Hurricanes stand up to challenge by Isles

Matthews stifled as Bruins upend Leafs

Nothing came easily for Carolina to start the NHL playoffs.

Stefan Noesen scored the goahead goal early in the third period while Frederik Andersen had a huge night in net to help the Hurricanes push past the New York Islanders 3-1 on Saturday to open their first-round series in Raleigh, North Carolina.

NHL PLAYOFFS

Andersen had 34 saves, including a huge one from essentially on his side while down in the crease early in the third period. And he stood up to steady pressure with the Islanders carrying their late-season surge to clinch a playoff spot into this one to finish with a nine-shot advantage while spending much of the first two periods carrying the action.

“You don’t want to be a team relying on your goalie, but Freddie’s always been there for us and has made the big save when we need it,” defenseman Brady Skjei said. “Obviously we’ve got to do a little better job of helping him out.”

Noesen scored the winner when he grabbed a loose puck atop the crease and pushed it past Semyon Varlamov at 3:44 of the third period, and Martin Necas added an empty-net clincher that skittered in from beyond the blue line with 1:32 to go.

Game 2 of the best-of-7 first-round series is Monday.

Rookie Kyle Maclean scored in the first period for the Islanders, pushing a loose puck on a stop by Andersen across the line in a scramble to tie the score. Varlamov totaled 23 saves, but the Islanders didn’t cash in on the few openings Andersen left at the other end.

The wildest came after Andersen had slipped on teammate Brett Pesce’s skate and fell in the crease just as Noah Dobson rang the right post by him. The puck slid back to Dobson, who skated in on the prone Andersen — only to see the netminder bat down the puck from the

ice.

Andersen said he just “tried to come up with something, get close to the puck and get something on it.”

The Islanders are in the playoffs for the fifth time in six years, though it wasn’t an easy battle to get back. Their up-and-down season included a January coaching change (firing Lane Lambert) and a six-game skid as recently as mid-march.

But New York won eight of its last nine to clinch a playoff spot Monday.

■ Bruins 5, Maple Leafs 1: At Boston, Jake Debrusk scored two power-play goals to back Jeremy Swayman, who stopped 35 shots in the series opener.

Bruins rookie Jonny Beecher scored his first postseason goal, and Brandon Carlo added a goal for Boston about a minute after Auston Matthews — who led the NHL with 69 goals this season — caught Swayman away from the crease but banged a shot off the near goalpost.

David Kampf scored for Toronto to back Ilya Samsonov, who had 23 saves. The Maple Leafs scratched No. 2 scorer William Nylander because of an undisclosed injury.

Toronto hasn’t beaten the Bruins in the playoffs in six tries since 1959. Boston also swept the regular-season series 4-0.

Karl B. Deblaker The Associated Press Hurricanes defenseman Brady Skjei, left, and Islanders center Kyle Maclean pursue the puck during the first period of Carolina’s 3-1 victory at PNC Arena.