ELMONT, N.Y. — The Hurricanes-Islanders first round series has been much closer than it would appear, so it seemed like it would only be a matter of time before New York got in the win column.
With their season on the line, the Islanders finally got a W.
Defenseman Robert Bortuzzo’s shot from the point was redirected in front by Islanders forward Mathew Barzal for his second goal of the game, giving the Islanders a 3-2 double-overtime win in Saturday’s Game 4 at UBS Arena.
The Hurricanes had built a 3-0 series lead with, essentially, three one-goal wins, but New York was able to finally break through in another closely contested game to extend its season.
“It is tough to win four games in a row on someone,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said, “especially when games are even like they are. It’s not like it was three-nothing and we were dominating the games. It could’ve went either way in all three, like tonight easily could’ve went the other way.
“We expected it to be a long series, and we’ve got to focus on the next one.
The difference Saturday was Carolina’s inability to score at 5-on-5. After scoring seven even-strength goals in the first three games of the series, the Hurricanes were only able to dent Semyon Varlamov (42 saves) on the power play.
“I know that we have more,” Hurricanes center Sebastian Aho said. “But having said that, I think we did have enough chances to score a couple of goals there. But it doesn’t always go our way. There’s another level, and we need to get to it.”
Carolina’s power play, however, did come through.
After New York captain Anders Lee was called for tripping Carolina defenseman Jalen Chatfield in the neutral zone, the Hurricanes got the game’s first power play.
Defenseman Brent Burns’ point shot created a scramble in front of the Islanders’ net, and the puck eventually kicked out to Seth Jarvis for a goal and a 1-0 lead at 8:00 of the first period.
Then when trailing by a goal with under six minutes left in regulation, Teuvo Teravainen fired the puck toward the crease and Stefan Noesen redirected it past Varlamov for another power play goal to tie the game.
“The power play’s huge this time of the year,” Teravainen said. “Pretty good job, I think. Two goals today, so that’s good.”
But there were no power plays to be had in the two overtimes — the only calls made were two pairs of matching minors at the end of the first OT — and the Hurricanes’ inability to win faceoffs limited their efforts to establish zone time and generate even-strength chances.
“We’ve got to be better,” said captain Jordan Staal, who won 11 of 25 draws (44%). “I think even tonight if we win even a part of those, we would have a better chance of winning that game. So it wasn’t great. We’ll look at it and we’ll do better.”
Brind’Amour concurred that his team struggled on faceoffs — Carolina won just 23 of 71 draws, the 32.4% representing the lowest in any game this season — but thought his team otherwise played well enough to win.
“That was one area of the game we weren’t very good,” Brind’Amour said of the faceoffs. “The rest, it was a good game. The two teams played hard. We didn’t get the bounce tonight. That’s how it goes.”
The Hurricanes did get another good performance out of Frederik Andersen, who stopped 33 shots while making his fourth straight start for the first time since last year’s postseason.
“He made some good saves,” Brind’Amour said. “Both goalies played really well. You can’t fault any of the goals on the goalies, that’s for sure.”
Now the Hurricanes will have two days to think about the double-overtime loss before Tuesday’s Game 5 back in Raleigh.
“It’s nice to get a rest and regroup, and go at it again,” Brind’Amour said.
Notes: Defenseman Tony DeAngelo, playing in place of the injured Brett Pesce for the second consecutive game, had a team-high six shots on goal, the most of any playoff game of his career and his most in any game this season. … Aho won just 3 of 22 faceoffs (13.6%). … Dmitry Orlov played a team-high 29:07.
