The Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders weren’t very happy with each other or the officials on Wednesday night.
But by Thursday, both teams were focused on Friday night and the challenging tasks ahead of them as their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series moved north.
The Hurricanes will aim to take a commanding lead in the first-round series when they visit the Islanders for Game 3 of the best-of-seven set in Elmont, N.Y.
The Metropolitan Division rivals had a much-needed day off Thursday after an emotional Game 2 on Wednesday night, when Jesper Fast scored 5:03 into overtime as the host Hurricanes went up two games to none with a 4-3 win.
Fast scored seconds after no penalty was called despite Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield absorbing a high stick from Hurricanes left winger Jordan Martinook. Carolina drove down the ice with numbers as Mayfield yelled at officials.
“Frustrated (Wednesday) night, for sure,” Mayfield said Thursday afternoon. “I think that 3-on-2 especially — it goes right over my stick. If I can block that or just make a play on it, it doesn’t happen.”
The sequence capped off a game in which New York racked up 12 penalty minutes and didn’t have a power-play opportunity — the first postseason game without an Islanders power play in franchise history.
Coach Lane Lambert let his stoic near-silence do the talking afterward, simply saying “yeah” when he was asked if the possible no-call on Martinook was “bothersome.”
But Lambert was more philosophical and talkative Thursday afternoon.
“You just move on — there’s no point in dwelling on it,” Lambert said. “We know what happened. Just move on and get ready for the next game. That’s it. That’s the focus right now.”
The Hurricanes also turned their focus from how left winger Teuvo Teravainen was injured to how to replace him. Teravainen suffered a broken hand when he was hit by Islanders center Jean-Gabriel Pageau with 4:24 left in regulation. Pageau was not whistled for a penalty.
Teravainen underwent surgery Thursday. Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour — who said Wednesday that Pageau delivered a “tomahawk chop” and added he was “a little (ticked)” at the play — said Thursday it was possible but unlikely Teravainen could return at some point during the playoffs.
The injury to Teravainen is the latest blow to the Hurricanes’ forward depth. Ondrej Kase (concussion) and Max Pacioretty (Achilles) combined to play in just six games this season, while Andrei Svechnikov suffered a season-ending torn right ACL in March.
“You’re losing big pieces of your team, it’s hard,” Brind’Amour said. “But we’ve done it all year. We’ve found ways. Just going to have to put somebody else in there and pick up the slack.”
Both teams also had plenty of issues to address before the contentious final minutes Wednesday night. The Islanders surrendered the first two goals, the second of which was an own goal after Sebastian Aho’s deflection of a pass by Hurricanes right winger Stefan Noesen skittered past goalie Ilya Sorokin.
The Islanders scored the next three goals over a span of 18-plus minutes bridging the second and third periods, but their lone lead of the series lasted just 3:01 before Jaccob Slavin tied the score for the Hurricanes with 7:41 left.
“They had us on the ropes,” Brind’Amour said Wednesday night. “My guys came back and said ‘enough’ and they gave it back. It wasn’t a pretty game by us. New York was good. Certainly in spurts we were OK.”
–Field Level Media
