Islanders struggle on special teams in Game 1 loss to Hurricanes

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Islanders knew any advantage they might have in their first-round series against the Metropolitan Division champion Hurricanes started with goalie Ilya Sorokin.

He was brilliant as expected — as was Hurricanes counterpart Antti Raanta — but special teams sunk the Islanders in a 2-1 Game 1 loss on Monday night at PNC Arena to spoil Mathew Barzal’s long-awaited return.

“It’s one game,” Anders Lee said. “It didn’t go our way tonight. I thought we built our game pretty well throughout it. Stuck with it and we got better as the game went on.”

Game 2 is on Wednesday night before the series shifts to UBS Arena for Game 3 on Friday night.

The Hurricanes went 2-for-4 on the power play and the Islanders were 0-for-4 with only four shots, failing to produce a tying goal — or any opportunities — after defenseman Brent Burns slashed Barzal at 15:01 of the third period.

To be fair, the Islanders’ puck movement and offensive-zone entries were better on their first two man advantages and certainly a vast improvement from the 6-for-55 slump that ended the season as they played without Barzal.

“We had some good looks and they scored,” Kyle Palmieri said. “I don’t think there’s a ton of things that we have to look at and reinvent the wheel on. I thought we had some good looks but it didn’t go in for us.”

“They’re the No. 1 penalty kill in the league for the last few years, so it’s not easy out there,” defenseman Noah Dobson said. “I thought we generated a little bit. We’d like to generate a little more on those last couple.”

Also, the Hurricanes’ strong neutral-zone play hindered the Islanders from getting up ice with speed to generate chances off the rush. The Islanders countered with a strong physical effort — they outhit the Hurricanes 43-39 — that limited some of the Hurricanes’ speed advantage.

Sorokin made 35 saves and Raanta stopped 25 shots.

Barzal returned to the Islanders’ lineup after missing the season’s final 23 games with a lower-body injury. The hope was his return would reinvigorate the Islanders’ moribund power play and coax more production out of top-line center Bo Horvat, who had only four goals and eight assists in Barzal’s absence.

Barzal had two shots in 21:12. Horvat also took two shots and Lee, who completes the trio, had a team-high four. Jordan Staal’s checking line consistently matched up against Horvat’s line.

“I thought he was good,” coach Lane Lambert said of Barzal. “It’s been a long time since he’s been out, and to come into a playoff game with that kind of atmosphere, certainly it’s not an easy thing to do, and I thought he showed well.”

While Sorokin is expected to man the Islanders’ net unless something goes awry, the Hurricanes are expected to use both Raanta and Frederik Andersen.

Raanta preserved the Hurricanes’ 2-1 lead by stoning Lee and Pierre Engvall from in tight in the opening two minutes of the third period. He also stopped Barzal in close in the second period.

But Raanta did misplay Ryan Pulock’s goal at 2:51 of the second period to bring the Islanders within 2-1. Pulock, stumbling through the right circle, swatted the puck toward the crease without much velocity. Raanta, trying to redirect it away from danger with his stick, instead sent it into the net.

“It’s going to be always tight,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “A mistake here and there is probably going to be the difference.”

Pulock’s goal came 24 seconds after Stefan Noesen redirected Burns’ blue-line blast for the Hurricanes’ second power-play goal.

“They went up two, and to get us back within one and give ourselves a chance to tie it up, I thought it was a big moment,” Pulock said.

The Hurricanes built an 8-1 shot advantage at 6:40 of the first period and took a 1-0 lead on Sebastian Aho’s power-play one-timer off Burns’ feed to the right circle.

Sorokin kept the Islanders’ deficit at one with a blocker save on Martin Necas at 15:24 of the first period after Burns sprung him into the Islanders’ zone.

By Andrew Gross

andrew.gross@newsday.comAGrossNewsday

Andrew Gross joined Newsday in 2018 to cover the Islanders. He began reporting on the NHL in 2003 and has previously covered the Rangers and Devils. Other assignments have included the Jets, St. John’s and MLB.