bruins) team that just blew it up. You need to take a step back and say, ‘That’s pretty good.’ And we had guys out and had missing pieces, but we pieced it together.”
So did the Islanders, who were 23-22-5 in late January and sixth in the Metro. But New York turned it around, picking up forward Bo Horvat from Vancouver before the deadline and getting a big season from goalie Ilya Sorokin.
The Isles were 19-9-4 in their final 32 games to finish with 93 points and take the first wild-card playoff spot. Sorokin was 16-6-3 with a 2.20 goals-against average and .928 save percentage in that push to the playoffs.
The Islanders did it despite losing center Mathew Barzal to a lower-body injury on Feb. 18 against the Bruins. Barzal began skating again April 4, was at practice Friday and said afterward that he planned to play Monday in Game 1.
The Isles also have been playing without defenseman Alexander Romanov, who has an upper-body injury.
“It doesn’t always require the full 82 (games), but it did for us,” Islanders coach Lane Lambert said Wednesday after a 4-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens. “Everybody did a great job of grinding through it and finding a way to get where we are right now.”
The Islanders (42-31-9) won the first game against Carolina this season — Oct. 28 at PNC Arena — but the Canes won the next three. The fourth game was April 2 at PNC Arena, Jordan Martinook scoring the winning goal in a 2-1 Carolina victory.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence moving into the playoffs,” Canes defenseman Jalen Chatfield said Thursday. “This is a really good division, so for us to come out first is huge. We’ve just got to keep it going from here.”
The season series
(Hurricanes 3-1-0)
Hurricanes 2, Islanders 1
April 2, PNC Arena
Jordan Martinook scored off the rush early in the third period for the go-ahead goal and the Canes won behind goalie Frederik Andersen, who faced just 22 shots.
Hurricanes 5, Islanders 2
Jan. 21, UBS Arena
Sebastian Aho had a hat trick, his second of the season, and Andersen made 29 saves for the Canes as the Isles continued their January struggles.
Hurricanes 3, Islanders 0
Dec. 10, UBS Arena
Goalie Pyotr Kochetkov shut out the Isles but faced just 16 shots. Paul Stastny, Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Jordan Staal scored for Carolina.
Islanders 6, Hurricanes 2
Oct. 28, PNC Arena
Playing at home after an early season five-game road trip, the Canes got goals from Martin Necas and Brent Burns. Andersen allowed five goals on 31 shots and Ilya Sorokin had 33 saves for the Isles.
