RAISIN’ CANE
Brooklyn set to rock as Isles-Carolina drop puck tonight:
It’ll be the well-rested against the battle-tested Friday night at Barclays Center when the Islanders face the Carolina Hurricanes in the suddenly wideopen chase for the Stanley Cup.
Ten days ago, the upstart Isles were the darlings of the NHL with a surprise sweep of the vaunted Penguins. Now, they enter the second round as one of the last remaining higher seeds after several Cinderellas with glass skates survived the most stunning opening playoff round since Lord Stanley’s chalice was forged in 1926.
All four regular-season division winners are booking tee times, capped by the Canes’ come-from-behind, doubleOT Game 7 elimination of the defending champion Capitals on Wednesday. The President Cup-winning Lightning fizzled out in four games with Columbus. The West’s top team, Calgary, flamed out in five games against the Avalanche. Nashville was dispatched in six games by Dallas.
The biggest challenge entering Game 1 for Barry Trotz’s Islanders may be chipping away any rust since their series-clinching win in Pittsburgh on April 16. They won three of four games against Carolina during the regular season, limiting the Canes to just one goal in each of the victories. Vezina Trophy nominee and first-round rock Robin Lehner will be in goal Friday, though backup Thomas Greiss was between the pipes for all four regularseason meetings.
“We just want to play,” Trotz said Thursday. “There might be some rust and you can’t duplicate some stuff (in practice), but I know we’re toeing to get stronger and stronger and stronger."
Jordan Eberle looks to build on his breakout performance against the Penguins, becoming the first Islander since Ray Ferraro to score in the first four playoff games. Eberle resumes his partnership on the top line with the electric Mathew Barzal and team captain Anders Lee. The troika combined for 14 of the team’s 39 points against the Penguins.
“When Barry put us back with each other, we basically said, ‘We’re going to force him to trust us,’ Barzal recently told The Athletic of being reunited with Eberle, a switch made late in the season. “We tried to make it so he couldn’t break us up. What we did last year was great, but it’s a new system and we had to play different. We’re not just out there gunning for points.”
Trotz, who hoisted the Cup as coach of the Capitals last year, will have to juggle his defensive pairings as Johnny Boychuck will be sidelined for the series. He’s expected to be out three-to-four weeks after suffering a lower-body injury in the final game of the first round. Thomas Hickey, a healthy scratch for all four games against the Pens, will likely play alongside Nick Leddy.
The Islanders allowed the fewest goals in the NHL this season and return to Brooklyn after playing their opening-series home games at a raucous Nassau Coliseum. They went 12-6-2 this season at Barclays.
“They’re very defensive, don’t give you too much time and space,” said Carolina winger Brock McGinn, whose deft deflection 11:05 into the second overtime vanquished Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals. “We’ve just got to continue to play our style of game. We’ve got to be a forechecking team and just work them and just keep playing our style.”