Hurricanes deny Islanders in overtime
Jesper Fast took a cross-ice pass from Jordan Staal and buried it past Ilya Sorokin at 5:03 of overtime to lift the Hurricanes past the Islanders, 4-3, at Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday night, taking a 2-0 lead in their firstround playoff series.
Staal’s pass came from the left side near the boards and found Fast loose on the right for the finish over Sorokin’s pad, ending a game that had seen Carolina blow a two-goal lead before rallying to force overtime. Paul Stastny, Stefan Noesen, and Jaccob Slavin also scored for the Hurricanes, and Antti Raanta had 23 saves.
Kyle Palmieri, Mathew Barzal, and Brock Nelson scored for the Islanders, and Sorokin finished with 32 saves.
The Hurricanes took the series opener Monday night, scoring twice with the man advantage — their first multi-goal game on the power play since early March — before the teams shared a scoreless 37-minute grind to the horn in Carolina's 2-1 win.
This time, Carolina grabbed an early lead on Stastny's deflection from the top of the crease then pushed ahead, 2-0, on a bouncing own-goal off the stick of Sebastian Aho, coming off Noesen's dump-in on a power play
Yet the Islanders responded with three straight goals, including Barzal — who missed the last 23 regular-season games with a lower-body injury — converting a bad open-ice turnover from Brady Skjei by turning around Brett Pesce and whipping the puck past Raanta in the final minute of the second.
Nelson made it 3-2 when he took a pass ahead from Palmieri, got past Martin Necas and beat Raanta from the left side at 9:18 of the third.
Slavin answered from a steep left-corner angle roughly three minutes later, bouncing the puck off the right side of Sorokin’s helmet and inside the far post to ultimately send it to overtime.
Barron to return
A day after a skate blade came frighteningly close to his right eye, Jets forward Morgan Barron was given Wednesday off.
“I would say that’s well-deserved, but we expect him to play [Thursday],” Jets coach Rick Bowness said.
The Jets will try to take a 2-0 lead in the first-round playoffs series against the Golden Knights when the teams meet Thursday night in Las Vegas.
Barron didn’t even miss much of the series opener, getting cut by Vegas goalie Laurent
Brossoit’s skate blade during a first-period scramble in front of the net. After going to the locker room, Barron returned a period later with more than 75 stitches and a full cage.
Which fits the mind-set of an NHL locker room. Short of an arm falling off, hockey players are expected to play, especially this time of year.
Bruins captain Zdeno Chara played the final three games of the 2019 Stanley Cup Final with a broken jaw after taking a puck to the face. Bruins teammate Patrice Bergeron finished the final in 2013 with a broken rib, torn cartilage, and a punctured lung.
In 2017, Pittsburgh’s Ian Cole played the last two rounds of the playoffs with a broken hand and broken ribs.
“I think it’s in a hockey player’s DNA,” said Colorado forward Alex Newhook, who has known Barron since they attended an Ontario prep school. “You just want to play. Regardless of what happens, if you’re able to get out there, most guys are getting back out there.”
Successful debut
Alex Wennberg had a goal and an assist, Philipp Grubauer stopped 34 shots and the Kraken made a successful playoff debut by beating the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche, 3-1, at Denver Tuesday.
The second-year Kraken became the 13th expansion franchise to earn a win in their first postseason game, according to NHL Stats. Eeli Tolvanen scored the first playoff goal in team history early in the first period, and
Morgan Geekie sealed it with a tally in the third.
Mikko Rantanen had the lone goal for the Avalanche, who saw their streak of 10 straight first-round wins come to a halt. It was a string that included two sweeps and dated to 2020.
Alexandar Georgiev made 27 saves. He’s coming off a careerbest 40-win regular season.
Grubauer was sharp against his former team. He frustrated Colorado's top scorers with one big save after another, while his defense helped neutralize the Avalanche's blazing speed.
The Kraken took a 2-1 lead into the third. They've been virtually automatic when leading after two periods, going 35-1-3 in the regular season. Geekie extended the advantage with a goal off the pads of Georgiev early in the third.