Each team in the NHL has 10 or fewer games to go in the regular season. The New York Islanders have nine and sit three points out of the last wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. With everything to play for against a Carolina Hurricanes team that has the No. 2 spot in the Metropolitan Division wrapped up, they brought it all.
Scoring four goals on Canes goaltender Pyotr Kochetkov would have been exactly what New York was looking for heading into Sunday’s game, but six goals allowed was not. Centers Sebastian Aho and Seth Jarvis combined for three goals and five points as the Hurricanes (45-24-4) staved off an Islanders (32-31-10) team hungry for a 6-4 win Sunday night at Lenovo Center.
“They were battling hard, so were we,” Aho said. “We knew that they were going to come hard, and we just had to match it. We did a pretty good job [to] match that desperation level.”
Hurricanes center — and captain — Jordan Staal was ruled out with a lower-body injury before the game, causing a shakeup in the bottom three lines. As a result, center Tyson Jost drew into the lineup where he had his first two-point night in over two years.
Just over four minutes into the first period, after Jost sent left wing Eric Robinson up the ice with a stretch pass, Robinson stopped up and found center Mark Jankowski crashing the net, who shot it past Islanders goaltender Marcus Hogberg for a 1-0 lead.
The Canes rolled the momentum right into the next shift when center Logan Stankoven scored 13 seconds later, stuffing a behind-the-back pass from left wing Jordan Martinook past Hogberg at the near post. The trade-deadline acquisitions for the second time this season scored in the same game and gave Carolina a 2-0 lead less than five minutes in.
Down but not out, the Islanders had the game tied at 2-2 halfway through the first. Islanders left wing Pierre Engvall came charging down the ice on an odd-man rush and beat Kochetkov under his glove arm — one the Russian would have liked to have back to make it 2-1.
Then, on the power play, New York center Kyle Palmieri netted his 23rd of the year 11:27 into the game when he grabbed a rebound from out of the air before slotting it just inside the far post to tie it at 2-2.
When Engvall scored his second 1:37 into the middle frame, the Islanders had flipped the script and taken a 3-2 lead.
The Hurricanes needed both special team units to take the lead before heading into the third. The first came on the power play when Aho buried the puck off a one-timer from the face-off circle. The 25th-ranked power play in the league has struggled significantly in 2025, but as of late, it has figured something out with a power play goal in the last four games.
“Power play is still kind of hot right now,” Jarvis said. “We’re figuring it out a little bit more.”
As the second was coming to a close, defenseman Jalen Chatfield was sent to the penalty box for four minutes because of a double-minor high-sticking penalty. With their backs up against the wall for the rest of the period, Jarvis answered the call with a shorthanded goal.
His fifth shorthanded goal of the season ties the franchise record and with Aho assisting on the play, the duo now sits tied for first in the NHL with shorthanded points.
“It’s such a crucial time in the game and if you can score on it, that’s just a back-breaker,” head coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We love it.”
The Islanders knotted it up at 4-4 in the third period when left wing Anders Lee was left unmarked at the back post by defenseman Brent Burns, but defenseman Dmitry Orlov delivered the dagger five minutes later, 9:19 into the third.
Off of a face-off win by Jost, Orlov teed one up from the point that had eyes for the back of the net. With just two points since the start of February, Orlov hasn’t been himself offensively, but he was happy to see one go in to take the lead.
“I just need to probably shoot more,” Orlov said, chuckling. “Especially, our game is built from a lot of shots [and] pressure on the ice.”
Just as the Islanders were looking to pull the goaltender, Jarvis scored his second of the night. Making a catch at the blue line to keep the puck in the offensive zone, he and Aho went tic-tac-toe to ice the game.
The Hurricanes only lost three of their 14 games in March, but will face stiff competition in the final month of the regular season. Starting with the Washington Capitals on Wednesday, the Hurricanes will have a litmus test opportunity against the best team in the East, starting at 7 p.m. on TNT.
