Once again faced with a do-or-die situation, the New York Islanders attempt to stay alive in the Stanley Cup playoffs when they visit the Carolina Hurricanes for Game 5 of their Eastern Conference first-round series Tuesday in Raleigh, N.C.
The Hurricanes lead the series 3-1. New York star Mathew Barzal ensured his team lived to fight another day on Saturday when he tipped in Robert Bortuzzo’s shot in double overtime of Game 4 to give the Islanders their first win of the series.
“There’s obviously a hill to climb,” Barzal said. “We dug ourselves a pretty deep hole. But the hole got a little smaller after the last game and as long as you have belief and passion anything can happen, anything is possible.
“So we definitely believe in this locker room. A little bit of it, too, is everyone loves each other. And we don’t want things to end.”
One reason for that belief has been the play of goalie Semyon Varlamov. The 36-year-old has started three of the four games. He didn’t start Game 3 but came in in relief of Ilya Sorokin.
Varlamov made 42 saves in the win Saturday. He has a 2.08 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage in the series.
“I mean, he’s big in the net and he’s playing with so much confidence right now and brings confidence to our guys as well,” coach Patrick Roy said. “Seeing him make those saves, it brings some security to the group, and I think that helps a lot.”
Matt Martin will miss a second straight game with a lower-body injury. As of Monday, Roy hadn’t decided who would replace the forward in the lineup. Ruslan Iskhakov drew in on Saturday, but at practice Monday, it was Simon Holmstrom skating at left wing with Kyle MacLean and Cal Clutterbuck.
Though the Hurricanes are just one win away from advancing to the second round, they know there is more for them to give, especially at 5-on-5. Carolina and New York are tied in 5-on-5 goals through the series thus far, with each scoring six.
While the Hurricanes have held the advantage in high-danger chances (43-37, per Natural Stat Trick), they haven’t been able to capitalize nearly often enough.
“It’s just small things, really,” forward Teuvo Teravainen said. “Play our style, play it the right way. Make them turn the puck over and crash the net a little more. It’s pretty easy. Simple answer. Just have to do it.”
Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour tweaked all but one of his lines.
The top line of Sebastian Aho between Jake Guentzel and Andrei Svechnikov remained intact. Jordan Staal found himself between scoring wingers Teravainen and Seth Jarvis, Jack Drury had Jordan Martinook and Martin Necas on his wings and Jesperi Kotkaniemi dropped to the fourth line with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Stefan Noesen.
Brind’Amour said not to read too much into it, that they’re just “looking at some other things.”
No matter what the lines look like for Game 5, though, Carolina knows it needs to be better.
“We’re aware that obviously we have another level and we need to get to that,” Aho said. “Just trying to win hockey games, that’s the whole deal out here. Tomorrow, we come in and we try to do our best. That’s our mindset.”
–Field Level Media