Hurricanes topped Islanders 3-1 in Game 1 of the opening playoff round.
There’s a reason the Carolina Hurricanes are favored to win their first-round playoff series against the Islanders. They have fast, skilled players who can score timely goals, especially in power-play situations, while the Islanders don’t.
That proved true in the Hurricanes’ 3-1 victory over the Islanders at PNC Arena on Saturday afternoon. The home team went 1-for-3 in the power play, while the visitors went 0-for-2. That was the story of the game.
You can also say the Hurricanes’ best players played like their best, and the Islanders’ best players didn’t. One has to do with another. For a team to do well on the power play, it helps to have players that score skillfully and quickly. The Hurricanes have that advantage.
When Anders Lee had that questionable holding call on a Brady Skjei flop resulting in a power play opportunity for the Canes, Evgeny Kustenov fired a shot from the left, scoring the Hurricanes’ first goal of the contest in the first period.
The Islanders registered only one shot on their first power-play opportunity. On their second power-play opportunity, they had a penalty that put the Hurricanes on the power play. This summed up another power-play ineptness by the Islanders. It has been their Achilles heel for a long time now. This is the fourth year in a row that this has been a struggle with this roster. One of the reasons the Islanders could not win the Stanley Cup in recent years is, as you guessed it, power-play incompetence.
It’s one thing to get by in the regular season but another to survive in the postseason. It does not end well. If the Islanders can’t score their fair share of power-play goals, they will not advance to the next round, and this series could be short.
It’s hard to imagine that changing anytime soon. This is what the Islanders are. They don’t have the personnel to execute on the power play, but this roster knows how to grind out and outmuscle the other team. Yes, this matters in the playoffs, but there’s something to be said about speed and skill. It’s something the team has lacked for a long time now. We can blame the coaches all we want, but the Islanders have hired three different head coaches and continue to have the same problem.
Goals are hard to come by in the playoffs. Most times, teams score by taking advantage of other teams’ mistakes. This was the case in Game 1. This was the case in Game 7 against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning in the conference final a few years ago. Special teams matter, and the Islanders are disadvantaged in every playoff game.
Roy is excellent at putting players in a position to succeed, but even he can’t find answers to solve the problem. He will keep trying until it works since he has no choice. Still, it all comes down to how the players execute here.
It’s discouraging that the Islanders could only muster one shot on a power-play opportunity. It’s always a downer when they give up a shorthanded goal, which was not the case on Saturday.
This was a winnable game, and the Islanders didn’t get it done. It’s discouraging in a game where they held their opponent to 25 shots and outshot them 34 -26. How will they beat the Hurricanes four times if they can’t score despite putting in a yeoman effort defensively, especially in the second period?
Roy and the players said the right things about Game 1, which will improve. You would expect them to say that, but they can’t escape reality. This is what it is. They need to hope they can get by to win the series, and it’s tough to be in that situation.
This team needed to get ahead in every game of this series to have a chance to upset the Hurricanes, and being down early on an opposing team’s power-play goal is deflating. We can debate the call on Anders Lee all we want, but the reality is that the Hurricanes took advantage of it, and the Islanders couldn’t do it when they had the advantage.
If this team can’t figure things out, it could make for a short series. Sure, they don’t have to score every power-play goal, but they need their fair share to at least have a chance. We can talk about hockey being a game of chance and luck, but it’s about doing.
Offensively, the Islanders didn’t do very much to win this contest. More games like this will mean more outcomes like this.
