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Carolina Hurricanes vs New York Islanders Game 2: Preview, Lines, Predictions: 2023 NHL Playoffs
The Carolina Hurricanes survived a late onslaught to defeat the New York Islanders 2-1 in Game 1 on Monday night. This series was expected to be tight and the first matchup absolutely did not disappoint.
On Wednesday, the Islanders will look to even the series before it heads back to Long Island.
For New York to have success in Game 2, they will need to do a better job defending in their own end. Carolina is notorious for throwing pucks on net but on Monday, Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin needed to make 35 saves to keep his team in the game. Despite his excellent play, Carolina was able to get the early lead and play in their comfort zone.
"It's nice to get ahead obviously and play with the lead," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "That game went pretty much how we thought it would. They made great saves, we had good saves. Both teams were going pretty hard."
A key to Game 1 was the power play of both teams. While the Islanders struggled, going 0-4, the Hurricanes converted on two of their three chances. Sebastian Aho kicked things off and gave Carolina the early momentum with a quick power-play goal right off the faceoff. The Canes were extremely efficient with the extra man, scoring both of their goals on the power play.
"The puck didn't stay on our sticks too long," Canes forward Martin Necas said. "It's all about confidence. You get a couple touches on the power play, and the guys who are supposed to play with the puck more get the feeling of 5-on-5 better. It was good momentum on the power play."
For Carolina, more of the same should lead to success in Game 2. But for the Islanders, an adjustment will be needed to get more traffic in front of the Canes net and find a way to steal the momentum with a power-play goal or big penalty kill.
Carolina Hurricanes Projected Lineup
- Teravainen - Aho - Jarvis
- Noesen - Kotkaniemi - Necas
- Martinook - Staal - Fast
- Drury - Stastny - Stepan/Puljujarvi
- Slavin - Burns
- Skjei - Pesce
- Gostisbehere - Chatfield
- Raanta
- Andersen
New York Islanders Projected Lineup
- Lee-Horvat-Barzal
- Engvall-Nelson-Palmieri
- Parise-Pageau-Fasching
- Martin-Cizikas-Clutterbuck
- Pelech-Pulock
- Aho-Mayfield
- Bolduc-Dobson
- Sorokin
- Varlamov
Prediction
The Islanders are well aware that they cannot go down 2-0 to this Hurricanes team. I believe they played very well in Game 1 and will get some better bounces tonight. Sorokin will be great.
Islanders 4, Hurricanes 2
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