The Hurricanes are finally able to win a playoff game on the road.
It was almost beginning to be doubted; until Sunday, Rod Brind’Amour’s men were trailing an eight-game away losing streak in the playoffs, spread over two years. They – well, they’ll probably say with a sigh – put an end to that bad luck by winning 5-2 against the Islanders on Sunday in New York. So they gave themselves a sweet 3-1 lead in the first-round series.
After the last game on Friday, Brind’Amour complained about his team’s lack of execution on the power play. His troops heard the message and were much more opportunistic in this fourth duel.
After being outplayed in the opening minutes, they took advantage of a 5v3 offered on a silver platter by the Islanders to take a 1-0 lead. The young Seth Jarvis, forgotten at the mouth of the net, accepted a discount from Stefan Noesen.
This double numerical advantage was however accompanied by bad news: Jack Drury, violently beaten by Ryan Pulock, left the meeting after only two appearances. The Canes, already considerably stripped by injuries, therefore find themselves with four wingers out of action (Andrei Svechnikov, Max Pacioretty, Teuvo Teravainen and Jack Drury).
The 25-year-old center contributed to his second goal, that of Martin Necas, still on the power play. Just over ten minutes later, he took the puck from Alexander Romanov in the neutral zone to go two-on-one with MacKenzie MacEachern and score his first of the playoffs. In the third period, that same Aho allowed Jarvis to break away to score his second of the game.
The Hurricanes, victims of the robustness of the Islanders in the first three games, have more imposed themselves in this duel. For the first time, they gave out more hits than their opponents (39 to 31). For the islanders, it’s 13 less than in the first game, 23 less than in the second and 12 less than in the third…
Ultimately, it was turnovers (20) and poor penalties that cost the Islanders the game. Adam Pelech scored well early in the third period to make it 4-1, giving his side renewed energy, but they ran into a confident Antti Raanta.
In his analysis of the second game of this series, colleague Guillaume Lefrançois mentioned an essential offensive awakening of the first line at the Islanders. One hundred and twenty minutes of play later, this offensive awakening by Mathew Barzal, Bo Horvat and Anders Lee has still not taken place.
As for Barzal, he finished the game with a differential of -1 and two turnovers. Is the Canadian center still affected by the injury that sidelined him for the last 23 games of the regular season? Only the future will tell us.
Islanders head coach Lane Lambert tried new combinations in the third period. Barzal was paired with Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Hudson Fasching, while Horvat found himself alongside Zach Parise and Lee. But it was too little, too late.
It is difficult, if not impossible, for a team to make any progress in the spring tournament without the involvement of its best elements. The Islanders are probably starting to realize that.
The series now moves to Carolina. The Hurricanes will have the opportunity to close the books at home, where their record is much brighter.