Carolina’s Andrei Svechnikov, 37, celebrates his goal with Sebastian Aho, 20, as New York’s Cal Clutterbuck skates by during the first period of Game 5 Tuesday night in Raleigh, N.C. Karl B DeBlaker/Associated Press
RALEIGH, N.C. — Jack Drury scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Stefan Noesen cleaned up a fluky puck bounce off the boards for another 8 seconds later as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 6-3 on Tuesday night, clinching their first-round NHL playoff series in five games.
The Hurricanes twice blew two-goal leads and entered the final 20 minutes in a 3-3 tie before Drury struck for his first career postseason goal, controlling a dribbling puck to zip it past Semyon Varlamov to his blocker side at 4:36 of the third.
Then, after a faceoff win, the Hurricanes dumped the puck into the Islanders’ end toward the corner. But as Varlamov went behind the net to play the puck, it took an unexpected bounce near the door and caromed right into the crease.
Noesen charged in to bury it as Varlamov tried desperately to get back to the netfront, pushing Carolina to a 5-3 lead at 4:44.
That was ultimately enough to help the Hurricanes finally push past the determined Islanders, earning at least one playoff series win for the sixth time in as many seasons. And that earned them a date with the Presidents’ Trophy-winning New York Rangers in the second round.
Carolina jumped to a 3-0 lead in this best-of-7 series before missing out on a chance to clinch in Saturday’s double-overtime road loss. That set up a familiar scenario from last year, when the Islanders won Game 5 here to extend that first-round series before falling in six games.
This time, Carolina closed it out even after a tense vibe in its typically rowdy home arena going into those final 20 minutes. By the end, though, Seth Jarvis had added an empty-net clincher at the 18:21 mark to let Hurricanes fans stay in a celebratory roar to close this one out.
Noesen’s bizarre goal captured some of the wild action, which included New York’s Casey Cizikas scoring in the final seconds of the second on an unguarded net — which emerged when Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen simply stumbled as he scrambled to his right after a stop and fell untouched out of the crease.
Carolina scored twice and rang the post in the opening 3 1/2 minutes and twice led by two goals, only to see the Islanders climb all the way back and tie it at 3 on Cizikas’ score to enter the final period.
Teuvo Teravainen and Andrei Svechnikov scored in that opening blitz from Carolina, and Evgeny Kuznetsov added a slow-play score on a penalty shot to beat Varlamov before the end of the period for a 3-1 lead.
Mike Reilly and Brock Nelson also scored for the Islanders, who won eight of their last nine games to clinch a playoff bid in the waning days of the regular season. That came after a January coaching change with the firing of Lane Lambert to hire Patrick Roy.
Carolina entered the playoffs as the favorite to win the Stanley Cup according to Bet MGM Sportsbook, but the Islanders gave the Hurricanes fits the entire way. That included outplaying Carolina for much of the Game 1 loss, then blowing a 3-0 lead by giving up the tying and go-ahead goals 9 seconds apart in the final 3 minutes of Game 2.
Ultimately, another improbably quick burst helped finish off the Islanders.
Varlamov had 32 saves, and Andersen finished with 22.
NOTES
CAPITALS: T.J. Oshie lingered on the ice long after many of his Washington Capitals teammates departed for the locker room following the loss that eliminated them from the playoffs.
His family was at all four games, including in New York, just in case.
They could be the final ones he plays in the NHL.
Oshie isn’t calling it a career just yet, but the 37-year-old winger acknowledged Tuesday he and doctors must find a solution to his chronic back problems before committing to return for a 17th season.
“I’d love to play next year, but I will need to come back with somewhat of a guarantee that my back won’t be — it’s hard putting everyone through the situation,” Oshie said. “I’d like to find just an answer and a fix to the problem before I make another run at it.”
Oshie’s back and other injuries limited him to 52 of 82 games during the regular season, and he played the series finale against the Rangers with a broken left hand.
“A broken hand is like a hangnail compared to what I go through with my back,” Oshie said, adding he’s often on the floor unable to move when it gives out. “There’s been a lot of just extra things that I have to do to make sure that my back is ready to play an NHL game.”
Already expecting center Nicklas Backstrom to remain on long-term injured in the final year of his contract after stepping away in November because of a nagging hip issue, GM Brian MacLellan said the team will support Oshie whichever decision he makes and doesn’t have a date by which he’d like an answer.
“If he determines at some point that he feels good, he wants to come back to play, let’s go that way,” MacLellan said. “If he doesn’t, we’ll work it out that way, too.”
Oshie’s presence or lack thereof would certainly affect how the Capitals affect the offseason, whether they can use his $5.75 million salary space or need to fill a major void.
“He’s a big part of our team,” MacLellan said. “You have him, or you go out and find a guy.”
Oshie, who reached the 1,000 games milestone and scored the empty-net goal that clinched a playoff spot, long ago emerged as a popular teammate and fan favorite and was the Capitals’ emotional engine for nearly a decade while playing through injuries.
“He’s a warrior,” captain Alex Ovechkin said. “He’s a guy who brings energy on the ice and off the ice. He have so much respect from the coaching staff to the fans and from the players, as well. He’s a guy who brings everything to this group on the ice and off the ice.”
AWARDS: Three finalists were named for the Calder Trophy and Vezina Trophy. Forward Connor Bedard of the Blackhawks, the top pick in last year’s draft, and defensemen Brock Faber (wild) and Luke Hughes (Devils) are in the running for top rookie.
Sergei Bobrovsky (Panthers), Thatcher Demko (Canucks) and Connor Hellebuyck (Jets) are the three goalie finalists.
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