Three goals in the second period proved to be too little for the Carolina Hurricanes as they fell, 4-3, in overtime Saturday night at PNC Arena when a lucky break gave the New York Islanders a much-need victory in their playoff hunt.
Despite the Hurricanes (32-28-15) three-goal outburst, they failed to play consistently, especially in their own defensive zone, and the Islanders (40-25-9) made them pay for their mistakes.
The Islanders jumped on the board 1:35 into the game as the Canes’ defensive zone coverage was less than ideal. New York forward Kyle Okposo spun around and put a no-look backhander through the legs of Canes defenseman Ron Hainsey, and then past goaltender Eddie Lack.
Five minutes later, forward Jeff Skinner came up with Canes’ best scoring chance of the period as his laser of a shot beat Islanders netminder Jean-Francois Berube and ricocheted off the goal post.
With Carolina having built some momentum after spending significant time in the New York zone, it all vanished when defenseman Justin Faulk’s slap shot was blocked by Islanders forward Nikolay Kulemin, who in turn rushed the puck down the ice on a breakaway and roofed it over Lack for a 2-0 lead.
“They won the first period, obviously,” Hurricanes head coach Bill Peters said. “They dominated early. I think they won the first six faceoffs. We didn’t have any compete on the faceoffs early. Then we started to take over. I thought where we took over was on faceoffs.”
The Canes played the second period — in which they scored three goals on 19 total shots — much better than they did the first, and began it by cutting the deficit in half within the first minute of play on forward Victor Rask’s 18th goal of the season. Rask collected the rebound of defenseman Brett Pesce’s slap shot, and fired it into the open net with Berube down on the ice after making the initial save.
Less than five minutes later, Carolina tied it up at two goals apiece on a play created and finished by Skinner. While his original shot was stopped by Berube, Skinner didn’t give up on the play, instead he followed his shot and tapped home his own rebound for his team-leading, 26th goal of the season.
Carolina wasn’t done there with its offensive onslaught, as minutes later it took its first lead of the game. Berube, once again, failed to hold on to the puck after a save, allowing Canes forward Jay McClement to punch it in before Berube could cover it for a whistle.
“We just knew we had to have a better second,” Carolina forward Jordan Staal said. “Everyone started to step up and move their feet. We moved the puck a lot quicker, we started going more north, and you could tell we started to get some legs and started putting it in the net.”
The Canes defensive zone coverage woes returned in the third period, allowing the Islanders to tie the game only 30 seconds in. Somehow, New York forward Cal Clutterbuck was left all alone on the faceoff dot, where he blasted a slap shot past Lack.
With no other scoring in the third, the teams headed to 3-on-3 overtime where Carolina rookie defenseman Noah Hanifin came inches away from scoring his first-career game-winning goal on a shot that hit the post.
Instead, the Islanders prevailed on a fluke play when a shot from Clutterbuck hit the upper body of Canes defenseman Jaccob Slavin and deflected into the net with just 14 seconds left in overtime.
“It’s hockey,” Staal said of the team’s misfortune. “Sometimes it goes that way. You never want that to happen but [Slavin] has played great.”
