The Carolina Hurricanes finished their regular season series against the New York Islanders on Sunday evening (March 30). It was Military Appreciation Day at the Lenovo Center in a huge Metropolitan Division matchup. The Hurricanes looked to even the season series, while the Islanders hoped to win it with less than 10 games left before the playoffs. After the final horn sounded, the Hurricanes came out on top with a 6-4 win over the Islanders. They ended up tying the season series against the Islanders.
Game Recap
The first period seemed to be all Hurricanes as they scored two goals within a span of 13 seconds under five minutes into the game. Mark Jankowski scored his seventh goal with the Hurricanes since joining them as a late trade deadline day acquisition. That was his 11th of the season, and he stays red-hot in the month of March. Not to be left out, it is also a fellow newcomer in Logan Stankoven who made it a 2-0 game after a mad scramble in front of the net. His second goal with the Hurricanes gives him 11 for the season as well. The new guys came up big for the home team early in the first frame.
However, the Islanders would score two of their own as Pierre Engvall scored under two minutes later to make it 2-1 to cut the lead in half. Over five minutes later, Kyle Palmieri on the power play tied the game 2-2, beating Pyotr Kochetkov, and just like that, the Hurricanes saw their lead evaporate. After 20 minutes, it was 2-2 and the Hurricanes outshot the Islanders 14-9.
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The second period started with Engvall scoring his second of the game just 1:37 into the middle frame. He got a chance after a steal with a wrist shot to beat Kochetkov again to give the Islanders their first lead of the game. It was the visitors’ third unanswered goal to go from 2-0 down to up 3-2 on the Hurricanes. Almost seven minutes later, Sebastian Aho scored on the power play to tie the game 3-3. His team-leading 28th goal of the season was a huge one to shift momentum back to the Hurricanes. It was a barnburner of goals not even halfway through the game. With under three minutes left in the second period, Seth Jarvis with a clutch shorthanded goal, his fifth of the season, made it a 4-3 lead. He tied Aho with his 28th goal to see the Hurricanes go from 3-2 down to up 4-3 with huge special teams goals.
The final 20 minutes saw Anders Lee tie the game after receiving a pass back door from Bo Horvat. Kochetkov wasn’t able to save it and it was 4-4 just a tad over four minutes into the third period. With over 10 minutes left in the final frame, Dmitry Orlov blasted a slapshot that went off of Marcus Hogberg’s blocker and into the net after the Hurricanes won the faceoff. His sixth of the season gave the Hurricanes the lead once again, up 5-4. Jarvis kept his great night going with his second goal of the game, and his team-leading 29th of the season made it 6-4 for the Hurricanes. He put himself within one away from having back-to-back 30-goal seasons.
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The Hurricanes closed out the game with a 6-4 win to claim their 45th victory of the season. Furthermore, it was their league-leading 29th home win of the season as well.
Onto April
The Hurricanes (45-24-4) will play their next game on Wednesday, April 2 against the Washington Capitals (47-16-9) to finish up their four-game homestand. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. Eastern puck drop between the number one and two seeds in the division with nine games remaining before the NHL Playoffs. Regarding the Islanders (32-31-10), their next game is on April Fool’s Day, Tuesday, April 1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning (43-25-5). That game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. Eastern start.
