*Photo from The Hockey News*
Carolina leads series 1-0
That's the start of the playoffs for you. Brady Skjei had two assists, Evgeny Kuznetsov had a goal and an assist, and the Carolina Hurricanes defeated the New York Islanders with a 3-1 victory Saturday in Raleigh.
In the matchup of the two and three seeds of the Metropolitan Division, the Hurricanes jumped out ahead early in the rematch of the first round series between the two last year, which Carolina won in 6 games as the top seed in the Metropolitan Division.
A chorus of players helped Carolina get the job done. Behind strong goaltending from Frederik Andersen, Skjei, Kuznetsov, and Martin Necas all had multi point games, with Necas getting a goal and an assist.
Carolina head coach Rod Brind'Amour said of the win that "We weren't great, that's for sure. New York is a perfect example of a team that’s been playing playoff hockey for a month against a team that hasn’t. As the game wore on, it started getting up to speed with how it’s going to be."
Scoring started almost immediately in this one. Kuznetsov was the one who started it, giving the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead just 1:35 into the game, assisted by Skjei and Necas. Later in the first, the Islanders evened the score with Kyle MacLean scoring, making it 1-1 with Alexander Romanov and Anders Lee getting assists.
After a scoreless second period, the Hurricanes went ahead for good in the 3rd. Stefan Noesen scored the eventual game winning goal, making it a 2-1 game with help from Kuznetsov and Skjei. With the net empty and 1:32 left on the clock, Necas sealed the 3-1 win for the Hurricanes with Jack Drury and Brett Pesce assisting.
Skjei said of Noesen's goal that "I don’t find myself down there too much looking for a tip. I saw Kuzy and I had a feeling he was going to shoot it, so I just went to the slot and got a stick on it. Obviously, it was a big finish by him."
To no one's surprise, it was Andersen who got the start in the series opening game for the Hurricanes. Andersen delivered in goal, stopping all but one of the 34 shots he was tested with by the Islanders, good for a sparkling .971 save percentage.
In a surprising turn for the Islanders, backup goalie Semyon Varlamov got the start in game one instead of workhorse Ilya Sorokin. Varlamov made 23 saves out of the 25 shots on goal the Hurricanes sent his way, giving him a .920 save percentage as he was outdueled by Andersen.
Islanders head coach Patrick Roy said after the game "Encouraged because I think we played a really solid game. It was a hard-fought game, but we had our chances. All year we’ve been resilient, and this is the moment to continue to do that."
Game two of the series is on Monday night back in Raleigh. The Hurricanes look to grab a two game lead in the series before hitting the road, while the Islanders try to even the series before going home, which would force at least a game 5.
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