ISLES FACE ELIMINATION

Carolina in command with 3-0 series lead

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Carolina Hurricanes put an old goalie in net and welcomed back their teenage draft pick. With the game tied, another young star set up their graying captain's go-ahead goal.

That blend of young and old has the surging Hurricanes on the verge of a sweep.

Sebastian Aho assisted on Justin Williams' key goal with 9:45 remaining, and Carolina beat the Islanders 5-2 on Wednesday night to take a 3-0 lead in their second-round series.

Teuvo Teravainen had two goals, including an empty-netter with 57.1 seconds remaining, Justin Faulk also scored and Aho added another empty-net goal with 4.8 seconds to play.

The wild-card Hurricanes — in the playoffs for the first time in a decade — moved within a victory of a berth in the Eastern Conference final and took a 3-0 series lead for just the second time since they moved to North Carolina in 1997.

After losing the first two games of its first-round series with Washington, Carolina has won seven of eight and will try for the sweep Friday night.

“The next game's always the toughest,” coach Rod Brind'Amour said. “They're not going to go away. We know that. These games have all been tight — one-goal games, essentially, and it's going to be like that on Friday.”

Josh Bailey had a goal and an assist and Devon Toews scored on the power play to spark a dormant Islanders offense. The Isles had scored one goal in the first two games of this series and its average of 2.5 goals in its previous six postseason games was the lowest among the eight teams that are still playing.

But it wasn't enough to keep them from a precarious spot. After sweeping Pittsburgh in the first round, the Islanders are in danger of being swept. Only four teams in NHL history have won a series after losing the first three games.

“It's a big mountain, but we've dug in many times this year when people doubted us,” coach Barry Trotz said. “So we're just going to have to dig in. We have to earn the right to keep playing. That's it. It's do or die.”

Robin Lehner stopped 34 shots for the Islanders, but his career record against the Hurricanes fell to 0-7 with four losses in the regular season and three more in this series.

The Isles couldn't get Lehner off the ice for an extra attacker until about 90 seconds remained, and if Teravainen didn't ice it with his empty-netter in the final minute, Aho certainly did with his.

The most impressive goal of the night belonged to Faulk. As he stormed out of the penalty box after his hooking minor expired, Warren Foegele flipped the puck toward him at the blue line. Faulk plucked it out of the air — like an outfielder tracking a fly ball — and then beat Lehner with a rising backhand with 8:02 left in the second.

“I watched a lot of Torii Hunter,” quipped Faulk, a native Minnesotan and noted Twins fan.