e0b99cb5-241b-46b2-9da9-f533107928be Hang your heads high, Islanders fans. Your guys played as hard as they could but ran out of gas and one save. It was as simple as that. You lose 2-1 in overtime; that's life. The Canes had more octane when it mattered in the third period and overtime. "It hurts," said Matt Martin speaking for the entire Islanders clubhouse. They lost to a team The Hockey News picked to win The Stanley Cup, and they took the Hurricanes farther than many expected. Carolina was dominated for two periods, but it wasn't enough. "We had a lot of opportunities in the second period," said Bo Horvat. "We easily could have been up two or three goals." "We couldn't get that insurance goal," added Martin, who wrapped up the game with those six little words. There was nothing left in their tank when the Isles skated out for the third. Imagine; over the final 20 minutes, they managed a mere five shots. Only Ilya Sorokin saved them from defeat during the Canes blitz. "We were on our heels," coach Lane Lambert recalled. "In the third period, we failed to execute." New York only had enough fuel for two periods. Oh, yeah, for two-thirds of the contest, they threw everything they had at goalie Fred Andersen who made his series debut. Andy looked a bit shaky and vulnerable, but after giving up the first goal in the first period to Cal Clutterbuck, the Isles couldn't beat him again. The Isles killer instinct was there for 40 minutes of the game but not in the third period nor OT. From the time Clutterbuck scored to the moment Sebastien Aho tied the game in the third, the Isles had 40 minutes to get a second goal. Alas, the big guns such as Brock Nelson and Kyle Palmieri missed the bullseye when it mattered most. When the Canes simply took over the third period it seemed just a matter of time before the game would be tied. Aho's mid-third period red light hardly was Sorokin's fault, and Ilya did manage to get his guys to overtime. Despite the pre-sudden death breather, the Isles couldn't recharge their batteries enough to hold off the foe. Yet few expected the killer OT shot by Paul Stastny with six minutes gone to be the winner. It was a bad angle, Hail Mary drive that Ilya Sorokin would -- should! -- stop 49 out of 50 times. But it beat him because -- according to Stastny the veteran worked on it in practice. "It had the element of surprise," Paul noted. And so the first-rounder ended four games to two, and the post-mortems immediately followed. "The series could have gone either way," said defenseman Scott Mayfield. "The difference was just a matter of percentage points, and they wound up on top." Actually, many things were going right last night for two periods. The sellout crowd was pushing every roaring button in its lungs right through the game's 40th minute. The Isles notched the first goal; usually a very positive sign for the Locals. And even better it came at 9:21 of the first period thanks to Clutterbuck, via assists from Ryan Pulock and Casey Cizikas. When the Identity Line scores -- as they did -- you're usually ahead of the game. At the time, it figured that the bigger scorers would then pounce on goalie Andersen. But Fred made 33 saves and never allowed whatever first-game nerves he may have suffered to affect his puck-stopping. The hoped-for Seventh Game in Raleigh was deleted by a combination of factors that pockmarked the Isles season from early autumn to early spring. They included the powerless power play. Last night it could have provided the Islanders with a winner, but it went oh-for-three. Typical. Then there were mental errors, especially on the avoidable game-winner when defenseman Adam Pelech had possession of the puck deep in Isles territory and plenty of time to make the right clearing decision. With room to skate the rubber out of danger, he pitchforked the biscuit which never cleared the red line. Derek Stepan trapped it and skimmed the rubber to Stastny at the red goal line. For a split second, he thought about delivering a pass but changed his mind. With one flick of the wrist, the Islanders season was over! "It stings for everyone," concluded defenseman Ryan Pulock. And so it did, my friend. And so it still does!
