2023 Postseason: Round 1, Game 4- Hurricanes at New York Islanders (CAR leads 2-1)

The goal for the Canes is to flush the finish from Game 3 because it was a real stinker. It overshadows just how competitive and tight the game was on Friday night. The game sat a 1-1 for a long time as Casey Cizikas opened the scoring and Jesper Fast responded with a short-handed marker a few minutes later in the second period. Ilya Sorokin and Antti Raanta battled through most of the third period and it looked like the game was heading to overtime for the second game in a row. New York had other ideas as Kyle Palmieri redirected a shot on the power play over the shoulder of Raanta with under four minutes left to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead. This seemed to open the floodgates the Islanders would score four goals in 2:17, setting a new postseason record, to win the game 5-1 and get their first win in the series. For the Canes, it felt like deja vu. It seemed to open a wound from the last two postseasons where the team is incapable of winning a game on the road. This afternoon, they have a chance to rectify that problem by trying to get a 3-1 series lead before heading home for Game 5 on Tuesday. If you can avoid coming back to Long Island, that would be ideal. 

Canes Lineup

Jack Drury-Sebastian Aho-Seth Jarvis

Jordan Martinook-Jesperi Kotkaniemi-Martin Necas

Stefan Noesen-Jordan Staal-Jesper Fast

Mackenzie MacEachern-Derek Stepan-Jesse Puljujarvi

Jaccob Slavin-Brent Burns

Brady Skjei-Brett Pesce

Shayne Gostisbehere-Jalen Chatfield

Injuries/Scratches/Extras- Teuvo Teravainen (broken hand), Frederik Andersen (lower-body), Paul Stastny (healthy), Calvin de Haan (healthy), Dylan Coghlan (healthy), Pyotr Kochetkov (healthy)

IR- Andrei Svechnikov (Torn ACL), Max Pacioretty (Achilles), Ondrej Kase (concussion)

There's a little bit of a shake-up with the lineup for Game 4. Mackenzie MacEachern will make his Hurricanes debut on the fourth line, replacing Derek Stepan in the lineup. The only other big change is the flipping of Jordan Martinook and Stefan Noesen as Noesen joins the Staal line and Martinook moves to the Kotkaniemi line. Pyotr Kochetkov will serve as the backup once again as Frederik Andersen has apparently tweaked something this week. 

Starting Goalies

NYI- Ilya Sorokin (1-2, 30 Saves & 1 GA in Game 3)

Sorokin bounced back with a very strong performance in Game 3 to get the Islanders back into the series. He only allowed one short-handed goal and was otherwise perfect. He's been the more consistent goalie between him and Raanta but hasn't gotten the results. 

CAR- Antti Raanta (2-1, 32 Saves & 4 GA in Game 3)

The Hurricanes will return to Raanta for the fourth game in a row. I have some concerns about load management with this game being an afternoon tilt but Raanta has been very good. His statline from Friday night is a bit deceiving because he was much better than the four goals allowed would indicate. 

Scoring Summary

1st Period

(CAR) 4:05- Seth Jarvis (1) PP (assisted by Stefan Noesen (1) & Brent Burns (5))

2nd Period

(CAR) 1:15- Martin Necas (1) PP (assisted by Stefan Noesen (2) & Sebastian Aho (2))

(CAR) 13:30- Sebastian Aho (2) (assisted by Mackenzie MacEachern (1))

3rd Period

(CAR) 1:20- Seth Jarvis (2) (assisted by Sebastian Aho (3) & Brett Pesce (1))

(NYI) 3:14- Adam Pelech (1) (assisted by Brock Nelson (2))

(CAR) 14:01- Mackenzie MacEachern (1) (assisted by Brady Skjei (1))

(NYI) 17:57- Bo Horvat (1) SH (assisted by Scott Mayfield (2))

Let's Talk About the Game

To steal the sentiment from Austin Powers, the Canes got their mojo back on the road. Carolina was a decent road team, finishing ninth in the league in points on the road. However, the Canes have not been able to find much magic on the road in the last two postseasons. They entered the night with losses in their last eight road contests, including the 5-1 loss two nights ago. With the afternoon game, I'd be lying if I said I was super confident with the Canes; odds today. With New York's start, that feeling only got worse. The Islanders came out of the locker room on fire, peppering Antti Raanta with a bunch of shots. Raanta was up to the task and met the challenge. That hot start lasted 2:41 as Zach Parise was called for goalie interference. If I'd being completely honest, I think Jalen Chatfield pushes Parise into Raanta, causing him to fall on the goalie. It was a weak call but the Islanders didn't do themselves any favor after that. During the power play, Ryan Pulock put an extremely dangerous hit on Jack Drury from behind along the boards, causing the rookie to go down. It was initially called a major penalty but was downgraded after it was reviewed. There was a lot to unpack with this one. I saw some people saying that it shouldn't have been a penalty and that's wrong. Drury does turn at the last second, causing the hit to look a little worse than it was, but Pulock absolutely deserved at least two minutes. This gave the Canes an extended 5-on-3 and they would capitalize. Brent Burns gets enough of the puck to get it to Ilya Sorokin and after Stefan Noesen was unable to whack it past the goalie, he passed it over to Seth Jarvis with the goalie nowhere to be found as he broke through with his first goal of the series. The remainder of the power play would be negated by a penalty on the Hurricanes but they would kill it. Jesperi Kotkaniemi would take a penalty a few minutes later and both Burns and Mathew Barzal were given matching penalties before the halfway point in the period, making it six penalties in less than ten minutes. The rest of the period would be played at 5-on-5 with both goalies holding tight as the Canes would end the period with a 1-0 lead. 

Carolina began the second period on the power play because, for the second time in the series, Matt Martin would do something stupid at the end of the first period. In the final seconds of the first, Martin would give a healthy shove from behind on Mackenzie MacEachern in his team debut away from the puck. It was a very dumb penalty and it would cost New York. The Canes would pass the puck beautifully and it would end up on the stick of Martin Necas as he crashed the net with no one near him. He snapped one past Sorokin 75 seconds into the period to make it 2-0. It was around this time that the Canes took over. They would be unsuccessful on their fourth power play attempt of the night and continued to push. They would catch a huge break as Alexander Romanov fanned on a puck as he tried to enter the zone. It would spring MacEachern and Sebastian Aho on a 2-on-1. The former would find the latter as Aho elevated the puck past Sorokin to make it 3-0. The goal is Aho's 20th postseason goal, making him the franchise's all-time leader as he passed Eric Staal's 19. MacEachern would take a penalty late in the period that would be killed as the Canes entered the locker room up 3-0 with the boo birds out in full force on Long Island. 

With how the period ended and New York not generating anything, the beginning of the period was going to be huge for the Canes. They didn't disappoint and added to the lead quickly. Jarvis would be sprung on a breakaway by Aho and he would bury his second goal of the game to make it 4-0 and make this feel like a surefire victory. The Islanders cast some serious doubt as Pulock broke the shutout a few minutes later. Brock Nelson made a great play to prevent Raanta from covering the puck, sliding it back to Pulock for the goal. New York was very aggressive in the offensive zone to try and get back into it but Raanta flushed the goal and made some big stops. Jarvis came very close to completing the hat trick before MacEachern would put the nail in the coffin with a wicked shot that blew past Sorokin to make it 5-1. Bo Horvat would bury a short-handed goal as he cheated out of the zone after Cal Clutterbuck was shown the door for punching Jaccob Slavin in the back of the head twice to make it a respectable 5-2. Still, the Canes completed the win without much fanfare, returning home with a 3-1 lead and a snapped losing streak on the road. 

After Friday's loss, I was hoping to see the team's stars step up to get this win. This was exactly the type of game I was hoping we'd see. Aho had three points. Jarvis scored twice. Necas added a goal on the power play. Jesperi Kotkaniemi, while not recording a point, had two hits and two blocks. Noesen had two more points on the power play. Burns added his team-leading fifth assist. MacEachern had a notable debut with two points, writing himself into the Canes' postseason lore. Raanta outplayed Sorokin once again. The power play struck twice. The penalty kill went 3-for-3. It was a perfect storm of excellence. It's one of the rare times we've seen the Canes out-hit (42-32), out-block, (21-20), and out-score the opponent in a game this season. The Canes made the Islanders stray from their game by forcing them to play with a multi-goal deficit for most of the game. I'm not sure you could've scripted a better game for the Canes. Now, they head home with the second round just one win away. The fourth win is the toughest one to get and now the Canes have three chances to get it. Tuesday is going to be a fight and the Canes have to be ready for it. 

Canes' Three Stars of the Game

Third Star- Mackenzie MacEachern (Goal, Assist)

Two hours before the puck drop this afternoon, I had no clue that MacEachern was going to be in the lineup. He was just called up a few days ago and now he's playing on the top line with Drury's injury. He wasted no time making an impact. He drew the penalty that led to Necas' goal, set up the goal that gave Aho the record for his first postseason point and scored a goal. Add five hits and I'd say it was a pretty good afternoon. 

Second Star- Sebastian Aho (Goal, 2 Assists)

While he hadn't been completely silent in the series, Aho hadn't quite taken it over through three games. Today, he truly arrived with a big three-point game. His assist on Necas' goal was a secondary helper while his assist on Jarvis' goal allowed him to get out on the breakaway. The goal serves as the game-winner as he continues to rewrite history for the franchise, reaching 20 goals in the postseason.

First Star- Seth Jarvis (2 Goals)

Few players on this team needed a game like this more than Jarvis did. He's had his share of troubles finding the back of the net but he found it twice today. The first goal really made New York pay for their early lack of discipline. The second goal was easily the most important of the game because it really took the crowd out of it early in the third. I have a feeling this will help to catapult him moving forward. 

Around the League

Boston/Florida (BOS 3-1)- Four points from Taylor Hall would spark a big offensive day for Boston as they scored six goals in Sergei Bobrovsky's first appearance of the postseason. Matthew Tkachuk provided one of the few highlights for Florida as Linus Ullmark made 41 saves to put the Bruins on the verge of a series victory. 

Toronto/Tampa Bay (TOR 2-1)- Despite Tampa Bay being the stronger team for most of the night, Toronto found some magic late in the third period to force overtime. Ilya Samsonov helped the Maple Leafs steal a victory as Morgan Rielly scored with 45 seconds left in overtime to give his team a 2-1 series lead. 

New Jersey/New York (R) (NYR 2-1)- The Devils made it a series with the Rangers on the back of Akira Schmid in his postseason debut. Dougie Hamilton factored on both of New Jersey's goals, including the game-winner in overtime to get the Devils the win and ensure the series would return to New Jersey. 

Dallas/Minnesota (Tied 2-2)- Jake Oettinger was magnificent and Tyler Seguin returned to form with two goals to get Dallas back even in the series with things returning to Dallas. Some emphasis after the game was two calls on Marcus Foligno that led to Seguin's goals that were a little questionable. 

Edmonton/Los Angeles (LAK 2-1)- The Kings grabbed the series lead on Friday night with their second overtime victory of the series thanks to Trevor Moore. They are currently trying to fight off an Edmonton comeback as the Kings lead 3-2 near the end of the second period. 

Colorado/Seattle (COL 2-1)- After blowing a 3-1 lead at the end of the second period, Colorado blew it open in the third period. Mikko Rantanen and Nathan MacKinnon each scored twice in the game as Colorado took a 2-1 lead in the series as they begin to assert their dominance.  

Vegas/Winnipeg (VGK 2-1)- Vegas held a 4-1 lead through two periods in Game 3 on Saturday afternoon but saw the lead slowly disappear as Winnipeg scored three times in the third period to force overtime. The comeback would fall short as Michael Amaddio scored in the second overtime to give Vegas a 5-4 victory.