RALEIGH, N.C. — After putting in five consecutive road games, the Carolina Hurricanes were back in town Friday at PNC Arena.
A sellout crowd settled in to see the Canes face the New York Islanders, most fans expecting good things, but the Islanders came away with a 6-2 victory as Brock Nelson scored twice and goalie Ilya Sorokin had 33 saves.
Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour credited the Islanders’ team game, saying, “They played I think the best game in the four years I’ve been doing it (as head coach) against them. By far the best game they’ve played.”
Some quick takeaways from the game:
— In a close game, you have to take advantage of a 5-on-3 power play and especially with 1:23 of a two-man advantage. The Canes didn’t and lost, falling to 4-2-1.
Late in the second period, the Isles’ Zach Parise was called for interference and then Adam Pelech for flipping a puck over the glass attempting to clear. The Canes kept hammering the puck at the net — Dylan Coghlan banging one off the post — but could not get one past goalie Ilya Sorokin.
“I’ll take that all day,” Brind’Amour said. “It’s probably a different game if we poke one in there but their goalie played really well.
— Martin Necas can make a tough game look easy at times. In the second, the Canes winger carried the puck into the Isles zone, passed to Brady Skjei, turned on the jets down the slot and converted a return pass from Skjei.
— Rough night at times for the Canes’ third defensemen pairing. A turnover in the second period by Jalen Chatfield caused by Casey Cizikas in the Canes zone resulted in Matt Martin scoring for a 2-1 Islanders lead.
Chatfield and Coghlan had some other adventures in the Canes’ end. Chatfield did get a piece of an Islanders’ wraparound in the third to save a goal.
— Like every other Canes-Islanders game in the past four or five years, everything was contested and the Islanders stayed patient, picking their spots.
“They made us make mistakes,” Canes captain Jordan Staal said. “That’s kind of our game and our style, and they did it to us. A few miscues and they made us pay.”
New York’s first goal came when the Canes’ Brent Burns couldn’t control the puck at the Isles blue line — a costly bobble. Mathew Barzal took off with it on the rush, setting up Oliver Wahlstrom for New York’s first goal.
After Brent Burns’ first goal with the Canes tied it 2-2 in the second period, the Islanders quickly responded as Josh Bailey scored less than a minute later.
“We knew how they were going to play and talked about it,” Brind’Amour said. “I thought we fought back. But the crushing ones ... you can’t give up a goal right after we get it back and tie it up.”
— Call it a game within the game but watching Canes defenseman Jaccob Slavin duel Barzal at times was like a mini-clinic — by both players. Barzal had two assists in the game, setting up Josh Bailey for a goal in Bailey’s 1,000th career game.
— Canes forward Teuvo Teravainen has had a slow start to the season. Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour had Jordan Martinook replace Teravainen on the Sebastian Aho line in the third period. Aho and Teravainen each had a minus-3 plus/minus rating for the game.
“That line wasn’t good,” Brind’Amour said. “They need to be better.”
— Big hit in the third period as Aho was hammered into the boards by Scott Mayfield. No penalty on the play, which had Canes fans, and Aho, steaming. Aho took a run at a few guys before leaving the ice and had some hot words for the refs.
