Hurricanes beat Islanders in Game 4, snap road losing streak to take 3-1 series lead

The Carolina Hurricanes and New York Islanders played a “big boy” hockey game Sunday.

If the Islanders thought that would favor them, they were wrong.

The Hurricanes would not be pushed around in Game 4 of the first-round series, keeping their composure and using their edge in skill and quickness for a 5-2 road victory behind goalie Antti Raanta.

Yes, a road victory, at UBS Arena. That gives the Hurricanes a 3-1 lead in the next-of-seven series with Game 5, set Tuesday in Raleigh.

Seth Jarvis scored twice — the first on the power play, the second on a breakaway — and Sebastian Aho had a goal and two assists for the Canes. A surprise star: Mackenzie MacEachern, who in his first playoff game for the Canes had a goal and an assist.

Raanta took care of the rest in winning his third game in four starts.

Takeaways from Game 4:

▪ The Canes appeared fully energized after forward Jack Drury was knocked out of the game 3:30 into the first period, Drury was down on the ice for several minutes, then helped to the locker room with an upper-body injury.

Ryan Pulock’s boarding penalty gave the Canes a 5-on-3 power play and Jarvis scored off a Stefan Noesen pass.

Martin Necas added a power-play goal early in the second period – Noesen again with the pass and primary assist – and Aho scored on a two-on-one rush to push Carolina ahead 3-0 after two.

▪ Sometimes coaches make the right calls and sometimes they don’t. Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour made a good one Sunday.

Brind’Amour inserted MacEachern into the lineup for veteran Derek Stepan. MacEachern, an AHL callup from Chicago this past week, had the pass to Aho for the second-period score.

MacEachern played five playoff games with the St. Louis Blues in 2020 without a point. And now has two. And spent some time on the Aho line with Drury out.

▪ Isles coach Lane Lambert can’t be pleased with some of the bad decisions being made by veteran forward Matt Martin.

Martin had the undisciplined hit-from-behind on Canes captain Jordan Staal in Game 2. In Game 4, he then skated into a scrum just as the first period ended to drill MacEachern The Canes opened the second period on the power play and promptly got the Necas goal.

▪ Not a good day for Ilya Sorokin in the Isles net. The goalie, one of the NHL’s best this season, never looked dialed in or comfortable on the crease and gave a number of rebounds. Jarvis beat him cleanly on the breakaway.

Sorokin had no chance on MacEachern’s goal as the forward loaded up in the slot and ripped one past the goalie.

▪ Martin Necas, bad boy? Apparently to the Islanders and their fans.

Necas and Brock Nelson had a scuffle at the end of Games 3 at UBS Arena. Nelson was called for an interference penalty in the second period Sunday after clipping Necas. For some reason, No. 88 has made no friends on Long Island.

▪ What’s the situation with Frederik Andersen? Is he ready or not? Will he play or not?

Brind’Amour first said he had an illness. Now the word is Andersen has tweaked “something.” He did not play a year ago in the playoffs because of a knee ailment and he was out again Sunday.

The Canes have some goaltending decisions to make with both Raanta and Andersen due to become unrestricted free agents.

Aho milestone helps extend Canes’ lead

Once they got the lead, the Carolina Hurricanes added to it, leading to a three-goal advantage through two periods of Game 4 of their second-round, best-of-seven NHL playoff series against the New York Islanders.

Necas scored the Canes’ second power-play goal of the game and Aho became the franchise leader in playoff goals with a strike late in the second as the Hurricanes built a 3-0 lead.

Aho’s strike was his 20th playoff goal, which allowed him to pass Eric Staal into first place among Hurricanes skaters all time. According to the NHL, Aho has joined Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov as the second active player to hold his current franchise’s records for playoff goals, assists (30) and points (50).

With his assist on Aho’s goal, MacEachern registered his first career playoff point in his Hurricanes debut. He is the 41st different player to earn a playoff point with Carolina since 2019.

Canes lose another forward

The list of Hurricanes on the sidelines is getting nearly as long as the list of those still skating, and the former grew again in the first period of Game 4 Sunday on Long Island.

Jack Drury, who was called up to replace injured star Andrei Svechnikov late in the regular season, left the ice woozy but under his own power Sunday after a hit from behind into the boards by New York Islanders defenseman Ryan Pulock. He did not return to the bench area. At the first intermission, the Canes announced Drury is done for the day with an upper-body injury.

On the ensuing Carolina power play, though, the Hurricanes avenged the hit with a goal when Seth Jarvis collected a rebound to the left of Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin and pounded it into the net for a 1-0 Canes lead.

The first period continued to be a rough-and-tumble period, with a collection of penalties on both teams. At the end of the period, a scrum in front of the Isles’ bench resulted in a power play for Carolina to begin the second.

‘Start on time’

Aho said the Carolina Hurricanes planned to take a simple approach Sunday to Game 4 against the New York Islanders.

“Start on time, right?” he said. “Not wait to see what’s going to happen but more being in attack mode and attack the game. Be ready from the first shift.”

After winning the first two games at home, the Hurricanes had a strong start to Game 3 on Friday. They picked up a shorthanded goal from Jesper Fast. They were killing off penalties.

Then, it all unraveled on the Canes late in the third. The Isles scored on the power play, then on the next shift and won 5-1.

Aho said the Canes had a “good” team meeting Saturday, but added, “I can’t really tell you the game plan.”

Regardless of the execution part of it, the Canes must match or better the Islanders’ intensity level. The Isles want to go back to Raleigh for Game 5 with a 2-2 tie in the series.

“They played more desperate than us and we got what we deserved,” center Paul Stastny said of Game 3.

Line tweaks

The Canes made a couple of tweaks to their lineup, breaking up Jordan Staal’s line by moving Jordan Martinook to Jesperi Kotkaniemi’s left and shifting Stefan Noesen to Staal’s left. Jack Drury remained in the injured Teuvo Teravainen’s spot with Aho and Seth Jarvis.

Derek Stepan will be a healthy scratch in Game 4 and replaced on Stastny’s line by Mackenzie MacEachern, who was a recall this week from the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. MacEachern didn’t played for the Hurricanes during the regular season, but appeared in five playoff games for the St. Louis Blues in 2020 and Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said earlier this week he might be used against the Isles.

From ill to injured

As Antti Raanta started his fourth straight playoff game for the Hurricanes, Frederik Andersen did not dress for the third straight game, officially downgraded to “injured” from “illness,” as the Hurricanes had announced before Game 2 when Pyotr Kochetkov unexpectedly emerged dressed instead..

“He’s, yeah, no, it’s not now,” Brind’Amour said. “He tweaked something the other day in the warmup. I was expecting him, probably, to be able to go today. It’s nothing serious. Hopefully, he’ll be able to go in the next one”

Andersen still has yet to appear in a postseason game for the Hurricanes in his two seasons with the team and has dressed for only one, having been injured during all 14 games last spring and now three of the four games this spring.

What is that, velvet?

While Andersen again wore a suit instead of his uniform, another goalie who also has appeared in zero playoff games for the Hurricanes turned back the clock on his own wardrobe.

Some 15 years after broadcaster Tripp Tracy donated his signature red blazer as an auction item to raise money for what is now the Carolina Hurricanes Foundation – he’s not exactly sure when, but it was after 2006 – Tracy was once again dressed in red for Bally Sports South’s broadcast of Sunday’s game in honor of the Hurricanes’ 25th anniversary.

Tracy was famous for wearing the blazer not only on the air but during his pre-game “Tripp’s Tips” segment that was shown on the then-Entertainment and Sports Arena scoreboard and could be, Tracy is the first to admit now, a tiny bit over the top.

“I thought this morning, the only way you can gain experience and maturity is to live it and have people stand by you,” Tracy said. “I feel like I’m a much more experienced broadcaster than I was then.”

Once he decided to bring back the blazer look, Tracy said Amy Brind’Amour, the wife of the Hurricanes’ coach, picked out three potential choices for Tracy and his selection – crimson velvet with black velvet lapels – arrived at the team hotel in New York on Saturday.

“For being a professional waster of money at times, I can tell you this thing was very, very inexpensive,” Tracy said. “I give Amy all the credit. I ordered it online and it showed up the next day.”

During his pregame interview with Brind’Amour, Tracy credited the coach’s wife with the selection.

“Usually she makes good choices,” Brind’Amour said. “I’m not so sure.”