Islanders Stumble Early, Fall 6–2 to Hurricanes

The Islanders appeared to be behind before the puck even dropped, as reports surfaced that Matt Barzal was benched for being late to the team bus for morning skate. Coming off a collapse in Boston—where they surrendered a 2–0 lead and allowed five unanswered goals—the Islanders couldn’t afford another slow start in Carolina. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened.

A sloppy opening period saw the Hurricanes jump out to a 3–0 lead just past the 10-minute mark. Bradly Nadeau opened the scoring at 2:33 with his first NHL goal. Moments later, the Islanders earned the game’s first power play after a Carolina goaltender interference call, but instead of capitalizing, they gave up a shorthanded wraparound goal to former Islander Mike Reilly. Jordan Martinook capped off the Canes’ dominant first period by scoring off a rebound in front.

The Islanders finally found some rhythm late in the period. A delay-of-game penalty on Carolina gave them another power play opportunity, and rookie defenseman Matthew Schaffer made it count—firing a shot from the left point through traffic for his second goal of the season.

The second period featured an energetic, back-and-forth pace. Carolina drew an early power play and generated five shots, but the Islanders managed to kill it off. When the Isles got their third power play of the game, the Hurricanes’ penalty killers again outworked them, generating more chances shorthanded than the Islanders could muster with the extra man. Big hits from Andrei Svechnikov and Alexander Romanov punctuated an otherwise scoreless middle frame.

In the third, the sloppy play continued on both sides. Carolina broke through when Jackson Blake finished off a slick feed from Taylor Hall, who beat Schaffer with a sharp outside-inside move to set up the 4–1 goal. The Islanders’ power play woes persisted, as Carolina’s aggressive penalty kill prevented clean entries and limited New York to a single low-danger chance.

At even strength, the Islanders briefly showed life. With Bo Horvat and Martinook off for coincidental roughing penalties, Simon Holmstrom buried a cross-ice pass from Tony DeAngelo to cut the deficit to two. But just 11 seconds later, Svechnikov restored the three-goal lead with a strong drive to the net, beating David Rittich over the shoulder.

With the game all but decided, both teams continued to push the pace. Logan Stankoven added his fourth of the season in the final minute, sealing a 6–2 Carolina victory.

The loss dropped the Islanders to one game under .500. They’ll look to bounce back quickly as they head to Washington, D.C., for the second half of their back-to-back tomorrow night.