Sebastian Aho scored the game-winning goal in the second period and Frederik Andersen stood tall in net for the visiting Carolina Hurricanes, who beat the New York Islanders 3-2 Thursday night in Elmont, N.Y., to take a 3-0 lead in their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Game 4 is scheduled for Saturday afternoon in Elmont. Only four NHL teams have lost a best-of-seven series after going ahead three games to none.
Brent Burns and Dmitry Orlov scored in the first for the Hurricanes, who are attempting to advance beyond the first round for the fourth straight season. Andersen made 29 saves, including a highlight-reel stop down the stretch to preserve a one-goal lead.
Pierre Engvall and Brock Nelson scored in the second for the Islanders, who haven’t been swept since Carolina eliminated them in the second round in 2019. Ilya Sorokin, starting for the first time this series, was pulled after allowing three goals on 14 shots. Semyon Varlamov recorded eight saves in relief.
The Hurricanes led 2-0 after the first despite being outshot 15-9.
Burns opened the scoring at the 4:46 mark, when his shot from the right faceoff circle went beyond New York’s Mathew Barzal and Mike Reilly and under Sorokin’s stick arm.
Andersen turned back two prime opportunities by the Islanders — first by deflecting a shot by Barzal and then gloving the rebound by Noah Dobson, who was firing into a wide-open corner of the net — less than a minute before Orlov doubled the lead.
“I thought the first two periods were OK, fine,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “And then we knew it was coming — they’re going to give it everything they had and that’s exactly what happened. But obviously Freddie came up with a couple huge saves and that’s the difference in the game.”
Kyle Palmieri’s pass eluded Nelson and was picked up in the neutral zone by Andrei Svechnikov. The right winger dished to Orlov, who avoided Palmieri and sent a shot that went around Reilly and beyond Sorokin’s stick with 9:35 left.
The Islanders cut the gap in half 2:48 into the second when Engvall took a pass from Anders Lee and beat Andersen from point-blank range.
The Hurricanes chased Sorokin 4:26 later after Aho’s shot from the slot sailed past his stick.
Nelson again pulled the Islanders within a goal with 2:21 left when he put back the rebound of Palmieri’s shot.
The Islanders outshot the Hurricanes 11-3 in the third. Andersen robbed Alexander Romanov by grabbing his shot out of the air as he fell with 5:45 left.
“It was an unbelievable save,” Svechnikov said. “I don’t even know what to say. Just so important. He’s been the best player for us out there and we believe in him and we’ve got confidence.”
Varlamov was pulled with 2:00 left but New York didn’t mount a serious threat.
“I thought we could have won Game 1 and this one,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said. “Game 2, in the second half, they took it away from us. But hey, that’s the playoffs. We’ve been resilient all year. I love this group.
“These guys, they care and I know we’re going to come back with a big effort on Saturday. Unfortunately, we cannot look back. We need to look forward and try to make a comeback.”
–Field Level Media
