NEW YORK — Jordan Staal scored 4:04 into overtime to give the Carolina Hurricanes a 1-0 victory over the New York Islanders on Friday night in the opener of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

Nino Niederreiter sent a shot that caromed off the end boards and came out to the right side, where Staal quickly put it in off goalie Robin Lehner’s left skate.

Petr Mrazek stopped 31 shots for his fifth career postseason shutout as the Hurricanes won in New York just 48 hours after beating Washington on the road in double overtime in Game 7 of the first-round series.

Lehner also finished with 31 saves. Back in Brooklyn at Barclays Center after opening the playoffs at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, the Islanders were playing for the first time in 10 days after finishing off their first-round sweep of Pittsburgh.

Both teams had their chances, and each goalie made plenty of nice saves throughout the game, the first in Carolina playoff history to go to overtime tied 0-0.

Cal Clutterbuck stole the puck and fired a short-handed shot from the right circle that Mrazek gloved with 9:09 left in the third. Lehner made several saves on the Hurricanes’ power play, including on a tip by Justin Williams with 8:05 left.

Ryan Pulock fired a slap shot from beyond the left circle that landed in the netting just outside the left goalpost with 41/2 minutes remaining in regulation. The arena goal horn sounded and fans started cheering, but the officials immediately waved it off and announced it was no goal.

Jordan Eberle, who scored in each of the four games against Pittsburgh, was denied by Mrazek on an odd-man rush less than two minutes into the second period. Lehner made a sensational save on Greg McKegg near the midpoint of the period as he did a split and slid to his left to stop the attempt with his left pad.

Mathew Barzal appeared to give the Islanders the lead with 2:53 left in the middle period, but the goal was immediately waved off and a penalty was called on Anders Lee for goalie interference because he fell into Mrazek.

The Islanders’ best chance in the first period came when Josh Bailey had a breakaway, but his backhander was gloved by Mrazek.

SHARKS-AVALANCHE: San Jose captain Joe Pavelski missed the second-round series opener against Colorado after being knocked out in the first-round finale.

Pavelski and forward Joonas Donskoi were scratched for Game 1 on Friday night. Pavelski’s helmet slammed to the ice in Game 7 against Vegas on Tuesday night, knocking him out and causing him to bleed from his head. He is officially listed as day to day.

Donskoi was hurt after taking a hard hit in Game 6 against the Golden Knights.

Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard returned after missing three games last round because of an upper-body injury.

Copy the Story Link