Two quick Carolina goals proved to be an insurmountable obstacle for the New York Islanders, who fell 4-2 in Raleigh.
- Carolina Hurricanes 4 (9-6-4, 22 points)
- New York Islanders 2 (11-7-2, 24 points)
- CAR Goals: Sebastian Aho (4), Teuvo Teravainen 2 (8), Elias Lindholm (5)
- NYI Goals: Nick Leddy (5), John Tavares (15)
- NHL, Final, Boxscore
- PNC Arena, Raleigh, NC
There were some good takeaways from a disappointing outcome for the New York Islanders, but the score is not one of them.
The Islanders fell 4-2 on Sunday afternoon in Raleigh on the tail end of back-to-backs after beating the league-leading Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 the night before.
The most frustrating aspect of yet another loss to the pesky Carolina Hurricanes isn’t entirely in the score, but how much a combination of poor special teams, a bad start, and inconsistent net-minding all factored into the culmination of the loss. Andy Graziano of SNY said it best:
Under four minutes into the first period passed by, and the Islanders were down by a score of 2-0, with the first goal coming on a Carolina powerplay. Truthfully, the tale of the game lies just in there.
Nick Leddy had one of the slickest goals in his career, there was that too.
For whatever reason, whenever it’s Cam Ward in goal for Carolina against the Islanders, it seems that he returns to his 2006 Stanley Cup-finals form, and it was in full display for all 29 of the Islanders’ shots.
All in all, the Islanders lost another very winnable game on the road despite flat out pummeling the opposing team’s goalie after a rough start. However, the focus of this game lies with goaltender Jaroslav Halak.
A goaltender who was and is more so now in desperate need of a dominant game let more questionable goals slip past him, especially on the Canes’ second goal of the game. Halak entered the season with favorable odds, after being recalled late by the Islanders he won every start he made and helped the Islanders end the season with six consecutive wins.
Now, he has won only five of his 10 starts and owns a 3.05 goals against average and a .898 save percentage.
There is still time for Halak to get going, but based on the timeline from last season his time is quickly running short. Halak was demoted to the AHL after last season’s 6-4 loss to the Minnesota Wild just as we rung in the new year. For the time being, it seems that Thomas Greiss is the winner of the favored net-minder in the crease.
The Islanders return to the ice on Wednesday when the Philadelphia Flyers come to the Barclays Center.