The Carolina Hurricanes need to improve their play and the New York Islanders look to play exactly the way they did in Game 1.
But it is the Hurricanes who lead the Stanley Cup playoffs first-round series 1-0 going into Game 2, which is Monday evening in Raleigh, N.C.
The Hurricanes won the opening contest 3-1 on Saturday, despite being outplayed for most of the game. But Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen was spectacular, making 33 saves, which allowed his team to take the series lead.
“We weren’t great, that’s for sure,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said on NHL.com. “(New York) is a perfect example of a team that’s been playing playoff hockey for a month (against) a team that hasn’t. As the game wore on, it started getting up to speed with how it’s going to be.”
Evgeny Kuznetsov, who was acquired at the trade deadline from the Washington Capitals, and Martin Necas (empty net) had a goal and an assist each and Stefan Noesen also scored for Carolina in Game 1.
New York looks at the opener as a missed opportunity.
“I’m encouraged because I thought we played a really solid game. We did a lot of good things out there,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said in The Athletic. “We had our chances. And I’m frustrated because, you know, we had our chances.”
Their biggest chance came just 45 seconds into the third period with the game tied 1-1. New York defenseman Noah Dobson’s first shot hit the goal post from the high slot area as Andersen was knocked down by his own defenseman Brett Pesce. The puck bounced straight back out and Dobson charged the net to follow his shot and appeared to have a sure goal with Anderson down and out. But the goalie managed to scramble back into position and use his blocker to knock Dobson’s rebound attempt away.
“I think I just got clipped with someone’s skate,” Andersen said on NHL.com. “Just kind of threw the technique book out the window and tried to come up with something to get close to the puck and get something on it.”
Andersen, 34, missed 50 games from the first week of November until March 7 with a blood-clot issue. He was 9-1-0 with a 1.30 goals-against average in his final 10 regular-season games. Andersen allowed two goals or fewer in nine of those games.
“Unfortunately, he’s missed a lot of time, but this is what you get him for,” Brind’Amour said. “He’s always been a great goalie, he’s just not been able to stay in there. Hopefully, he can stay healthy because if he plays like that, it’s a huge, huge thing.”
Rookie Kyle McLean, the son of Islanders’ assistant coach and former NHL player John MacLean, scored and Semyon Varlamov made 23 saves for New York on Saturday.
“There’s a lot of positives,” the Islanders’ Kyle Palmieri said in The Athletic. “It sucks you’re down one but, but I think, realistically, we have a lot to draw on as we refocus and ger ready (for Game 2) on Monday.”
–Field Level Media