Hurricanes storm past Islanders with 5-2 victory, series sweep

R ALEIGH, N.C.» Teuvo Teravainen scored a quick goal, and moments later, so did Greg McKegg. Just that quickly, the Carolina Hurricanes chased New York’s goalie out of the game — and the Islanders right out of the playoffs.

Carolina earned a secondround sweep of the Islanders on Friday night, beating them 5-2 after Teravainen and McKegg scored 66 seconds apart in the second period.

Teravainen and Sebastian Aho each finished with a goal and an assist, captain Justin Williams and rookie star Andrei Svechnikov each added insurance goals, and goalie Curtis McElhinney made 26 saves in his second career playoff start.

The Hurricanes — who went a decade between playoff berths — earned the first four-game sweep in franchise history and have reached the Eastern Conference final in each of their last four postseason appearances since 2002. They’re also unbeaten in five home playoff games.

“Imposing your will on a team and giving them doubt is the key to winning a series, whenever that may be,” Williams said. “We pushed and we pushed, we got a couple goals, we got a good lead, and that’s how you win a series. You tell a team it’s too hard for them, and it was.”

Now the Hurricanes — after winning six straight and eight of nine — have some time to heal before they face the ColumbusBoston winner.

“I don’t have a favorite,” defenseman Justin Faulk said. “We’re sitting here, we’re ready for whoever we’ve got next.”

Mathew Barzal scored a power-play goal and Brock Nelson added a late goal for the Islanders, who managed just five goals in the series and were swept for the first time since the Rangers did it in the first round in 1994.

Coach Barry Trotz kept the identity of his starting goalie a secret until warmups — when Robin Lehner led them onto the ice for the fourth straight game in the series.

He didn’t last long. Trotz pulled him in favor of backup Thomas Greiss after the bang-bang goals by Teravainen and McKegg early in the second period.