It seemed like all the New York Islanders needed was that second goal to force a Game Seven. But that never came, and in overtime, a turnover ended their season, as they fell 2-1.
ELMONT, NY -- It seemed like all the New York Islanders needed was that second goal to force a Game Seven. But that never came, and in overtime, a turnover ended their season, as they fell 2-1.
LINES:
Anders Lee-Bo Horvat-Simon Holmstrom
Pierre Engvall-Brock Nelson-Kyle Palmieri
Zach Parise-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Hudson Fasching
Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck
Adam Pelech-Scott Mayfield
Alexander Romanov-Ryan Pulock
Sebastian Aho-Noah Dobson
Ilya Sorokin
Semyon Varlamov
RAPID RECAP:
New York Islanders head coach Lane Lambert elected to start his shutdown line, the threesome of Zach Parise, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, and Hudson Fasching, and that worked wonders.
That line established a forecheck early, also leading to the first prime chance for New York, which Carolina Hurricanes starter Frederik Andersen denied.
The Islanders other lines followed suit, and less than halfway through the opening frame, Cal Clutterbuck sniped Andersen to give New York a 1-0 for his first off the postseason, after a quick feed by Ryan Pulock gave him all the time to pick his spot.
Ilya Sorokin's elite game carried over from Tuesday's win as he made some high-caliber saves before the Islanders scored and after.
His best save came on Brady Skjei as after stopping a Sebastian Aho (Canes) blast with the pad, Skjei quickly got the shot toward what he thought was an open left side.
Sorokin pushed off and made a tremendous save to stone him.
The Islanders had chances to pad their lead, both via Mathew Barzal opportunities. He got a beautiful setup on the power play, sending his one-timer just wide. And then in the final few minutes, after chaos in front of Andersen, Barzal overskated a loose puck.
The Islanders headed to the first intermission up 1-0, outshooting the Hurricanes 10-8.
Islanders killed off the remaining 20 seconds of leftover penalty time to start the second, after Clutterbuck's late cross-checking penalty,
The Islanders did get a power play, their second of the game, just 4:16 into the middle frame. Brock Nelson had the strongest chance after a clean zone entry but was denied by Andersen's glove from the slot.
Sorokin was forced to make one shorthanded save, which he denied with the left pad.
The Islanders began suffocating the Hurricanes, with offensive-zone shifts, shift after shift, firing everything they could on Andersen.
After the halfway point, Zach Parise jumped on a Hurricanes defensive zone turnover but rang the short-side bar.
The Islanders had a chance on their third power play to get that second goal, but Andersen stoned Parise. At the one-minute mark, after Carolina's successful kill, Clutterbuck tried to wrap a puck around the left pad of Andersen, but he made a sprawling save.
The scoreboard read 1-0 Islanders after two, as Sorokin continued his sharp play, stopping all 10 in the frame, 18 in total through two.
The Islanders were tentative to start the third, but Sorokin continued to shine, stopping a three-on-one shot before Pelech swiped the puck out of danger.
It was as if the Hurricanes were on a power play, Sorokin bailing out his teammates left and right to keep them in front.
After chances piled up, the Hurricanes eventually scored the equalizer at 9:24 of the third, Sebastian Aho wacked a loose puck past Sorokin.
Brock Nelson fumbled the puck off Sorokin's save, and the Hurricanes made him and New York pay.
The Islanders held on to force overtime, being outshot 19-5 in the third.
The Islanders had plenty of chances to bury the overtime winner, but they failed.
The Islanders’ season came to end at the six-minute mark as off an Adam Pelech turnover, Paul Stastny beat Sorokin from a tough angle.